Associate AI/ML Engineer

4A Consulting is a women-owned boutique consulting firm founded in 2014 and headquartered in Baltimore, MD. We specialize in data-driven solutions for the Federal Government and Fortune 500 clients, using an agile, collaborative approach. Our mission-driven culture delivers high-impact projects across federal and commercial clients in an inclusive, growth-oriented environment where innovation is valued.

About the role

We are seeking an Associate AI/ML Engineer to support development, experimentation, and deployment of machine learning and NLP solutions. This junior-level role is ideal for engineers eager to learn modern AI technologies under senior guidance.

Responsibilities

• Research and implement machine learning and NLP techniques
• Support experimentation with Large Language Models for business and product use cases
• Apply prompt engineering techniques to improve LLM outputs
• Help fine-tune, evaluate, and optimize open-source or proprietary models
• Participate in data collection, cleaning, preprocessing, and annotation
• Assist in building and maintaining machine learning and NLP pipelines, APIs, and integrations
• Conduct model testing, performance evaluation, and error analysis
• Collaborate with product managers, engineers, and data teams to deliver AI-powered features
• Document experiments, models, and technical workflows
• Stay updated with advancements in AI, machine learning, NLP, and LLM technologies

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree ongoing or completed in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Data Science, or a related field
• Strong fundamentals in Python programming
• Basic understanding of machine learning concepts and model evaluation
• Hands-on exposure to deep learning frameworks such as TensorFlow or PyTorch
• Prompt engineering experience for Large Language Models
• Understanding of data preprocessing, feature engineering, and basic statistics
• Experience using Git or other version control systems
• Strong problem-solving skills and eagerness to learn

Skills

• LLM, RAG, Hugging Face Transformers, OpenAI APIs, LangChain
• Vector embeddings, GPT, Machine Learning, NLP
• Python, TensorFlow, PyTorch, spaCy, NLTK
• Git
• Text classification, summarization, sentiment analysis, named entity recognition
• BERT, LLaMA, prompt engineering
• Data preprocessing, feature engineering, basic statistics
• REST APIs, Docker, Kubernetes, MLOps
• AWS, GCP, Azure, semantic search

Nice to Have

• Knowledge of vector embeddings, semantic search, or retrieval-augmented generation concepts
• Experience building or consuming REST APIs
• Exposure to Docker, Kubernetes, or MLOps concepts
• Familiarity with cloud platforms such as AWS, GCP, or Azure
• Internship, academic projects, or Kaggle competition experience

Benefits

• Comprehensive benefits package
• Flexible work options
• Focus on work-life balance
• Career development programs, mentorship, and learning opportunities

Pay

$13.3K–20.5K/yr

Schedule

Full-time, onsite in Ellicott City, Maryland