AI Data Engineer

AI Data Engineer AI Data Engineer$82 - 85/hr

HybridTechnologyJob ID:

26-00995Last updated: 1 week ago

Location:

Rockville, MDSoftware Guidance & Assistance, Inc., (SGA), is searching for an AI Data Engineer for a contract assignment with one of our premier Regulatory clients. Must sit in one of these office locations: Rockville MD or Tysons VA.Implements data pipelines and retrieval systems for a generative AI platform. Responsible for ingesting, transforming, and indexing domain content to enable accurate, grounded responses from AI-powered applications. Collaborates with agent developers and platform engineers to continuously improve knowledge retrieval quality and coverage.

Responsibilities

• Data Engineering & ETL
• Design and develop ETL pipelines for ingesting structured and unstructured data sources into searchable knowledge stores
• Build robust, repeatable ingestion workflows that handle document parsing, transformation, and loading at scale
• Implement data quality checks and validation to ensure accuracy and completeness of ingested content
• Utilize AWS services (e.g., S3, Lambda, Step Functions, OpenSearch, Bedrock) to build and operate data pipelines and retrieval infrastructure
• RAG Pipeline Development & Search Tuning
• Architect and optimize retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines including document chunking strategies, vector embedding generation, and retrieval mechanisms
• Tune search relevance and retrieval quality using vector databases and search engines, iterating on ranking and filtering approaches
• Evaluate retrieval accuracy using evaluation frameworks and custom benchmarks, establishing measurable quality baselines
• Experiment with embedding models, chunking parameters, and hybrid search strategies to continuously improve answer quality
• Quality & Testing
• Design and implement test strategies for data pipelines, including validation of ingestion accuracy, data completeness, and transformation correctness
• Develop automated regression tests to detect retrieval quality degradation across pipeline changes
• Build and maintain evaluation benchmarks that measure retrieval precision, recall, and relevance
• Champion test-driven development (TDD) practices for pipeline and integration code
• Generative AI & Emerging Technologies
• Stay informed of advances in RAG architectures, embedding models, and retrieval optimization techniques
• Identify opportunities to improve knowledge retrieval through emerging approaches (e.g., contextual retrieval, reranking, hybrid search)
• Collaborate with agent developers to ensure knowledge tools return well- structured, contextually relevant results
• Security & Compliance
• Assist with adnce to technology policies and comply with all security controls
• Implement secure coding practices, particularly in handling personally identifiable information (PII) and sensitive regulatory data
• Participate in threat modeling and security discussions for API and infrastructure components
• Understand and apply firm security standards and best practices for regulated financial environmentsSGA is a technology and resource solutions provider driven to stand out.

We are a women-owned business.

Our mission:

to solve big IT problems with a more personal, boutique approach. Each year, we match consultants like you to more than 1,000 engagements. When we say let's work better together, we mean it. You'll join a diverse team built on these core values: customer service, employee development, and quality and integrity in everything we do. Be yourself, love what you do and find your passion at work. Please find us at sgainc/ .SGA is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of Race, Color, Sex, Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Religion, National Origin, Disability, Veteran Status, Age, Marital Status, Pregnancy, Genetic Information, or Other Legally Protected Status. We are committed to providing access, equal opportunity, and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, and our services, programs, and activities. Please visit our company EEO page to request an accommodation or assistance regarding our policy.#LI-SG1