Machine Learning Engineer

We're partnering with an established AI consultancy seeking a Contract Machine Learning Engineer (NLP) to lead an NLP project for a major utilities client. You’ll develop and deploy transformer models, LLMs, and RAG pipelines to extract insights from unstructured data. Remote, outside IR35, £650/day. Contract Machine Learning Engineer (NLP – Utilities Sector) Rate: £650/day IR35: Outside Location: Remote (occasional travel to Cambridge) Duration: 6 months (initial) Our client is a specialist AI consultancy with a growing client base and an expanding portfolio of project types across multiple industries. As they scale, their internal team is being deployed onto several new accounts - and they’re now seeking a Contract Machine Learning Engineer to take ownership of an ongoing NLP project for a long-standing client in the utilities sector. 🔍 The Project The utilities client handles large volumes of unstructured text data, including maintenance logs, customer feedback, and technical documentation. The goal is to derive insights and automate intelligence extraction through advanced NLP techniques. You’ll play a key role in maintaining and extending the current solution, introducing new features and optimising model performance for production use. Key Challenges Include • Improving entity recognition and topic classification accuracy. • Scaling the NLP pipeline to handle new data sources and formats. • Designing efficient model retraining and deployment workflows. • Integrating model outputs into the client’s existing data stack and reporting tools. 🧠 Core Responsibilities • Develop, fine-tune, and deploy transformer-based NLP models (LLMs, BERT, RoBERTa, GPT-family). • Design and implement scalable data pipelines using Python, spaCy, Pandas, and Hugging Face Transformers. • Build or enhance retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems using LangChain and vector databases like FAISS, Weaviate, or Pinecone. • Package and deploy solutions via Docker, Kubernetes, or Vertex AI/SageMaker. • Collaborate with internal MLOps and Data Science teams to ensure robustness, monitoring, and CI/CD alignment. • Communicate progress clearly with stakeholders and deliver production-ready solutions independently. 🧩 Ideal Experience • 5+ years in applied Machine Learning, with significant hands-on NLP project experience. • Deep understanding of transformer models and LLM fine-tuning. • Proficient in Python, PyTorch or TensorFlow, and scikit-learn. • Practical experience deploying ML models in production environments (cloud-native or on-prem). • Familiar with data versioning, MLflow, and monitoring frameworks (e.g. Weights & Biases, Evidently). • Strong communicator, capable of leading project delivery autonomously. 🚀 Why Join • Step into a key delivery role for a high-value client while the consultancy expands its new projects. • Greenfield-level autonomy within a well-structured, supportive technical environment. • Flexible remote setup, outside IR35, with long-term extension potential. • Be part of a consultancy actively shaping its next phase of growth in the AI space. Interested? Apply now or get in touch for a confidential chat about the role. Robert Walters Operations Limited is an employment business and employment agency and welcomes applications from all candidates