Lead Data Scientist

6-month remote contract-to-hire opportunity in Boston, MA with an emphasis on technical leadership and enterprise-scale AI delivery. You will guide the design and deployment of advanced AI systems while hands-on work makes up 65% of the role, supported by mentorship, collaboration, and strategy contributions.

What you’ll do

• Lead the design and deployment of advanced AI systems across enterprise-scale environments.
• Set and champion best practices for AI development within the team.
• Mentor team members and contribute to day-to-day technical growth (15% Leadership & Mentorship).
• Collaborate with leadership on AI strategy and planning (20% Team Collaboration).
• Drive adoption of LLMs, RAG, and agentic AI across enterprise platforms.
• Stay hands-on with implementation and engineering execution (65% Hands On).

Core responsibilities focus

• 40% LLMs, RAG, and Generative AI
• 25% Machine Learning and NLP
• 20% Agentic AI and Intelligent Automation
• 15% Technical Leadership and AI Strategy

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s degree preferred
• 8+ years of experience in Data Science, Machine Learning, Applied AI, or related fields
• Strong hands-on experience designing and deploying Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems
• Strong experience with Large Language Models (LLMs) and Generative AI applications
• Expertise in machine learning, NLP, and information retrieval techniques
• Experience building and deploying production AI/ML systems at scale
• Python programming skills
• Experience working with distributed systems and cloud-based AI environments
• Deep understanding of agentic AI architectures and autonomous workflows
• Proven ability to lead technical initiatives and influence AI strategy
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and problem-solving skills

Desired skills and additional experience

• Experience leading enterprise-scale AI platform initiatives
• Familiarity with vector databases and semantic search technologies
• Knowledge of legal, regulatory, or document-intensive data environments
• Experience with model evaluation, monitoring, governance, and optimization
• Exposure to workflow automation and intelligent agent frameworks
• Experience mentoring Data Scientists and Machine Learning Engineers
• Advanced degree in Data Science, Computer Science, Machine Learning, or a related field

Technologies you’ll work with

• Large Language Models (LLMs), Generative AI, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)
• Machine Learning, NLP, information retrieval techniques
• Agentic AI architectures, autonomous workflows
• Python, distributed systems, cloud-based AI environments

Contract duration: 6 months (contract-to-hire).
Location: Boston, MA (remote).
Job type: Contract.