Senior Machine Learning Engineer

About the role

Trident Consulting is seeking a "Machine Learning Engineer" for one of our client. A global leader in business and technology services.

Job Title: Machine Learning Engineer

Location: Charlotte, NC (Onsite)

Bill Rate: $55/hr on W2

Job Description:

Years of Experience: 8+ Years of Experience

Main Skills: GCP, Vertex AI, Dataproc, Apache Iceberg

A strong platform-oriented Machine Learning Engineer who can bridge Data Science and Data Engineering teams by transforming analytical models into scalable, governed, and production-ready AI solutions on GCP.

Job Summary:

We are seeking a highly skilled Machine Learning Engineer to build, deploy, and manage scalable machine learning solutions on Google Cloud Platform (GCP). The successful candidate will be responsible for operationalizing machine learning models developed by Data Scientists, ensuring reliable execution, monitoring, performance optimization, and integration with enterprise data platforms.

This role will focus on leveraging Vertex AI, Dataproc, Apache Spark, and Apache Iceberg to create production-grade ML pipelines capable of processing large-scale data and supporting advanced analytics and AI use cases.

Key Responsibilities:

Machine Learning Platform Engineering

Deploy, execute, and manage machine learning models provided by Data Scientists using Vertex AI.

Design and maintain automated ML pipelines for batch and near real-time scoring.

Configure and manage Vertex AI training, model registry, endpoints, and prediction services.

Monitor model execution, performance, latency, and operational health.

Data Engineering & Processing:

Develop scalable data processing frameworks using Dataproc, PySpark, and Spark SQL.

Build robust data ingestion, transformation, and feature engineering pipelines.

Optimize distributed processing workloads for performance and cost efficiency.

Ensure data quality, completeness, and consistency across ML workflows.

Apache Iceberg Data Management:

Design and manage large-scale data lakes using Apache Iceberg.

Implement partitioning, schema evolution, versioning, and time-travel capabilities.

Optimize Iceberg table performance for machine learning and analytical workloads.

Collaborate with data platform teams to establish enterprise data management standards.

MLOps & Automation:

Implement CI/CD pipelines for ML deployment and model lifecycle management.

Automate model retraining, scoring, validation, and monitoring workflows.

Build observability frameworks including logging, alerting, metric collection, and operational dashboards.

Establish governance controls for model execution and data lineage.

Cloud Platform Management:

Manage GCP infrastructure supporting machine learning workloads.

Optimize compute utilization across Vertex AI, Dataproc, BigQuery, GCS, and related services.

Implement security, access controls, and cloud operational best practices.

Support production incident resolution and platform reliability initiatives.

Collaboration:

Partner with Data Scientists to operationalize new ML models.

Work closely with Data Engineers, Architects, and DevOps teams.

Translate business requirements into scalable AI/ML solutions.

Provide technical leadership on cloud-native ML engineering best practices.

Required Qualifications:

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, or related field.

5+ years of experience in Data Engineering, Machine Learning Engineering, or related roles.

Strong experience with Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

Hands-on expertise with:

o Vertex AI

o Dataproc

o Apache Spark / PySpark

o Apache Iceberg

o BigQuery

o Cloud Storage (GCS)

Strong proficiency in Python and SQL.

Experience building distributed data processing and ML pipelines.

Understanding of MLOps concepts, model lifecycle management, and deployment strategies.

Familiarity with CI/CD tools and Infrastructure as Code.

Preferred Qualifications:

Experience with Kubeflow Pipelines or Vertex AI Pipelines.

Knowledge of feature stores and model monitoring frameworks.

Experience with Docker and Kubernetes

Familiarity with data governance, metadata management, and data lineage tools.

Experience in financial services, AML, risk analytics, or large-scale regulated environments.

Technical Skills:

Cloud & Data Platforms

Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

Vertex AI

Dataproc

BigQuery

Cloud Storage

Data Processing:

Apache Spark

PySpark

Spark SQL

Apache Iceberg

Programming:

Python

SQL

Shell Scripting

MLOps:

CI/CD

Model Monitoring

Pipeline Automation

GitHub

DevOps Practices

About Trident Consulting: Trident Consulting is an award-winning staffing and consulting firm headquartered in San Ramon, CA. Since 2005, we have partnered with Fortune 500 and high-growth companies to deliver high-quality talent across technology, engineering, business operations, and professional services.

We specialize in contract, contract-to-hire, and direct hire placements, supporting roles across IT, data & analytics, cloud, cybersecurity, finance & accounting, HR, operations, and more. With a strong focus on hard-to-fill and niche positions, our global recruiting engine enables us to deliver speed, quality, and scale.