Data Scientist

Valiant Technologies LLC; Philadelphia (Philadelphia County); On-site; USD 97,000 - 138,000; Full time

Job summary

Valiant Technologies LLC in Philadelphia, PA seeks a Senior Data Scientist specializing in ML/AI, LLMs, and foundation models to build enterprise fintech AI applications and improve payments workflows.

You will design, fine-tune models, evaluate performance, deploy pipelines on cloud platforms (Azure/AWS), and work with Databricks and Snowflake while upholding Responsible AI practices.

Qualifications

• Bachelors or Masters in Computer Science, Data Science, Machine Learning, AI, or related field.
• 3+ years of hands-on experience building and deploying machine learning models in production.
• Proven expertise with LLMs, transformer architectures, transfer learning, and model fine-tuning.
• Strong proficiency in Python, PyTorch or TensorFlow, and ML libraries such as Transformers.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and optimize Generative AI, LLM, and multimodal foundation models for enterprise fintech applications.
• Fine-tune or adapt open-source and proprietary models. Build high-performance models for NLP, document intelligence, anomaly detection, risk scoring, predictive analytics, and decisioning use cases.
• Lead experimentation to evaluate model accuracy, scalability, and fairness. Partner with engineering teams to deploy models on cloud-based ML pipelines (Azure, AWS) & data platforms (Databricks & Snowflake). Work with large-scale structured and unstructured datasets across the payments and financial ecosystem.
• Implement model monitoring, drift detection, and continuous retraining strategies. Evaluate and operationalize new AI technologies, foundation model architectures, responsible AI frameworks, and emerging research.
• Drive POCs and innovation initiatives that enhance AI capabilities and differentiate our products.

Skills

LLMs/foundation models

Python proficiency

Statistical modeling

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in CS/DS/ML/AI

Tools

PyTorch

TensorFlow

Transformers

Databricks

Snowflake

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

US Citizen, Green Card, H-1B, OPT-EAD, CPT, Other

Location: Philadelphia, PADuration: 12 Months + Extension

Bill Rate: $85/hour

Job Type: W-2 Contract

Client: To Be Discussed Later

Work Authorization:US Citizen, Green Card, OPT-EAD, CPT, H-1B, H4-EAD, Other

Job Description

We are seeking a highly skilled Senior Data Scientist with expertise in Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Large Language Models (LLMs), foundation models, and fine-tuning techniques. This position is ideal for someone who is passionate about building enterprise-grade AI & ML applications and applying cutting-edge techniques to real-world financial and payments challenges.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, build, and optimize Generative AI, LLM, and multimodal foundation models for enterprise fintech applications.
• Fine-tune or adapt open-source and proprietary models Build high-performance models for NLP, document intelligence, anomaly detection, risk scoring, predictive analytics, and decisioning use cases.
• Lead experimentation to evaluate model accuracy, scalability, and fairness. Partner with engineering teams to deploy models on cloud-based ML pipelines (Azure, AWS) & data platforms (Databricks & Snowflake) Work with large-scale structured and unstructured datasets across the payments and financial ecosystem.
• Implement model monitoring, drift detection, and continuous retraining strategies. Evaluate and operationalize new AI technologies, foundation model architectures, responsible AI frameworks, and emerging research.
• Drive POCs and innovation initiatives that enhance AI capabilities and differentiate our products.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelors or Masters in Computer Science, Data Science, Machine Learning, AI, or related field.
• 3+ years of hands‑on experience building and deploying machine learning models in production.
• Proven expertise with LLMs, transformer architectures, transfer learning, and model fine‑tuning.
• Strong proficiency in Python, PyTorch or TensorFlow, and ML libraries such as Transformers.
• Experience with cloud ML platforms, containerization (Docker/Kubernetes), and MLOps tools.
• Solid understanding of statistical modeling, optimization, and evaluation methodologies.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working in fintech, payments, banking, or fraud/risk environments.
• Background in vector databases, RAG pipelines, and knowledge graph integration.
• Experience with data privacy, model governance, and Responsible AI frameworks.
• Contributions to open‑source AI/ML communities or research publications.

We are an equal opportunity employer. All aspects of employment including the decision to hire, promote, discipline, or discharge, will be based on merit, competence, performance, and business needs. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, marital status, age, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic information, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, citizenship/ immigration status, veteran status, or any other status protected under federal, state, or local law.