Staff ML Platform Engineer

Datavant; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 224,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Datavant seeks a Staff ML Platform Engineer to lead the Data & ML Platform team. You will set direction for training, serving, and observability, and move the team toward a coherent platform that data science teams can self-serve. You will own standards for MLflow, model registry, and the training image supply chain.

You will partner with colleagues to deliver a cohesive ML platform across Datavant, supporting trusted AI in healthcare with secure, scalable infra and cost-aware deployments.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering experience with enterprise ML platforms.
• 3+ years designing, evolving and operating production ML platforms.
• Hands-on with Databricks and/or SageMaker and MLflow.
• Proficient in Java and Python with Spark for large-scale data.
• Strong AWS knowledge including networking, GPU compute, IAM.
• Terraform, containers, Kubernetes, and GitHub CI/CD experience.
• Experience serving LLMs in production and cost management.
• AI-native tooling usage (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot).
• Clear written and verbal communication in async, remote contexts.

Responsibilities

• Set technical direction across ML training, serving, and observability.
• Own and evolve the paved-road framework for data science workflows.
• Lead architecture for LLM-endpoint serving across providers and self-hosted.
• Own MLflow, model registry, training image supply chain and observability.
• Partner with Data & ML Platform teams to present a cohesive platform.
• Guide vendor/platform selection decisions and mentor engineers.

Skills

10+ years software

3+ years ML platform design

Technical judgment

Databricks / SageMaker

MLflow / tracking

PyTorch / TensorFlow

Java / Python

Apache Spark

AWS (GPU, IAM, storage)

Terraform / Kubernetes / CI/CD

LLM serving experience

AI-native tooling

Async communication

Tools

Databricks

SageMaker

MLflow

Unity Catalog

Iceberg / Delta

Kubernetes

Terraform

GitHub CI/CD

Job description

Staff ML Platform Engineer

8226 Remote - United States Full-time regular

Datavant is the data collaboration platform trusted for healthcare. Guided by our mission to make the world’s health data secure, accessible and actionable, we provide critical data solutions for organizations across the healthcare ecosystem - including providers, health plans, researchers, and life sciences companies. From fulfilling a single patient’s request for their medical records to powering the AI revolution in healthcare, Datavanters are building the future of how data is connected and used to improve health. By joining Datavant today, you’re stepping onto a driven and highly collaborative team that is passionate about creating transformative change in healthcare.

What We’re Looking For

We are looking for a Staff ML Platform Engineer to join our Data & ML Platform organization on the ML Platform team. We own the paved road that takes a model from notebook to production without rebuilding it each time: training and inference across SageMaker and Databricks, self-service LLM-endpoint serving, and the pipelines behind Datavant’s clinical-AI products. Data Science owns the models and their quality; we own the pipelines, serving infrastructure, and operational guardrails that let those models run safely against regulated health data.

As a Staff ML Platform Engineer, you will be a technical leader across the ML Platform: setting direction for the paved road, owning the hardest architectural problems, and moving the team from bespoke plumbing toward a coherent platform that Data Science teams can self-serve. AI fluency is a baseline expectation. You should already be using Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, or equivalent tools as a core part of your daily engineering workflow, have opinions about how they make a team faster, and know how to apply them responsibly when PHI and other sensitive data are in scope.

What You Will Do

• Set technical direction across ML training, serving, and observability, and be the final escalation point for the most elusive infrastructure problems (GPU capacity, Spark tuning, production incidents)
• Own and evolve our paved-road framework (the shared CI/CD spine, model-workflow scaffolding, and Databricks Asset Bundles) so Data Science teams can go from a config file to a production workflow without bespoke plumbing
• Lead architecture for LLM-endpoint serving across managed providers (Databricks, AWS, Snowflake) and self-hosted deployments, covering latency, cost, caching, evaluation, and PHI-safe routing
• Own the standards and tooling for MLflow, model registry, training image supply chain, and observability across training and inference
• Partner closely with your Data & ML Platform teammates to present a cohesive ML platform to the Data Science, App Dev, and Operations teams at Datavant
• Serve as a key technical input to vendor and platform selection decisions across model providers, ML tooling, and observability
• Mentor senior engineers on the team, provide technical guidance to platform consumers, and stay hands‑on writing high-leverage code and Infrastructure-as-Code alongside your teammates

What You Need to Succeed

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, with 3+ years designing, evolving, and operating enterprise-scale ML platforms in production
• Strong technical judgment under ambiguity and a track record of setting standards, influencing peers, and raising the bar across teams
• Hands‑on production experience with Databricks and/or Amazon SageMaker, MLflow (or an equivalent tracking + registry system), and at least one core ML framework (PyTorch, TensorFlow, or similar)
• Fluency in Java (or a JVM equivalent) and Python, with real depth in Apache Spark for large‑scale data and distributed compute
• Real depth in AWS: networking, IAM, GPU compute, and the storage and messaging services this role touches, with the judgment to know what to reach for and when
• Fluency with Terraform, containers, Kubernetes, and GitHub‑based CI/CD for ML workloads
• Direct experience serving LLMs in production, including cost management, evaluation harnesses, and safe handling of sensitive prompts and outputs
• AI‑native working style: daily use of Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, or equivalent, with views on how they make a team faster
• Clear written and verbal communication, especially in async, remote settings

What Helps You Stand Out

• Prior technical leadership on a healthcare or regulated‑industry ML platform (HIPAA, HITRUST, SOC 2, or equivalent)
• Direct experience with Databricks Asset Bundles, Unity Catalog, and open table formats (Iceberg, Delta)
• Production experience with specialized inference pipelines beyond generic model serving (e.g., document understanding, computer vision, or streaming inference)
• GPU capacity planning at strategic, tactical, and operational horizons
• Experience with real‑time and event‑driven inference and streaming platforms (Kafka, Kinesis)
• Evaluation and red‑teaming experience for clinical or safety‑sensitive AI
• Background contributing to open‑source ML infrastructure or publishing on production ML systems

We are committed to building a diverse team of Datavanters who are all responsible for stewarding a high‑performance culture in which all Datavanters belong and thrive. We are proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, disability, veteran status, or other legally protected status.

At Datavant our total rewards strategy powers a high‑growth, high‑performance, health technology company that rewards our employees for transforming health care through creating industry‑defining data logistics products and services.

The range posted is for a given job title, which can include multiple levels. Individual rates for the same job title may differ based on their level, responsibilities, skills, and experience for a specific job.

The estimated total cash compensation range for this role is: $224,000 — $280,000 USD

To ensure the safety of patients and staff, many of our clients require post‑offer health screenings and proof and/or completion of various vaccinations such as the flu shot, Tdap, COVID‑19, etc. Any requests to be exempted from these requirements will be reviewed by Datavant Human Resources and determined on a case‑by‑case basis. Depending on the state in which you will be working, exemptions may be available on the basis of disability, medical contraindications to the vaccine or any of its components, pregnancy or pregnancy‑related medical conditions, and/or religion.

This job is not eligible for employment sponsorship.

Datavant is committed to a work environment free from job discrimination. We are proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, disability, veteran status, or other legally protected status.