Senior AI/ML Engineer

Ignite IT Hub is seeking a senior AI/ML Engineer to maintain and enhance the U.S. Census Bureau's LLM Autocoder, which assigns standardized codes to survey write-in responses. You will build and test model and software improvements for the American Community Survey (ACS), develop pilots for additional surveys and fields, and work with data scientists and MLOps engineers to integrate approved changes into production.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain Python components for text preprocessing, model invocation, prompt management, structured output validation, and coding workflows.

• Implement approved changes to prompts, model configuration, dictionaries, rules, and supporting code in small, version-controlled increments.

• Build pilots using LLMs, fuzzy matching, direct-match dictionaries, or hybrid approaches; adapt implementations to survey-specific taxonomies and requirements.

• Write unit, integration, regression, negative, and edge-case tests, and work with the evaluation team to compare candidate results with approved baselines.

• Reproduce production problems, isolate causes across code, data, prompts, and model behavior, and implement verified corrections.

• Partner with the MLOps Engineer on packaging, deployment, rollback, and post-release verification within Government-approved AWS environments.

• Participate in code reviews and SME working sessions; maintain technical documentation, user guidance, and reproduc