Data Scientist/MLOps Engineer

Data Scientist / MLOps Engineer

Thoriva.ai · Vienna, VA · Hybrid · Full-Time · Engineering & DevOps

Thoriva.ai, an Infinite Company, is building the ML backbone of our government services solutions, and we need engineers who can own it end-to-end. As a Data Scientist / MLOps Engineer, you will design, deploy, and sustain production-grade AI/ML solutions that detect fraud, waste, and abuse and that improve operations across government functions. If you thrive at the intersection of rigorous data science and operational excellence, and want your models to matter, this role is built for you.

ABOUT THE COMPANY

Thoriva.ai is an AI technology company delivering intelligent, data-driven solutions to transform government operations. Our work sits at the intersection of AI, strategic innovation, operational execution, and trusted partnerships. We combine AI solutions, commercial expertise, and business logic to address government and federal agencies’ biggest challenges.

JOB SUMMARY

As a Data Scientist / MLOps Engineer for the State & Local sector, you will design, build, and operationalize AI/ML solutions across Thoriva's enterprise platform, owning the full machine learning lifecycle from data exploration and model development through production deployment, monitoring, and retraining.

Your work will focus on fraud detection, anomaly detection, eligibility validation, and risk scoring in public-sector environments, and you will collaborate closely with product, engineering, data, and compliance teams to deliver explainable, auditable, and mission-ready AI solutions that meet the rigorous standards of government oversight.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, build, test, and continuously improve machine learning models for fraud detection, waste identification, abuse pattern recognition, eligibility verification, anomaly detection, risk scoring, and program-integrity use cases across government benefit and compliance programs.
• Perform structured and semi-structured data exploration, feature engineering, model training, validation, and rigorous performance evaluation against real-world agency requirements.
• Develop and maintain end-to-end ML pipelines spanning data ingestion, feature stores, model training, deployment, monitoring, and automated retraining cycles.
• Deploy ML models as batch scoring jobs, selecting the right deployment pattern based on business needs, latency requirements, and system architecture.
• Own model versioning, experiment tracking, reproducibility, model registry management, and structured release management practices.
• Partner directly with data engineers to ensure that upstream data pipelines deliver clean, trusted, lineage-tracked, and well-documented data ready for model development and validation.
• Build explainable model outputs, confidence scores, risk indicators, reviewer queues, and audit-ready evidence packages that meet public-sector accountability and transparency standards.
• Monitor production models continuously for data drift, model drift, accuracy degradation, bias signals, latency issues, and operational reliability — and drive remediation when thresholds are breached.
• Collaborate with SMEs, product, engineering, security, and domain teams to translate complex program-integrity requirements into AI/ML solutions that are technically sound and operationally sustainable.
• Produce high-quality technical documentation including model cards, validation notes, deployment runbooks, and stakeholder-facing summary materials.
• Work alongside security and compliance teams to ensure all AI/ML solutions satisfy privacy regulations, governance policies, auditability requirements, and public-sector data handling standards including PII and PHI protections.

Required Qualifications

• 5–8 years of hands-on experience in data science, machine learning engineering, MLOps, data engineering, or a closely related discipline.
• Demonstrated proficiency building machine learning models in Python using libraries such as Scikit-learn, XGBoost, TensorFlow, PyTorch, or comparable frameworks.
• Solid working knowledge of supervised and unsupervised learning techniques, including classification, regression, clustering, anomaly detection, and risk scoring methodologies.
• Proven experience deploying ML models into production or near-production environments, with accountability for reliability and performance.
• Deep understanding of the full ML lifecycle: data preparation, feature engineering, model training and validation, deployment, monitoring, and retraining.
• Proficiency in SQL and experience working with large datasets from relational databases, cloud data warehouses, or enterprise data platforms.
• Working command of MLOps fundamentals including CI/CD pipelines, model versioning, experiment tracking, model registries, automated testing, and production monitoring.
• Clear, confident communication skills — able to present model results, limitations, assumptions, and risks to both technical peers and non-technical government stakeholders.
• Comfort navigating fast-moving project environments with evolving requirements, incomplete data, and high-stakes delivery timelines.
• Proficient in these key skills: Machine Learning, Data Science, MLOps, Python, SQL, Feature Engineering, Model Deployment, Model Monitoring, Cloud Platforms, Data Pipelines, Fraud Detection, Anomaly Detection, Risk Scoring, Explainable AI, and Public-Sector Program Integrity.

Preferred Qualifications

• Cloud platform experience with AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform.
• Experience with cloud data and AI platforms such as Snowflake, Databricks, SageMaker, Azure Machine Learning, Vertex AI, or similar platforms.
• Experience with MLflow, Airflow, Docker, Kubernetes, GitHub Actions, Jenkins, Terraform, or other MLOps / DevOps tools.
• Prior work supporting public-sector, healthcare, Medicaid, SNAP, benefits administration, eligibility verification, or program-integrity solutions — particularly in fraud.
• Experience working with onshore/offshore delivery teams.
• Familiarity with generative AI, LLMs, RAG, AI-assisted workflows, or intelligent automation is a plus.

Compensation & Benefits

• Competitive base salary commensurate with senior-level experience and scope of the role
• Comprehensive benefits package including health, dental, vision, 401(k), and paid time off (PTO)
• Hybrid work environment with flexibility for remote work and in-person collaboration days in Vienna, VA
• Significant influence over how Thoriva.ai structures and scales its public-sector business, with direct access to the CEO and leadership team