Senior Data & AI Engineer

Apply now: Senior Data & AI Engineer, location is 100% onsite in Santa Monica, CA. The start date is ASAP for this permanent position.

Job Title: Senior Data & AI Engineer
Location-Type: 100% onsite, five days per week in Santa Monica, CA
Start Date Is: ASAP
Duration: Permanent
Compensation Range: $200,000-$225,000 base salary plus discretionary bonus
Benefits: Eligible for Health, Dental, Vision, 401K, PTO
Must be authorized to work in the U.S. This position is not eligible for sponsorship.

Job Description:
Join a high-impact, greenfield AI initiative where you will shape how accounting, legal, and compliance teams use data and automation. The client is seeking a Senior Data & AI Engineer to build practical, production-ready solutions using Databricks, Python, cloud infrastructure, and modern AI tools-while working directly with business leaders to turn complex workflows into measurable results.

Day-to-Day Responsibilities:

• Meet with accounting, legal, and compliance teams to understand manual workflows.
• Build data pipelines and workflow automations in Databricks.
• Develop AI tools, RAG solutions, and agentic workflows.
• Own projects from discovery through deployment and adoption.
• Improve data quality, monitoring, and documentation.
• Explain technical solutions clearly to non-technical stakeholders.

Minimum Requirements:

• 10+ years of data engineering, machine learning, software engineering, or applied AI experience.
• Strong data engineering background with production pipeline experience.
• Strong Python skills.
• Hands-on Databricks, Snowflake or comparable experience.
• Cloud experience in Azure, AWS, or GCP; Azure preferred.
• Production experience with LLMs, RAG, vector databases, AI agents.
• Experience owning projects independently from start to finish.
• Direct experience working with internal business teams.
• Recent experience supporting accounting, finance, legal, or compliance stakeholders.
• Ability to identify the simplest practical solution to a business problem.
• Strong communication, adaptability, and stakeholder-management skills.
• Experience with Claude, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, or similar AI coding tools.
• Must be authorized to work in the United States without sponsorship.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Azure Databricks, Delta Lake, PySpark, or Unity Catalog experience.
• Experience with Claude, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, or similar AI coding tools.
• Knowledge of journal entries, reconciliations, month-end close, K-1s, or fund accounting.
• Private equity, asset management, or financial-services experience.
• Bachelor's degree in a STEM field; master's degree preferred.