I am a Senior AI/ML Engineer specializing in natural language processing and generative AI, using Python and PyTorch to build end-to-end NLP systems—from data ingestion and labeling to fine-tuning and production-grade inference on AWS. I focus on delivering robust, observable ML solutions with high throughput and reliability. I keep lightweight web backends (FastAPI/Flask wrappers) and apply pragmatic ML Ops to keep models reliable, measurable, and cost-efficient. I design and ship end-to-end NLP pipelines, optimize training and serving, and drive experimentation with tracking, evaluation, and deployment workflows.

Robert Chilton

I am a Senior AI/ML Engineer specializing in natural language processing and generative AI, using Python and PyTorch to build end-to-end NLP systems—from data ingestion and labeling to fine-tuning and production-grade inference on AWS. I focus on delivering robust, observable ML solutions with high throughput and reliability. I keep lightweight web backends (FastAPI/Flask wrappers) and apply pragmatic ML Ops to keep models reliable, measurable, and cost-efficient. I design and ship end-to-end NLP pipelines, optimize training and serving, and drive experimentation with tracking, evaluation, and deployment workflows.

Available to hire

I am a Senior AI/ML Engineer specializing in natural language processing and generative AI, using Python and PyTorch to build end-to-end NLP systems—from data ingestion and labeling to fine-tuning and production-grade inference on AWS. I focus on delivering robust, observable ML solutions with high throughput and reliability.

I keep lightweight web backends (FastAPI/Flask wrappers) and apply pragmatic ML Ops to keep models reliable, measurable, and cost-efficient. I design and ship end-to-end NLP pipelines, optimize training and serving, and drive experimentation with tracking, evaluation, and deployment workflows.

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Experience Level

Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Intermediate
Intermediate
Intermediate
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Language

English
Fluent

Work Experience

Senior AI/ML Engineer at LightEdge
March 1, 2020 - October 1, 2025
Senior AI/ML Engineer focused on NLP and GenAI. Designed and shipped end-to-end NLP systems—from corpus ingest and labeling to fine-tuning and high-throughput production inference on AWS. Built observability and evaluation capabilities; established production-grade ML Ops; emphasized training and serving with visibility to ensure reliable deployments.
Senior Full Stack Engineer at Lightedge
March 1, 2020 - October 1, 2025
Senior full-stack engineer building product-grade web apps with Django on the back end and React on the front end; deployed on AWS. Designed resilient microservices, GraphQL/REST BFFs, automated infrastructure with Terraform and Pulumi, and ran production on Docker/Kubernetes across Linux and Windows. Built core services (auth, audit, records, notifications), implemented blue/green canary releases, and optimized for performance and reliability.
Senior Full Stack / DevOps Engineer at LightEdge
March 1, 2020 - October 1, 2025
Led migration from a monolith to microservices using FastAPI, gRPC, CQRS, and Kafka event streams. Implemented idempotent handlers, saga orchestration, and exactly-once semantics for critical civic data workflows. Built streaming analytics via Kafka + AWS Glue into Redis and Parquet; exposed materialized views through GraphQL/REST BFFs to accelerate frontend teams. Deployed services on AWS with ECS Fargate using blue/green and canary release strategies. Implemented CI/CD with GitHub Actions and CodeDeploy; secured infrastructure with least-privilege IAM, KMS encryption, and data-loss monitoring (Macie). Introduced Sentry for error budgets and alerting. Migrated nightly ETL to Airflow DAGs with Kafka Connect and Lambda triggers; built event-driven orchestration with Saga/Outbox patterns; multi-tenant RBAC and audit trails.
ML Engineer at AppFolio
February 1, 2018 - January 1, 2020
ML Engineer at AppFolio, focusing on data & ML engineering and productionizing NLP/ML workloads; contributed to model development, data processing, and deployment workflows.
Full Stack Engineer / Data APIs at AppFolio
February 1, 2018 - January 1, 2020
Developed data API platforms and a heavy front-end ops console using React + TypeScript (Next.js); Redux Toolkit/React Query, Tailwind/Material UI; implemented GraphQL/REST BFFs, feature flags, and role-based views. Migrated front-end to Next.js SSR/ISR, added caching and validations, built virtualized data tables, and established UI quality processes with Storybook, Jest, and Playwright.
Senior Full Stack Engineer / Django & React at AppFolio
February 1, 2018 - January 1, 2020
Developed and maintained end-to-end web apps using React + TypeScript with Next.js for SSR/ISR. Implemented Redux Toolkit and React Query for robust state management, and integrated GraphQL/REST BFFs with role-based views. Migrated frontend patterns toward SSR/ISR, enhanced testing and CI/CD, and contributed to performance optimizations and design systems.
ML/Data Engineer at AppFolio
January 1, 2017 - January 1, 2018
ML/Data & ML Engineer at AppFolio, contributing to data pipelines and ML workflows for NLP/GenAI initiatives; built models and pipelines using PyTorch and AWS, and supported end-to-end ML deployment and evaluation.
Front-End Engineer at Blackbaud
January 1, 2017 - January 1, 2018
Built a heavy front-end operations console in React + TypeScript (Next.js) with Redux Toolkit/React Query, Tailwind/Material UI, and role-based views; integrated GraphQL/REST BFFs, feature flags, and SSE/WebSockets for live job status and DLQ replay tools. Migrated the front-end platform to Next.js SSR/ISR; added Redux Toolkit licenses and React Query caching and validations; introduced feature flags and router guards; built virtualized tables with debounced search for large datasets. Improved UI quality and performance with Storybook design system and Jest/Playwright tests; optimized images and code-splitting.
Senior Full Stack Engineer at Blackbaud
January 1, 2017 - January 1, 2018
Built a heavy front-end ops console in React + TypeScript (Next.js) with Redux Toolkit/React Query, Tailwind/Material UI, and role-based views. Integrated GraphQL/REST BFFs, feature flags, and SSE/WebSockets for live job status and DLQ replay tools.
Senior Full Stack Engineer / Data APIs at AppFolio
January 1, 2017 - January 1, 2018
Led development of data APIs and internal tooling; built front-end console components in React + TypeScript; integrated GraphQL/REST BFFs, established testing practices, and contributed to scalable frontend architecture and API design.
Junior Software Engineer / Internal Tools at Blackbaud
June 1, 2015 - December 1, 2016
Junior Software Engineer / Internal Tools, contributing to internal tooling and developer productivity within Charleston-based teams.
Front-End Engineer at Granicus
June 1, 2015 - December 1, 2016
Contributed to front-end development for government-focused communications and dashboards; built client UI components and dashboards using modern JS/TS tooling and collaborated with design and product teams.
Junior Software Engineer / Internal Tools at Granicus
June 1, 2015 - December 1, 2016
Contributed to front-end development for internal tools using React + TypeScript; collaborated on internal tooling and UI components, supporting rapid iteration and delivery of internal workflows.

Education

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science at Texas A&M University - San Antonio
January 1, 2011 - January 1, 2015
Bachelor of Science at Texas A&M University-San Antonio
January 1, 2011 - January 1, 2015
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science at Texas A&M University-San Antonio
January 1, 2011 - January 1, 2015

Qualifications

Add your qualifications or awards here.

Industry Experience

Software & Internet, Education, Government, Professional Services, Other, Media & Entertainment