I'm Dennis Tien Donaghy Sparks, an AI/ML engineer with hands-on experience building generative AI solutions, cloud and hybrid systems, and end-to-end ML pipelines. I enjoy turning research concepts into prototypes, integrating LLМ components into existing systems, and collaborating with teams to trade off performance, reliability, and speed in clear terms. I thrive on designing practical architectures and shipping tangible results for complex problems. Recently I design and implement ML/data systems, pipelines and workflows across GCP, Databricks and AWS, building LLМ-driven applications with LangChain, LlamaIndex, Vertex AI and open-source models. I work on RAG-style data flows, embedding models, and CI/CD-enabled deployments with Terraform IaC, monitoring, and governance to keep solutions robust and scalable.

Dennis Tien Donaghy Sparks

I'm Dennis Tien Donaghy Sparks, an AI/ML engineer with hands-on experience building generative AI solutions, cloud and hybrid systems, and end-to-end ML pipelines. I enjoy turning research concepts into prototypes, integrating LLМ components into existing systems, and collaborating with teams to trade off performance, reliability, and speed in clear terms. I thrive on designing practical architectures and shipping tangible results for complex problems. Recently I design and implement ML/data systems, pipelines and workflows across GCP, Databricks and AWS, building LLМ-driven applications with LangChain, LlamaIndex, Vertex AI and open-source models. I work on RAG-style data flows, embedding models, and CI/CD-enabled deployments with Terraform IaC, monitoring, and governance to keep solutions robust and scalable.

Available to hire

I’m Dennis Tien Donaghy Sparks, an AI/ML engineer with hands-on experience building generative AI solutions, cloud and hybrid systems, and end-to-end ML pipelines. I enjoy turning research concepts into prototypes, integrating LLМ components into existing systems, and collaborating with teams to trade off performance, reliability, and speed in clear terms. I thrive on designing practical architectures and shipping tangible results for complex problems.

Recently I design and implement ML/data systems, pipelines and workflows across GCP, Databricks and AWS, building LLМ-driven applications with LangChain, LlamaIndex, Vertex AI and open-source models. I work on RAG-style data flows, embedding models, and CI/CD-enabled deployments with Terraform IaC, monitoring, and governance to keep solutions robust and scalable.

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Experience Level

Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert
Expert

Language

English
Fluent

Work Experience

AI/ML Engineer — Generative AI & Cloud Solutions at Independent Contractor / Freelance
November 1, 2025 - Present
Design and implement generative AI training cycles on local Linux machines with Python tools; design and execute customized test runs for agentic AI models using Python-based evaluation frameworks (Terminal-Bench, MCP-compatible tooling).
AI Solutions Engineer — Generative AI / Cloud AI ML Solutions at Freelance / Contract
June 1, 2023 - Present
Design and implement ML & data systems, pipelines & workflows across GCP, Data Bricks & AWS; built LLM-driven applications using LangChain, LlamaIndex, Vertex AI; trained and evaluated transformers and embedding models; designed end-to-end ML pipelines including data wrangling, feature engineering, and experiment tracking.
Expert Contributor at Snorkel AI
November 1, 2025 - Present
Expert Contributor — Machine Learning, Data Processing & Blockchain; remote contract; design and implement generative AI training cycles workflow on local Linux machines with Python tools; developed evaluation routines for reliability and performance; contributed to RAG and embedding-related workflows.
Data Specialist - Watchlist Aggregation at Safe Banking Systems
June 1, 2008 - March 1, 2018
Maintained large-scale identity and financial-risk pipelines used in investigative and compliance workflows; conducted statistical, pattern-based, and geographic analyses on high-risk entities; supported identity resolution and watchlist classification; produced intelligence briefs.
AI Solutions Engineer — Generative AI / Cloud AI ML Solutions at Freelance / Contract
November 1, 2025 - Present
Design and implement generative AI training-cycle workflows on local Linux machines with Python tools. Design and execute customized test runs for agnostic AI models, using Python-based evaluation frameworks including Terminal-Bench and MCP-compatible tooling.
Data Specialist - Watchlist at Magus.ai
March 1, 2018 - June 1, 2023
Built backend data systems, APIs, and analytics modules supporting live research and distributed workloads. Developed real-time data sources powering dashboards and research utilities; improved throughput and latency in event-driven pipelines.

Education

Postgraduate Certificate in Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning at University of Texas at Austin, McCombs School of Business
January 1, 2025 - January 16, 2026
Bachelor of Arts in Economics at New York University, College of Arts and Science
January 11, 2030 - January 1, 1996
Postgraduate Certificate at University of Texas at Austin (McCombs School of Business) - Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
January 1, 2025 - January 16, 2026
Bachelor of Arts at New York University - Economics
January 11, 2030 - January 1, 1996

Qualifications

AWS Cloud Practitioner
January 11, 2030 - January 16, 2026
AWS Solutions Architect – Associate
January 11, 2030 - January 16, 2026
AWS Cloud Practitioner
January 11, 2030 - January 16, 2026
AWS Solutions Architect – Associate
January 11, 2030 - January 16, 2026

Industry Experience

Software & Internet, Professional Services, Financial Services, Computers & Electronics, Media & Entertainment