AI Engineer | LLM & NLP Specialist | Applied Machine Learning Expert

Email: davidalami@gmail.com
Location: Remote
LinkedIn: David Alami, PhD

About Me

I’m a Machine Learning Engineer with a PhD in Technical Sciences and over 15 years of combined R&D and commercial experience. My focus is building intelligent systems powered by cutting-edge NLP and large language models. From custom LLMs and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) to scalable, end-to-end AI pipelines, I deliver solutions that transform messy data into real-world products.

My work bridges research and deployment — I’ve led high-impact AI projects across domains, crafted open-source tools, and ranked among top performers in global ML competitions. I thrive in autonomous, problem-solving roles where I can architect and implement agentic AI systems from the ground up.

Core Expertise

  • Natural Language Processing: Building LLM-driven products for conversational agents, search, classification, and text analytics.
  • Custom LLMs & RAG Systems: Designing domain-adapted models and integrating them with retrieval-based pipelines.
  • Research to Product: Translating cutting-edge NLP research into deployable, real-world applications.
  • Open-Source & Community: Contributor to open-source AI tools; passionate about clean, reusable code.
  • ML Competitions: Proven record in structured prediction, fraud detection, and keyword spotting challenges.

Professional Experience

AI Team Lead | NDA

Apr 2024 – Present · Remote
Leading NLP and LLM initiatives for complex agentic AI systems in high-stakes environments.

Senior AI/Python Engineer | Deel

Jul 2023 – Apr 2024 · Remote
Developed and deployed scalable NLP pipelines; spearheaded data workflows for AI-enhanced automation on AWS.

AI Team Lead | Powow AI

Apr 2021 – Jul 2023 · Remote
Architected and led development of AI-driven SaaS tools, including search and chatbot systems powered by NLP and ML.

AI Tech Lead | BRAIN (Blockchain & AI Startup)

May 2020 – Apr 2021 · Remote
Built core AI components for conversational interfaces and NLP model pipelines, focusing on neural language understanding.

Technical Lead of Artificial Intelligence team | COMPARUS.UA

Jul 2018 - May 2020 · Dnipro, Ukraine

Education

PhD, Technical Sciences — National Technical University “Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute”
2010 – 2013
Thesis: Application of Artificial Neural Networks for Catalyst Development

Publications

  • “Neural Network Prediction of the Formation Enthalpy of Mixed Oxides” — Computational Intelligence, May 2013
  • “Optimization of MnCeOx Catalyst Using Neural Networks” — Information Technologies, Jan 2011

Certifications

  • Deep Learning Specialization
    DeepLearning.AI — Issued Mar 2019
    Credential ID: UCC53GE98RN3

Skills

  • Python
  • LLMs (GPTs, Falcon, LLaMA)
  • RAG Pipelines
  • MLOps
  • NLP (NER, QA, summarization, embeddings)
  • PyTorch
  • Cloud (AWS, GCP)

Languages

  • English — Professional Proficiency
  • Spanish — Limited Working Proficiency

Honors & Awards

  • 9th Place — NLP Agricultural Keyword Spotter ML Competition (2020)
  • Silver Medal — IEEE-CIS Fraud Detection Challenge (2019)

Contact

I’m actively exploring project-based and consulting opportunities in NLP, LLMs, and agentic AI systems. If you’re building something ambitious and need someone who can design, build, and ship, let’s connect.