AI Consultant - Contract - Columbia, SC

AI Consultant SME

Location: Fully Remote with occasional onsite visits required

Interview Process: 1 round, Virtual/Online

Duration: 12 Months

Employment Type: Contract

Experience Required: 5+ Years

Candidate Location: No South Carolina residency required. Open to nationwide candidates; must be able to work eastern time zone hours. All travel-related costs for onsite work will be the responsibility of the resource, regardless of the frequency of onsite work.

Project Scope

We are seeking an experienced AI Consultant SME to provide technical leadership in the evaluation, design, and responsible implementation of Artificial Intelligence solutions. The ideal candidate will support enterprise AI initiatives by assessing AI use cases, evaluating AI platforms and vendors, developing secure AI architectures, and implementing scalable AI solutions aligned with governance, security, and privacy standards.

Key Responsibilities

• Support the development and implementation of enterprise AI strategies.
• Evaluate AI use cases, vendors, and platforms to ensure compliance with organizational standards.
• Promote standardized AI governance, processes, and best practices.
• Design secure AI architectures and reusable technical patterns.
• Develop AI prototypes and conduct proof-of-concept (POC) and feasibility assessments.
• Design and implement AI agents and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) solutions.
• Build dashboards and reports to monitor AI adoption, performance, costs, risks, and operational outcomes.
• Integrate AI capabilities with Azure and AWS cloud platforms.
• Provide technical guidance, documentation, and knowledge transfer to stakeholders.
• Stay current with emerging AI technologies, tools, and industry best practices.

Required Skills & Experience

• 5+ years of overall IT experience.
• 1+ year of experience establishing proof-of-concept success criteria and evaluating AI solutions.
• 2+ years of hands-on experience with ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and similar Generative AI platforms.
• 2+ years of experience designing and implementing AI agents and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) solutions.
• 1+ year of experience using AI-assisted coding tools for development, testing, debugging, and documentation.
• 1+ year of experience defining AI use case success criteria, KPIs, and production monitoring metrics.
• 1+ year of experience building dashboards and reporting for AI adoption, performance, cost, risk, and operational outcomes.
• 1+ year of hands-on experience integrating AI capabilities with Azure and AWS.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills.

Preferred Skills

• Experience with multiple programming languages and software development principles.
• Knowledge of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), Transformers, Natural Language Processing (NLP), image classification, and time-series analysis.
• Experience with data storage, retrieval, and data cleansing techniques.
• Experience delivering complex enterprise AI projects.

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, or a related field (required).
• Advanced degree is preferred.