Machine Learning Engineer (Associate)

Huron • Chicago, IL

1d

About The Position

Huron is a global consultancy that collaborates with clients to drive strategic growth, ignite innovation and navigate constant change. Through a combination of strategy, expertise and creativity, we help clients accelerate operational, digital and cultural transformation, enabling the change they need to own their future. Join our team as the expert you are now and create your future. Huron is a global consultancy that collaborates with clients to drive strategic growth, ignite innovation, and navigate constant change. We're seeking a Machine Learning Engineer to join the Data Science & Machine Learning team in our Commercial Digital practice, where you'll design, build, and deploy intelligent systems that solve complex business problems across Financial Services, Manufacturing, Energy & Utilities, and other commercial industries. This isn't a research role or a support function—you'll own the full ML solution lifecycle from problem definition through production deployment. You'll work on systems that matter: forecasting models that inform multi-million-dollar decisions, agentic AI systems that automate complex workflows, and operational ML solutions that transform how enterprises run. Our clients are Fortune 500 companies looking for partners who can deliver, not just advise. The variety is real. In your first year, you might build an agentic demand forecasting system for a global manufacturer, deploy an intelligent knowledge processing pipeline for a financial services firm, and architect an energy grid demand simulation model for a utilities company. If you thrive on learning new domains quickly and shipping intelligent production systems, this role is for you.

Requirements

• 2+ (3+ years for Sr. Associate) years of hands-on experience building and deploying ML solutions in production—not just notebooks and prototypes. You've trained models, put them into production, and maintained them.
• Strong Python and JavaScript programming skills with deep experience in the ML ecosystem (NumPy, Pandas, Scikit-learn, PyTorch or TensorFlow, etc.) and proficiency with JavaScript web app development.
• Solid foundation in ML fundamentals: supervised and unsupervised learning, model evaluation, feature engineering, hyperparameter tuning, and understanding of when different approaches are appropriate.
• Experience with cloud ML platforms, particularly Azure Machine Learning, with working knowledge of AWS SageMaker or Google AI Platform. We're platform-flexible but Microsoft-preferred.
• Proficiency with data platforms: SQL, Snowflake, Databricks, or similar. You're comfortable working with large datasets and building data pipelines.
• Experience with LLMs and generative AI: prompt engineering, fine-tuning, embeddings, RAG systems, or agent frameworks. You understand both the capabilities and limitations.
• Ability to communicate technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders and work effectively with cross-functional teams.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, or related quantitative field (or equivalent practical experience).
• Willingness to travel approximately 30% to client sites as needed.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in Financial Services, Manufacturing, or Energy & Utilities industries.
• Background in forecasting, optimization, or financial modeling applications.
• Experience with deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch, Tensorflow, fastai, DeepSpeed, etc.
• Experience with MLOps tools such as MLflow and Weights & Biases
• Contributions to open-source projects or familiarity with open-source ML tools and frameworks.
• Experience building agentic AI systems using Agent Framework (or predecessors), LangChain, LangGraph, CrewAI, or similar frameworks.
• Cloud certifications (Azure AI Engineer, AWS ML Specialty, or Databricks ML Associate).
• Consulting experience or demonstrated ability to work across multiple domains and adapt quickly to new problem spaces.
• Master's degree or PhD in a quantitative field.

Responsibilities

• Design and build end-to-end ML solutions—from data pipelines and feature engineering through model training, evaluation, and production deployment. You own the outcome, not just a piece of it.
• Develop both traditional ML and generative AI systems, including supervised/unsupervised learning, time-series forecasting, NLP, LLM applications, RAG architectures, and agent-based systems using frameworks like Agent Framework, LangChain, LangGraph, or similar.
• Build financial and operational models that drive business decisions—demand forecasting, pricing optimization, risk scoring, anomaly detection, and process automation for commercial enterprises.
• Create production-grade APIs and services (FastAPI, Flask, or similar) that integrate ML capabilities into client systems and workflows.
• Implement MLOps practices—CI/CD pipelines, model versioning, monitoring, drift detection, and automated retraining to ensure solutions remain reliable in production.
• Collaborate directly with clients to understand business problems, translate requirements into technical solutions, and communicate results to both technical and executive audiences.

Benefits

• Huron Consulting Group offers a competitive compensation and benefits package including medical, dental, and vision coverage to employees and dependents; a 401(k) plan with a generous employer match; an employee stock purchase plan; a generous Paid Time Off policy; and paid parental leave and adoption assistance.
• Our Wellness Program supports employee total well-being by providing free annual health screenings and coaching, bank at work, and on-site workshops, as well as ongoing programs recognizing major events in the lives of our employees throughout the year.
• All benefits and programs are subject to applicable eligibility requirements.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees