Freelance Senior Technical Advisor

1d•Remote

About The Position

The Senior Technical Advisor will advise city governments across North, Central, and South America and work hands-on with them to design, build, and launch small-scale pilots of new services for residents. Working with product managers, data scientists, AI engineers, designers, and multidisciplinary city teams, the advisor will help build in-house product development capability by prototyping and delivering digital products and services, many of which use data and AI. The role guides cities through the full product development lifecycle and helps them weigh strategic and technical trade-offs. This includes shaping system and data architecture that is suitable for a pilot while allowing for scale, prototyping and testing solutions to validate assumptions, and assessing when machine learning or large language models are appropriate. The advisor will demonstrate effective approaches through working prototypes and explain the reasoning so clients can own the outcomes. The role leads through influence rather than authority.

Requirements

Extensive hands-on technical experience and strong knowledge of system and data architecture, data pipelines, DevOps, and infrastructure.
A track record of delivering and deploying robust end-to-end solutions, from prototype to pilot, across cloud, on-premises, and hybrid environments, including legacy and resource-constrained systems.
Familiarity with AI and machine learning approaches, including large language models, and experience deploying them or working with ML engineers to integrate them into products.
Experience taking products from early concept to first release while laying foundations for scale.
A track record of rapid prototyping and assumption testing, using working prototypes to build shared understanding and inform decisions.
Experience working in multidisciplinary teams and collaborating with product managers, designers, and other disciplines throughout the product lifecycle.
Ability to clearly explain technical ideas and trade-offs to audiences with varied levels of technical knowledge, including senior decision-makers.
Experience setting technical direction for a project or small team and guiding engineers as a tech lead or senior engineer.
Experience influencing technical decisions outside one's direct authority, in consulting, advisory, or cross-team roles.
Curiosity, flexibility in problem solving, and comfort with ambiguity and uncertainty in complex environments.
Professional working proficiency in English and in Spanish and/or Portuguese.

Nice To Haves

Experience working with multicultural teams and on international projects.
Experience working with government or other public-sector organisations, or on services for residents and citizens.
Familiarity with responsible AI practices, including data privacy, bias and fairness, transparency, and public-sector AI governance.
Experience helping organisations build technical capability through coaching, mentoring, or setting up teams and practices.

Responsibilities

Advise city governments on designing, building, and launching small-scale pilots of new resident services.
Work hands-on to prototype and deliver digital products and services, including products that use data and AI.
Guide city teams through the full product development lifecycle and help them assess strategic and technical trade-offs.
Shape system and data architecture that is appropriate for a pilot and can be built to scale.
Prototype and test potential solutions to validate assumptions and inform decisions.
Assess when AI approaches, including machine learning and large language models, are appropriate and how to integrate them responsibly.
Demonstrate effective technical approaches with working prototypes and explain the reasoning to clients and stakeholders.
Collaborate with product managers, designers, data scientists, AI engineers, and other disciplines.
Set technical direction for projects or small teams and guide other engineers.
Influence technical decisions in an advisory capacity and help city teams develop in-house product development capability.