Data and AI Engineer

The Brattle Group is seeking an early-career Data and AI Engineer to join its Data & AI Engineering team in Boston, MA. This onsite role combines hands-on technical delivery with applied R&D and internal capability-building across data engineering, analytics, machine learning, and AI-enabled workflows.

In this position, you will work with imperfect, confidential, and often unstructured inputs, turning them into defensible and reproducible results. You will collaborate closely with economists, consultants, industry experts, and technical peers, supporting client work while helping the firm translate useful methods into reusable assets.

Responsibilities

• Prepare, inspect, clean, reconstruct, and validate data from structured datasets and analysis-unfriendly sources such as documents, reports, exports, PDFs, scans, and other formats
• Build reproducible workflows using Python, SQL, notebooks, version control, and related tools to test assumptions, troubleshoot issues, and document the work performed
• Surface data limitations, quality issues, assumptions, blockers, and open questions early
• Support applied analytics, machine learning, and AI-enabled workflows where they are useful to the problem
• Contribute to workflows including text extraction, classification, summarization, embeddings, retrieval-augmented generation, model evaluation, automation, visualization, or rapid prototyping
• Use AI tools thoughtfully to accelerate learning and execution while maintaining responsibility for accuracy, confidentiality, defensibility, and quality
• Assist applied R&D by prototyping, testing, and evaluating new tools, methods, and workflows before wider adoption
• Communicate progress, technical findings, assumptions, limitations, and trade-offs clearly to consultants, economists, technical peers, and other stakeholders
• Participate in code review, collaborative problem solving, documentation, and iterative refinement of work products
• Turn lessons from project work and applied R&D into reusable team assets, including examples, templates, documentation, and training materials

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Data Science, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, Economics with strong technical coursework, or a related field
• Equivalent hands-on technical experience, internships, research work, or project-based experience may also be considered
• 0-3 years of professional experience in data engineering, analytics, applied AI, machine learning, software development, research, or related technical work
• Demonstrated interest in using AI tools, machine learning methods, or automation to solve practical problems, along with willingness to learn responsible evaluation approaches
• Comfort working in ambiguous problem spaces where tasks may need to be clarified, decomposed, and revised as new information emerges
• Strong foundation in Python for data analysis, scripting, automation, or prototyping, with exposure to libraries such as pandas, NumPy, scikit-learn, or comparable tools
• Working knowledge of SQL and relational data concepts, including joins, aggregation, filtering, and practical data exploration
• Foundational understanding of statistics, data analysis, machine learning, or experimental evaluation, with interest in strengthening applied judgment over time
• Exposure to generative AI workflows such as prompt design, embeddings, vector search, retrieval-augmented generation, summarization, classification, or model evaluation
• Ability to work with structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data, including text-heavy documents or heterogeneous sources
• Familiarity with software development practices including Git, notebooks, code review, documentation, testing, and reproducible workflows
• Familiarity with cloud platforms such as Azure or comparable environments is helpful but not required
• Ability to learn new tools quickly and use AI-assisted development responsibly without assuming generated output is automatically correct
• Strong written and verbal communication skills for explaining technical work, assumptions, limitations, and next steps
• Ability to manage multiple parallel workstreams in a fast-paced environment
• Flexible mindset to adapt to changing project priorities and client needs

Technologies

• Python, SQL, notebooks, version control
• pandas, NumPy, scikit-learn
• Git
• Azure
• Prompt design, embeddings, vector search, retrieval-augmented generation, summarization, classification, model evaluation
• Text extraction, automation, visualization, rapid prototyping

Where this role sits at Brattle

• The Data & AI Engineering team is a specialized technical group embedded within Brattle’s consulting staff
• The team supports client work and serves as an applied R&D function by researching emerging technologies, prototyping new analytical and AI-enabled workflows, and translating useful methods into reusable capabilities
• The team partners with economists, consultants, industry experts, and internal stakeholders to improve how Brattle works with data, analytics, machine learning, and AI through delivery, reusable tools, documentation, training, and knowledge-sharing
• Data & AI Engineers work under guidance from more experienced technical leads, including Senior Data & AI Engineers, Solutions Architects, and Research Engineers
• As experience grows, the role can develop toward deeper execution ownership, increased responsibility for solution design, more advanced AI and research work, or a combination of these paths

Nature of the work

• Technical paths are often unclear, data is imperfect, and constraints are real
• Source materials may be incomplete, inconsistent, degraded through prior systems, or difficult to interpret
• Some workflows may involve restricted or confidential data, shaping how data can be accessed, handled, or shared
• Engineers are expected to reason carefully from imperfect inputs, document assumptions, surface limitations, and help build solutions that are defensible, reproducible, timely, and fit for purpose
• Project timelines may shift based on external events, negotiations, litigation deadlines, or client needs
• Work includes both recurring operational tasks and one-off or exploratory efforts
• The team environment is academic, collegial, grounded, and highly collaborative

Compensation and benefits

• Base salary: USD 105,000 - 115,000 per yearly
• Competitive benefits package
• Bonus program

Equal opportunity

The Brattle Group is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, citizenship status, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender identity and expression, age, height, weight, domestic partner status, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome or HIV status (AIDS/HIV status), genetic information, sexual orientation, disability (where the applicant or employee is qualified to perform the essential functions of the job with or without reasonable accommodation).

The employer

The Brattle Group answers complex economic, finance, and regulatory questions for corporations, law firms, and governments around the world. Brattle has 500 talented professionals across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.