Staff Data Scientist – Supply Chain AI (Small Language Models)

About the role

Avathon is seeking an experienced Staff Data Scientist to join its Supply Chain AI team in India. You will design, fine‑tune, and deploy optimized Small Language Models that power production‑grade AI features across logistics, planning, inventory, and demand forecasting.

Key responsibilities

• Build and fine‑tune SLMs/LLMs for use cases such as semantic search, forecasting, contract intelligence, and conversational insights.
• Optimize models for performance, cost, and latency using PEFT, quantization, and efficient inference techniques.
• Embed supply‑chain knowledge into models by collaborating with domain experts and product teams.
• Integrate models into products using custom Lambdas and a graph‑based microservices architecture.
• Deploy and operate models on cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure) following strong MLOps practices.
• Measure and improve model quality, reducing hallucinations and enhancing reliability.

Required profile

• 8+ years of experience in forecasting, optimization, supply‑chain analytics, or AI‑driven products.
• Hands‑on experience with SLMs (Mistral, Phi, Nemotron, Llama variants) and parameter‑efficient fine‑tuning (LoRA/QLoRA).
• Strong understanding of supply‑chain data and workflows, including ERP, logistics, inventory, and procurement systems.
• Familiarity with knowledge graphs and graph‑based data modeling (Neo4j) for relationship‑driven insights.
• Proven ability to take models from prototype to production at scale.

Required skills

• Python programming
• PyTorch or TensorFlow
• GraphQL and Neo4j
• FAISS vector indexes and other vector databases
• Cloud platforms: AWS, GCP, Azure
• LoRA / QLoRA fine‑tuning techniques