Open to opportunities

Ben Klingensmith

@benklingensmith

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Machine learning and data scientist focused on AI, MLOps, and scalable data platforms.

United States

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What I'm looking for

I seek roles building scalable, secure ML systems and data platforms where I can lead MLOps, improve reproducibility, and apply AI to impactful research or government projects.

I am a machine learning and data scientist with experience building large-scale ETL pipelines, MLOps practices, and deployed data platforms for academic and government projects. I led ML research and cloud infrastructure efforts, producing published work and operational systems for sensitive environments.

My work includes creating a 6 TB ETL pipeline into BigQuery, pioneering company-wide MLOps with Guild AI, and leading GAN, CLIP, and NLP projects for SBIR/STTR grants. I prioritize reproducible, secure, and scalable systems that enable impactful research and decision-making.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Current

Data Engineer

Current

University of California, San Diego

Jan 2025 - Present (11 months)

Built an ETL pipeline ingesting 6 TB of CSV data into BigQuery to enable complex analysis that previously required >100x resources; supporting research comparing platform moderation actions to policy and preparing a public-facing data exploration tool.

ETL BigQuery SQL Python Data Pipelines Data Engineering Google Cloud Data Analysis

Data Scientist

Visimo

Jul 2020 - Jul 2023 (3 years)

Led 5+ ML and cloud infrastructure projects including conditional GANs for synthetic satellite data, CLIP-based automatic microscopy labeling, and NLP topic modeling for EPA assessments; built a Kubernetes-hosted data science platform and pioneered company-wide MLOps.

Machine Learning NLP Kubernetes MLOps Docker Azure AWS

Data Science Researcher

Center for Human Rights Science

Mar 2019 - May 2020 (1 year 2 months)

Analyzed mortality and conditions in PA jails using CDC-adjusted demographic models, producing an honors thesis and public memo to inform advocacy with the Pennsylvania Prison Society.

Statistical Analysis R Data Visualization Public Policy Analysis Epidemiology Data Cleaning

Education

Degrees, certifications, and relevant coursework

University of California, San Diego

Master of Science, Computer Science

2023 - 2025

Grade: 3.9

Activities and societies: Research on ETL pipeline enabling social media analysis; collaboration with faculty and external researchers; planning public data exploration tool.

M.S. in Computer Science with a focus on AI, coursework and research in scalable ETL pipelines and social media analysis; overall GPA 3.9.

Carnegie Mellon University

Bachelor of Science / Bachelor of Arts, Statistics and Machine Learning / Behavioral Economics

2016 - 2020

Activities and societies: Honors thesis and research with the Center for Human Rights Science; humanitarian data analysis in partnership with Pennsylvania Prison Society; minor in Computer Science.

Dual-degree undergraduate program combining statistical and behavioral economics training with computing coursework; research in humanitarian data analysis culminating in an honors thesis.