Open to opportunities

James Riley

@jamesriley2

Message

Senior software engineer building AI-driven, data-intensive systems and scalable ML platforms.

United Kingdom

Message

What I'm looking for

I’m looking to build production AI and data platforms end-to-end—ML pipelines, real-time streaming, and reliable APIs—while working with teams that value engineering quality, measurable outcomes, and mentoring.

I’m a Senior Software Engineer with 9+ years of experience designing and building scalable software systems for AI-driven, data-intensive applications. I translate complex business requirements into reliable, high-performance solutions across distributed systems and large-scale datasets.

At Sky, I built an AI-powered data platform for processing unstructured data using Python and Transformer-based models. I developed end-to-end ML pipelines with Airflow and MLflow, designed real-time data pipelines with Apache Kafka and Spark Structured Streaming, and deployed inference services with FastAPI and Docker—improving model inference latency by ~35% through optimized batch processing and caching.

I also strengthen the engineering foundation around these systems: feature engineering with Spark and Delta Lake, semantic search with vector embeddings and FAISS, and production reliability via testing and validation pipelines using PyTest. Earlier roles (RSM, HTK, Cisco, and Riley and Riley Fine Jewellery) helped me deliver measurable performance gains, from reducing API response time by ~30% to improving model accuracy by ~20% and cutting manual processing effort by ~25%.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Current

Senior Software Engineer

Current

Sky

Nov 2022 - Present (3 years 4 months)

Built an AI-powered data platform to process unstructured data using Python, PyTorch, and Transformer-based models, enabling advanced classification and enrichment workflows. Developed real-time ingestion and ML pipelines with Kafka/Spark and reduced model inference latency by ~35% with optimized batch processing and caching.

Python PyTorch Apache Airflow MLFlow Apache Kafka Spark Structured Streaming fastAPI Docker Faiss

Software Engineer

RSM

Sep 2021 - Oct 2022 (1 year 1 month)

Developed backend services in Java with Spring Boot and Hibernate, integrating AI inference via REST APIs for real-time feature execution. Designed PostgreSQL schemas and query optimization/caching to reduce API response time by ~30%, and built batch preprocessing pipelines with Apache Beam.

Java Spring Boot Hibernate REST APIs PostgreSQL Apache Beam Junit Mockito Caching

Software Engineer

HTK

Aug 2020 - Sep 2021 (1 year 1 month)

Built recommendation features and data preprocessing pipelines using Python with scikit-learn, Pandas, and NumPy. Implemented model evaluation/validation and ML APIs with Flask, improving prediction accuracy by ~20% through feature selection and hyperparameter tuning.

Python scikit learn Pandas NumPy Recommendation Systems Model Evaluation Flask Pytest Hyperparameter Tuning

Software Development Engineer

Cisco

Jul 2018 - Jul 2019 (1 year)

Built Python scripts for data cleaning/transformation and supported backend development with Django for internal data tools. Implemented basic ETL processes using SQLite and automated reporting dataset preparation, reducing manual data processing effort by ~25%.

Python Django ETL Data Cleaning SQLite Data Transformation Tools

Web Developer

Riley and Riley Fine Jewellery

Jul 2016 - Jul 2018 (2 years)

Developed responsive web applications with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and jQuery, integrating UI components with backend services via AJAX/REST APIs. Improved page load performance by ~15% through frontend optimization and maintained web apps using PHP and MySQL.