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Open for B2B engagements

Senior AI Engineer · Data Scientist

Building production-gradeAI Agents.

Available for B2B Consulting, Contract Roles, and Freelance Projects.

I partner with US and European teams to architect Knowledge Graphs, AI agents, and production RAG systems that actually ship — currently as an independent contractor for PwC, building enterprise-scale graph solutions for the US market.

4+ yrsenterprise AI
Azure + Neo4jcertified
15+projects shipped

Trusted by industry leaders

0+

Years in production AI

0+

Projects shipped to production

0x

Faster knowledge retrieval

0

Cloud & graph certifications

02 / Tech Stack

A focused stack for agents & RAG in production.

Opinionated tooling across Python, PyTorch, and Neo4j — optimised for fast iteration, observability, and safe deployment on Azure & AWS.

Core Stack

Built around a lean, battle-tested toolchain for applied ML and agents.

Python

Core language for orchestration, data work, and legacy migrations.

PyTorch

Fine-tuning, custom heads, and experimentation when off-the-shelf falls short.

Neo4j GDS Certified

Graph-native storage for GraphRAG and complex reasoning over industrial processes.

Focus

Where I spend most of my time.

Retrieval-Augmented Generation

Document ingestion, hybrid search, evaluation, and guardrails for reliable answers.

AI Agents

LangGraph-based multi-agent systems orchestrating tools, workflows, and memory.

MLOps

CI/CD, monitoring, and rollback-safe deployments on Azure & AWS (certified).

Stats

Years of experience

4+

Projects delivered

15+

Production only

Ecosystem

A tight ecosystem to keep latency low, costs predictable, and iteration loops short.

LLM Providers

OpenAI, Azure AI

Vector / Search

Hybrid search, GraphRAG

Infra

Azure, AWS, Docker, K8s

Monitoring

Metrics, tracing, evals

03 / Process

How I Work

A streamlined process focused on clear communication, quality delivery, and long-term value.

01

Discovery

We start with a call to understand your business goals, technical constraints, and timeline. I ask questions, listen carefully, and define a clear scope.

02

Build

I design the architecture, build iteratively, and keep you in the loop with regular updates. Clean code, tested logic, documented choices.

03

Ship

We deploy to production with proper CI/CD, monitoring, and documentation. I ensure a smooth handover and remain available for support.

04 / Experience

From Physics & Data Science to Agentic AI & GraphRAG in industrial automation.

A quick snapshot of where I've applied AI in production — across industrial automation, retail, consultancy, and education.

  1. Senior Data Scientist & AI Engineer

    May 2026 – Present

    PwC (Independent Contractor)

    United States · Remote

    B2B consulting for enterprise-level AI projects targeting the US market. Architecting and deploying highly scalable Knowledge Graphs and AI solutions. R&D on agentic AI frameworks and graph database integrations.

  2. AI Engineer & Data Scientist

    Sep 2025 – Apr 2026

    Fortil Group (Consultant for Coesia)

    Remote / Bologna, Italy

    Designed GraphRAG architectures and predictive maintenance pipelines for industrial automation.

  3. Data Scientist

    Mar 2024 – Sep 2025

    JAKALA

    Milan, Italy

    Led SAS → Python migration and delivered churn & customer value models on large-scale cloud data stacks.

  4. Data Analytics Instructor

    Jan 2024 – Present

    Boolean

    Milan, Italy (Remote)

    Teaching Python, SQL, and ML to 30+ students per cohort with 95% satisfaction, mentoring on best practices.

  5. Data Scientist

    Sep 2023 – Mar 2024

    Grandi Stazioni Retail

    Milan, Italy

    Owned end-to-end data pipelines and BI dashboards to monitor retail KPIs across major stations.

  6. Data Scientist & Computer Vision Engineer

    Jul 2022 – Sep 2023

    Avvale

    Milan, Italy

    Deployed AWS-based computer vision for textile defect detection and NLP models on customer tickets.

  7. MSc in Physics (Applied Physics)

    110/110

    University of Milan

    Specialized in applied physics with a strong focus on Machine Learning and AI techniques for data analysis and modeling.

06 / Case Studies

Case studies from real deployments.

Engagements where I shipped agentic systems, GraphRAG, and ML pipelines all the way to production — with measurable outcomes.

2025Featured

80% automation rate

Freed 20+ hours/week of engineering time

AI Agent for Process Automation

Built autonomous AI agents using LangGraph to automate repetitive engineering workflows. Multi-agent system handles document processing, data extraction, and report generation.

Engineering workflows · Automation

AI AgentsLangGraphPythonAzure
2023

Computer Vision Quality Control

Deployed an AWS-based deep learning system for automated textile defect detection. Built with TensorFlow/Keras, processing real-time video feeds for quality assurance and replacing manual inspection.

Textile · Quality control

TensorFlowAWSCVDeep Learning
Real-time detection

Automated visual inspection process

07 / Engagement

Ways to work together.

Clear, outcome-driven engagement models — pick the one that fits where you are, and we scope the rest on a discovery call.

1–2 weeks · fixed scope

AI Strategy & Architecture Audit

Best for: Teams deciding what to build

A focused review of your data, models, and infrastructure to find the highest-ROI opportunities and de-risk the build before you commit budget.

  • Current-state review & opportunity map
  • Prioritised, costed roadmap
  • Reference architecture & next steps
Discuss scope
Most popular
Project-based

Production Build

Best for: Shipping a real system

End-to-end design and delivery of GraphRAG, agentic systems, or ML pipelines — built to production standards, not demos.

  • Architecture, build & deployment
  • CI/CD, monitoring & evaluation
  • Documentation & team handover
Discuss scope
Monthly retainer

Fractional AI Engineering

Best for: Ongoing momentum

Embedded senior AI engineering for teams that need consistent delivery — I own outcomes, raise the bar, and mentor your engineers.

  • Hands-on delivery & code review
  • Technical direction & mentoring
  • Flexible, predictable monthly scope
Discuss scope

08 / FAQ

Questions, answered.

The things teams usually want to know before reaching out. Anything else? Just ask my AI or send a message.

Production AI and data work: GraphRAG and retrieval systems, autonomous AI agents (LangGraph), MLOps pipelines, LLM integration and fine-tuning, computer vision, and data engineering. I focus on systems that ship to production with monitoring and evaluation — not throwaway prototypes.

B2B consulting & contracts

Unblock GenAI and MLOps at scale

Independent consulting and contracting for European and US scale-ups — from RAG and agent architectures to MLOps, evaluation, and production hardening. If your team is hitting infrastructure or delivery bottlenecks, I can scope an engagement from Milan (remote across time zones).

Services

  • AI Agent Development
  • RAG & Knowledge Systems
  • MLOps & Deployment
  • LLM Integration & Fine-tuning
  • Computer Vision Solutions
  • Legacy System Modernization

Contact

Paolo Chignoli

Senior AI Engineer & Data Scientist
MSc Physics (110/110) · Azure Data Scientist & AI Engineer
Milan, Italy (Open to Remote)

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© 2026 Paolo Chignoli — Independent AI contractor.

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