Nick Davies

AI/ML Engineering

Practical, production-grade AI/ML engineering for teams who need to ship LLM features, not just talk about them. I help you architect, build and harden the parts that decide whether your AI product actually works in the wild.

    Production AI/ML engineering, built by someone who ships it daily.

    Where I Help

    Most teams don't need another deck about AI. They need someone who's wired up LLMs in production and knows where the real failure modes live. That's where I come in.

    • LLM application architecture: choosing the right shape for the problem
    • Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems that actually retrieve the right thing
    • Agentic workflows and tool-use design that stay debuggable as they grow
    • Evals, observability and regression testing for non-deterministic systems
    • Model selection and cost control: matching capability to budget
    • Inference infrastructure, caching strategies and latency tuning

    Why Me

    I work hands-on in AI/ML engineering day-to-day at a leading research lab, so the practices I bring aren't second-hand. They're what I use myself.

    I'm also the creator of Footstep, a practical demonstration of shipping production AI end-to-end. If you want to see the kind of engineering I bring to client work, Footstep is the proof.

    How We'd Work Together

    Flexible engagement models depending on what you need:

    • Advisory. Architecture reviews, technical due diligence, a second pair of eyes on your AI roadmap.
    • Fractional. Embedded with your team part-time to lead AI/ML engineering without the full-time hire.
    • Build with your team. Hands-on pairing on the hard parts (evals, RAG quality, agent reliability), levelling up your engineers as we go.

    Shipping AI features and want them to actually work in production? Get in touch.