Hi, I'm Jijo James 👋
Data Engineer • AI Engineer • LLM Developer
9+ years building scalable data pipelines, LLM-powered applications, RAG systems, and AI agents. Currently accepting freelance & contract projects — available for remote work worldwide.
About
Jijo James is a Senior Data Engineer and AI Specialist with over 9 years of experience building robust data infrastructure and leveraging Large Language Models to solve complex problems. He specializes in designing scalable ETL pipelines using Apache Spark, Airflow, and dbt, data warehousing solutions on Snowflake and BigQuery, and AI-powered applications with LangChain and RAG architectures.
Currently a Senior Data Engineer at Eli Lilly and Company, Jijo leads data migration initiatives and builds LLM-powered data pipelines. He is available for freelance and contract work worldwide, offering services in data engineering, generative AI, AI agents, and machine learning.
Outside of work, Jijo enjoys hiking, rock climbing, running, reading fiction, and exploring movies and gems on YouTube.
Freelance Services
Available for hire as a freelance data engineer, AI engineer, and LLM developer. Here's how I can help your team.
Data Engineering
Hire a freelance data engineer to build production-grade data infrastructure from scratch or modernize legacy systems.
- • ETL/ELT pipeline development (Spark, Airflow, dbt)
- • Data warehouse design (Snowflake, BigQuery, Redshift)
- • Real-time streaming (Kafka, Flink)
- • Data migration & cloud modernization
- • Cost optimization & performance tuning
LLM & Generative AI Development
Hire a freelance LLM engineer to build production-ready generative AI applications and integrations.
- • LLM app development (LangChain, LlamaIndex)
- • RAG systems with vector databases
- • Custom AI chatbots & assistants
- • LLM fine-tuning & prompt engineering
- • OpenAI, Claude, Llama, Mistral integration
AI Agents & Automation
Hire a freelance AI engineer to build autonomous agents that reason, plan, and execute complex workflows.
- • AI agent development & orchestration
- • Multi-agent systems
- • AI-powered business process automation
- • Tool-using agents (APIs, databases, external services)
Machine Learning & MLOps
Hire a freelance ML engineer for end-to-end model development, deployment, and monitoring.
- • ML model development (classification, NLP, deep learning)
- • MLOps & model deployment (SageMaker, Vertex AI, MLflow)
- • Recommendation systems
- • NLP: text classification, entity extraction, sentiment analysis
Engagement Models
Consulting, code reviews, architecture
Fixed scope & timeline deliverables
Ongoing support & development
10–30 dedicated hours per week
Skills
Data Engineering
LLM & AI
Cloud & Tools
Experience
Senior Data Engineer
2025 - PresentEli Lilly and Company
Lead the data migration of multiple acquired companies. Building LLM-powered data pipelines and RAG systems. Leading data infrastructure modernization initiatives.
Data Engineer
2024 - 2024AI Palette
Built and optimized ETL pipelines using Airflow and Spark. Reduced execution time by 90% through Jenkins automation and cut infrastructure costs by migrating to Kubernetes. Implemented an in-house LLM-powered translator.
Co-Founder
2021 - 2024Dataque
Built full-stack data platform using FastAPI, PostgreSQL, and Python. Designed ETL pipelines processing 7M+ data points with 25% improved accuracy. Led product development and helped startups scale through data-driven solutions.
Data Analyst
2019 - 2021Leadlytics
Led automation projects using Python and Selenium, extracting 2M+ user records. Built data pipelines for US clients using SQL and Bash scripting. Managed a team of 3 and drove B2B lead generation initiatives.
Independent Consultant
2016 - 2019Freelance
Helped local businesses and early-stage startups build their digital presence. Generated leads through outbound campaigns and LinkedIn outreach for D2C companies.
Frequently Asked Questions
What services does Jijo James offer as a freelance data engineer?
Jijo offers freelance data engineering services including ETL/ELT pipeline development with Apache Spark, Airflow, and dbt; LLM application development and RAG systems using LangChain; AI agent development; machine learning model building and MLOps; and cloud data infrastructure on AWS, GCP, and Databricks. He works with startups and enterprises across healthcare, fintech, e-commerce, and SaaS.
How do I hire Jijo as a freelance AI engineer or LLM developer?
You can reach out via email at jj.jamesjijo@gmail.com or connect on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/jamesjijo. Jijo offers hourly consulting, project-based engagements, retainers, and part-time contracts (10–30 hours/week). He responds within 24 hours and is happy to discuss your project scope on a free initial call.
Is Jijo available for remote freelance work in the US, Europe, or other time zones?
Yes. Jijo is based in Bangalore, India (IST/UTC+5:30) and works remotely with clients worldwide. He offers flexible overlap hours for US (EST, CST, PST), European (GMT, CET, EET), and Asia-Pacific time zones. He's experienced with async communication, Slack, and regular status updates.
What is Jijo's experience with big data and data pipeline development?
Jijo has 9+ years of experience building data pipelines that process millions of records. At AI Palette, he reduced pipeline execution time by 90%. At Dataque, he built ETL systems processing 7M+ data points with 25% improved accuracy. He's proficient in Apache Spark, PySpark, Airflow, dbt, Kafka, and works with data warehouses like Snowflake, BigQuery, and Redshift.
Can Jijo build LLM-powered apps, RAG systems, or AI chatbots?
Yes. Jijo builds production-grade LLM applications using LangChain, LlamaIndex, OpenAI API, Anthropic Claude, and open-source models like Llama and Mistral. He designs RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) systems with vector databases (Pinecone, Weaviate, Chroma, pgvector), custom AI chatbots, and multi-agent systems. At Eli Lilly, he currently builds LLM-powered data pipelines and RAG systems at enterprise scale.
What industries has Jijo worked in?
Jijo has worked across healthcare & pharmaceuticals (Eli Lilly), consumer goods/FMCG (AI Palette), technology/SaaS, e-commerce & retail, fintech, and early-stage startups (seed to Series B). He understands both enterprise compliance requirements and startup velocity.
Contact
Ready to hire a freelance data engineer or AI specialist?
Whether you need data pipelines, LLM-powered apps, AI agents, or ML models — reach out and I'll respond within 24 hours. Free initial consultation.