Freelance Senior AI Engineer (Search Tech)

Job Title: Senior AI Engineer – (Freelance, 12-Month Contract)

Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands (Hybrid – On-site days TBC)
Contract Length: 12 months
Languages: English & Dutch (required)
Start: Q1 2026
Engagement: Freelance / Contractor
Client Facing: Yes

About the Role – 

My client is seeking a highly skilled Senior AI Engineer to support the development of advanced AI solutions focused on search, retrieval, and intelligent document understanding. You will work closely with industry specific stakeholders, product teams, and technical specialists to design, build, and optimise AI-driven search capabilities.

Key Responsibilities –

AI & Search Engineering – 

• Design, build, and optimise advanced search and retrieval systems for AI applications.
• Develop hybrid and vector search solutions using technologies such as Elasticsearch and Hybrid Search.
• Implement intelligent retrieval pipelines using LangGraph, vector databases, and modern RAG architectures.
• Evaluate, prototype, and integrate state-of-the-art models and retrieval strategies to improve accuracy and performance.

Client & Stakeholder Interaction – 

• Act as a technical contact for business stakeholders.
• Translate requirements into technical backlogs and actionable solutions.
• Present prototypes, solution designs, and progress updates to client teams.
• Work collaboratively with external partners and internal engineering groups.

Core Technical Skills – 

• Strong expertise in Python (preferred) and/or TypeScript.
• Hands-on experience building search and retrieval systems at scale.
• Deep understanding of:
  • Elasticsearch (indexing, tuning, ranking)
  • Hybrid Search and Vespa
  • Vector databases and embedding workflows
  • LangGraph or comparable orchestration frameworks
• Experience working with Azure Cloud services (e.g., Cognitive Search, AKS, Functions, Storage, ML).
• Proficiency with Databricks for data processing and ML pipelines
• Languages: Dutch (Required), English (Required)

Contract Details –
Location: Rotterdam (Hybrid, number of days on site to be confirmed)
Duration: 12 Month Contract (Initially)
Rate: Please quote expectations