Gustavo Franco
Verified Expert in Engineering
AI Architect, Lead Data Scientist, and Developer
Providence, RI, United States
Toptal member since March 19, 2026
Gustavo is a versatile AI architect, lead data scientist, and prompt engineer with 12+ years of experience. He has designed and delivered scalable, production-grade machine learning (ML) and generative AI (GenAI) solutions for government, retail, and enterprise clients. Gustavo is an expert in large language models (LLMs), agentic systems, NLP, MLOps, and cloud-based infrastructure, including Azure and AWS.
Portfolio
Experience
- DevOps - 12 years
- Machine Learning - 12 years
- Python - 12 years
- Natural Language Processing (NLP) - 11 years
- Databricks - 7 years
- Large Language Models (LLMs) - 6 years
- LangChain - 5 years
- RAG Architecture - 4 years
Preferred Environment
Python, LangChain, Databricks, Dataiku, FastAPI, MLflow, RAG Architecture, Large Language Models (LLMs), Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing (NLP)
The most amazing...
...system I've built is an end-to-end agentic AI platform that transforms raw, unstructured feedback and structured data into actionable, self-service insights.
Work Experience
Senior AI Engineer
ICF International
- Architected and deployed an agentic LLM system that allowed users to query structured survey data via natural language. The system reformatted user input, queried data sources, and composed accurate responses.
- Conducted experiments and developed POCs demonstrating the impact of LLM agents and RAG to address key voice of customer (VoC) challenges in online passport services, increasing stakeholder buy-in across departments.
- Designed, developed, and deployed production-grade LLM and GenAI systems using Llama 3, implementing multi-agent architectures for sentiment analysis, thematic categorization, and summarization.
Lead Data Scientist
Atrium
- Architected and optimized a customer retention model using NLP and GenAI techniques, increasing ROI from high-value repeat customers by over 15%.
- Led the project management for customer retention strategies and customer-facing initiatives, ensuring timely delivery and stakeholder satisfaction.
- Explored advanced LLM-based text-to-SQL solutions, aiming to improve data accessibility for non-technical users.
ML Specialist
VMWare
- Developed a client recommendation system using customer segmentation, increasing client acquisition rates by 18%.
- Built a customer acquisition model using advanced ML techniques, resulting in a 22% increase in customer retention.
- Created robust production pipelines in Dataiku, including logging, unit tests, and integration tests, ensuring model reliability and scalability.
Experience
Voice of the Customer AI Platform
• Reformulate the query intelligently (handling ambiguity and intent)
• Route the request to the right tools or data sources
• Query structured databases and analytics pipelines
• Interpret the results contextually
• Generate a clear, business-ready answer
At the same time, the system processed tens of thousands of open-ended feedback entries through a three-stage pipeline (sentiment, themes, and insights), enabling leadership to understand customer pain points quickly.
Education
PhD in Informatics and Applied Mathematics
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth - Dartmouth, MA, USA
Master's Degree in Data Science
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth - Dartmouth, MA, USA
Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics and Computer Science
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth - Dartmouth, MA, USA
Skills
Libraries/APIs
PySpark, D3.js
Tools
Git, Tableau, Microsoft Power BI
Languages
Python, SQL, Snowflake, TypeScript
Frameworks
Spark, Apache Spark
Paradigms
DevOps, ETL
Platforms
Amazon Web Services (AWS), Databricks, Dataiku, Docker, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Azure
Storage
Data Pipelines, PostgreSQL, Amazon S3 (AWS S3), Data Integration
Other
RAG Architecture, Large Language Models (LLMs), Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Machine Learning Operations (MLOps), CI/CD Pipelines, Data Engineering, Azure Databricks, Data Science, Data Analysis, Artificial Intelligence (AI), APIs, AI Integration, Time Series, AI Development, AI Architecture, LangChain, MLflow, FastAPI
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