Data Scientist – OCR & Document Digitization

Position: Data Scientist – OCR & Document Digitization

Location: Remote (Chicago, IL, or New York, NY candidates preferred)

Duration: 1-Year Contract + Potential Extensions

Job Summary: We are seeking an experienced Data Scientist to develop and improve OCR-based document digitization solutions, focusing on reducing fax-related costs and improving operational efficiency. The role involves working with LLMs, cloud-based OCR tools, and traditional OCR technologies to extract and validate information from handwritten documents and poor-quality faxes. The ideal candidate must combine strong technical expertise with business understanding, stakeholder communication, and the ability to evaluate technical trade-offs. This position requires end-to-end ownership of production solutions while collaborating with technical and nontechnical teams to deliver measurable business improvements. Must-Have Skills:5+ years of relevant Data Science experience. Strong hands-on experience with Optical Character Recognition (OCR).Experience with LLM-based OCR, cloud OCR tools, and traditional OCR technologies such as Tesseract. Experience processing handwritten documents, poor-quality faxes, and image artifacts. Experience with database validation and improving data extraction accuracy. Strong programming skills in Python and SQL.Familiarity with Google Cloud Platform (GCP).Experience developing, deploying, and maintaining production applications. Strong understanding of OCR tool limitations, data quality challenges, and improvement strategies. Excellent stakeholder communication and business understanding. Ability to explain technical trade-offs and gain buy-in from business stakeholders. Experience collaborating with technical and nontechnical teams. Demonstrated end-to-end ownership of complex or ambiguous projects with limited supervision. Strong technical judgment, problem-solving skills, and an outcome-oriented mindset. Growth mindset and ability to build upon existing solutions rather than starting from scratch.

Responsibilities: Develop, deploy, and maintain production OCR solutions to digitize incoming faxes and improve document processing. Process handwritten documents, poor-quality faxes, and image artifacts while improving extraction accuracy and validating data. Evaluate LLMs, cloud-based OCR services, and traditional OCR tools to identify suitable technical solutions. Analyze existing fax-related workflows, identify why providers continue sending faxes, and recommend process or vendor improvements to reduce costs. Collaborate with technical and business stakeholders to explain solution trade-offs, gain alignment, and drive business decisions. Take ownership of end-to-end project delivery, leveraging existing solutions and working closely with team members to achieve measurable business outcomes. Develop, deploy, and maintain production OCR solutions to digitize incoming faxes and improve document processing. Process handwritten documents, poor-quality faxes, and image artifacts while improving extraction accuracy and validating data. Evaluate LLMs, cloud-based OCR services, and traditional OCR tools to identify suitable technical solutions. Analyze existing fax-related workflows, identify why providers continue sending faxes, and recommend process or vendor improvements to reduce costs. Collaborate with technical and business stakeholders to explain solution trade-offs, gain alignment, and drive business decisions. Take ownership of end-to-end project delivery, leveraging existing solutions and working closely with team members to achieve measurable business outcomes.