James Budarz

James Budarz is a seasoned data professional with extensive experience in machine learning and data science. Currently serving as a Senior Machine Learning Engineer at Tala since March 2022, James oversees the model development lifecycle, including deployment and monitoring. Prior to this, James held the role of Senior Data Scientist at Tala, leading initiatives in reproducible model training across various domains. At American Express, from December 2018 to March 2022, James was a Machine Learning Engineer specializing in the development of AI tools and machine learning models. As a mentor at the NYC Data Science Academy, James guided students in key data science concepts. James's research experience includes a postdoctoral position at EPFL, where leadership and data processing initiatives led to significant scholarly contributions. James holds a PhD in Physical Chemistry from Brown University, along with degrees in Chemistry and French Language and Literature from the University of Connecticut.