NeGD Data Scientist Recruitment 2026 – Apply Online

Four Data Scientist (AI & ML) posts are open at the National e-Governance Division (NeGD), Digital India Corporation, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. The posts are purely on contract, initially for 3 years, and the budget is maximum up to 40 LPA. Candidates need B.Tech./B.E., M.Tech./M.S. or M.Sc. in Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Data Science, AI/ML or a related quantitative discipline, plus 4+ years of experience. Applications are made online at ora.digitalindiacorporation.in, and the last date is 4 November 2026.

NeGD Recruitment 2026 at a Glance

The official notification does not specify the application fee.

About NeGD

The National e-Governance Division (NeGD) is an independent business division under the Digital India Corporation, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. It is based at Electronics Niketan, 6, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi. NeGD supports MeitY in programme management and in carrying out e-Governance projects under the Digital India Programme. Its initiatives include DigiLocker, UMANG, Poshan Tracker, OpenForge Platform, API Setu, National Academic Depository, Academic Bank of Credits and Learning Management System.

Who Can Apply

Educational Qualification

• B.Tech./B.E., M.Tech./M.S. or M.Sc. in Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Data Science, AI/ML or a related quantitative discipline (Must have).
• Advanced degree (M.S./M.Tech./Ph.D.) or published applied work in machine learning, NLP, computer vision or statistics is highly desirable.
• Certifications are not mandatory. Candidates with strong verifiable work (Kaggle Expert level or above, published research or significant open-source contributions) will be considered in lieu of formal qualification.

Experience

• 4+ years in data science, machine learning or applied AI (6+ years preferred), with a minimum of 3 years developing models or AI systems deployed in production or used in operational decisions.
• Demonstrable end-to-end ownership of at least two models or AI systems, with measured outcomes.
• Hands-on experience with at least one LLM or deep learning application deployed for end users, with documented evaluation.
• Experience in at least two of the following: fraud or anomaly detection, forecasting, risk scoring, NLP and LLM applications, computer vision or document AI, speech, and causal inference.
• Experience with large, heterogeneous datasets, including linkage of records across sources.
• Experience in a regulated sector (financial services, healthcare, telecommunications or the public sector) or with Indian-language data is a plus.

Technical Competencies

• Statistics & Causal Inference: generalised linear and hierarchical models, Bayesian inference, hypothesis testing, bootstrap methods; A/B testing, difference-in-differences, synthetic control, regression discontinuity (DoWhy, EconML).
• Machine Learning: XGBoost, LightGBM and CatBoost; tabular foundation models (TabPFN); anomaly detection, clustering and graph methods; forecasting with statistical models and time-series foundation models (Chronos-2, TimesFM).
• Generative AI & LLMs: prompt design, structured outputs and tool calling; retrieval-augmented generation with hybrid search and re-ranking; vector databases (pgvector, Qdrant, Milvus or Weaviate) and FAISS; open-weight and API-based models; agent frameworks (LangGraph, LlamaIndex or equivalent) and the Model Context Protocol (MCP).
• Model Adaptation & Serving: LoRA or QLoRA fine-tuning and preference optimisation (DPO, GRPO) using Hugging Face TRL, PEFT or Unsloth; distillation; quantisation; efficient serving (vLLM or SGLang).
• Deep Learning & Document AI: PyTorch and Hugging Face Transformers; vision-language models for document parsing (such as PaddleOCR-VL, Docling or the Qwen-VL family); vision models for classification and detection; speech recognition (IndicConformer, Whisper or newer open models).
• Indic Language AI: AI4Bharat models (IndicConformer speech recognition for 22 Indian languages, IndicTrans2 translation, IndicBERT, Indic Parler-TTS), Sarvam models and Bhashini services; handling of code-mixed and transliterated text.
• Evaluation & Calibration: RAGAS, DeepEval, promptfoo or Inspect; retrieval metrics (recall at k, MRR, nDCG); calibration and conformal prediction; SHAP and Fairlearn.
• Data, Engineering & Observability: advanced SQL, PySpark, Polars or DuckDB; Python with pytest, Git, MLflow, DVC and Docker; LLM tracing and observability (Langfuse or Arize Phoenix, OpenTelemetry).
• AI Safety & Privacy: prompt-injection and data-leakage testing, guardrail frameworks (NeMo Guardrails, Llama Guard), anonymisation, working knowledge of differential privacy.
• Communication: Matplotlib, Plotly, Power BI or Tableau; explaining model limitations to non-technical audiences.

Age Limit

The maximum age limit is 55 years on the closing date of receipt of application. The notice does not print a minimum age.

For the full eligibility details of the Data Scientist (AI & ML) post, candidates should refer to the official notification.

Pay and Tenure

• The budget for the Data Scientist (AI & ML) post is maximum up to 40 LPA.
• The positions are purely on contract, initially for 3 years, and can be extended further as per the requirement of the project.
• The positions are purely temporary and are for the project of NeGD/DIC. Appointees will have no right or claim to a permanent appointment at NeGD/DIC, or to any vacancy that exists now or that NeGD advertises in future.
• NeGD reserves the right to end an appointment with one month's notice, or without notice by paying one month's salary in lieu of the notice period.
• The place of posting will be New Delhi, but the post is transferable to project locations of NeGD as per the existing policy of NeGD/DIC.
• The designation of selected candidates will be mapped as per the existing designation policy of NeGD.

NeGD Recruitment 2026 Job Description

Role summary: The Data Scientist will design, develop and evaluate statistical, machine learning and AI solutions, including LLM applications, retrieval systems and deep learning models for text, image, speech and document data. The role requires sound judgement in selecting the appropriate technique, rigorous validation of predictive and generative models, and delivery of production-quality code.

Problem Formulation

• Translate business requirements into well-defined analytical problems with a clear decision, baseline and evaluation metric.
• Select the appropriate approach (rules-based, classical machine learning, deep learning, a fine-tuned model or an LLM) based on accuracy, cost, latency and explainability, and document the rationale.
• Assess data feasibility, including label quality, leakage and bias, and advise where the data is insufficient for the objective.

Machine Learning & Statistical Modelling

• Develop and validate models for classification, regression, ranking and forecasting, starting from robust baselines.
• Develop fraud and anomaly detection models for imbalanced settings with limited labelled data.
• Generate labels through weak supervision, active learning and LLM-assisted labelling, with human validation.

Generative AI & Deep Learning

• Develop LLM-based solutions, including retrieval-augmented generation, document extraction, summarisation and tool-using agents.
• Design retrieval components (chunking, embeddings, hybrid search and re-ranking), and adapt models through prompting, parameter-efficient fine-tuning and distillation.
• Develop deep learning solutions for NLP, document understanding (OCR and vision-language models), vision and speech, including Indian-language and code-mixed data.
• Optimise cost and latency, including the choice between open-weight and API-based models.

Evaluation & Statistical Rigour

• Validate models using leakage-free schemes, and quantify uncertainty through prediction intervals, calibration and conformal prediction.
• Evaluate generative AI systems through golden datasets, separate retrieval and generation metrics, hallucination checks, and LLM-based evaluation calibrated against human labels.
• Conduct error and subgroup analysis across cohorts, languages and input types.
• Design experiments and apply quasi-experimental methods to assess whether deployed models have improved outcomes.

Production & Monitoring

• Develop tested, peer-reviewed, production-quality Python code and ensure all experiments are reproducible.
• Hand over models to the MLOps team with defined monitoring metrics, drift thresholds and retraining triggers.
• Monitor deployed systems for quality, drift, latency and cost, and incorporate failures into evaluation sets.

Responsible AI & Privacy

• Measure and mitigate performance disparities across cohorts, and provide explanations for decisions affecting individuals.
• Test LLM systems for prompt injection, jailbreaks and leakage of personal data, and design guardrails in coordination with security specialists.
• Apply anonymisation and data minimisation in compliance with applicable data protection law, and prepare model cards and evaluation records.

Communication & Mentoring

• Prepare clear reports for non-technical stakeholders, including model limitations and uncertainty.
• Review the work of junior data scientists, and support the review of vendor model deliverables.

How to Apply for NeGD Recruitment 2026

Eligible candidates may apply online on the Digital India Corporation recruitment portal, ora.digitalindiacorporation.in, by 4 November 2026. The details can also be downloaded from the official websites of DIC and NeGD, www.dic.gov.in and www.negd.gov.in.

Documents named in the notice:

• No Objection Certificate from the employer concerned, only for candidates already in regular or contractual employment under the Central or State Government, Public Sector Undertakings or Autonomous Bodies. These candidates are expected to apply through proper channel, or to attach the NOC with the application, or to produce it at the time of the interview.

Selection and Interview

• Screening: Applications will be screened on the basis of qualifications, age and relevant experience.
• Shortlisting: NeGD reserves the right to fix a higher threshold of qualifications and experience for screening, and to limit the number of candidates called for interview.
• Interview: Only shortlisted candidates will be invited for interviews.
• NeGD reserves the right not to select any of the candidates, without giving any reason.

Important Dates

Important Instructions

• NeGD reserves the right to fill all, some or none of the positions advertised, without giving any reason.

Important Links

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Frequently Asked Questions

How many vacancies are there in NeGD Recruitment 2026?

There are 04 vacancies for the post of Data Scientist (AI & ML) under Advertisement No. N/39/2026-NeGD.

What is the last date to apply for the NeGD Data Scientist post?

The last date for submitting applications is 4 November 2026.

What qualification is required for the NeGD Data Scientist (AI & ML) post?

Candidates must have B.Tech./B.E., M.Tech./M.S. or M.Sc. in Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Data Science, AI/ML or a related quantitative discipline. An advanced degree (M.S./M.Tech./Ph.D.) or published applied work is highly desirable.

Can I apply without the formal qualification?

Yes, possibly. The notice says that candidates with strong verifiable work (Kaggle Expert level or above, published research or significant open-source contributions) will be considered in lieu of formal qualification.

How much experience is needed for the NeGD Data Scientist post?

Candidates need 4+ years in data science, machine learning or applied AI (6+ years preferred). This must include a minimum of 3 years developing models or AI systems deployed in production or used in operational decisions.

What is the age limit for NeGD Recruitment 2026?

The maximum age limit is 55 years on the closing date of receipt of application.

What is the salary of a NeGD Data Scientist (AI & ML)?

The notice gives a budget of maximum up to 40 LPA for the Data Scientist (AI & ML) post.

How do I apply for NeGD Recruitment 2026?

Eligible candidates may apply online at ora.digitalindiacorporation.in by 4 November 2026.

What is the selection process for the NeGD Data Scientist post?

Applications are screened on qualifications, age and relevant experience, and only shortlisted candidates are invited for interviews. NeGD may set a higher threshold to limit the number of candidates called for interview.

Is the NeGD Data Scientist job permanent?

No. The positions are purely on contract, initially for 3 years and extendable as per the requirement of the project. Appointees have no right or claim to a permanent appointment at NeGD/DIC.