If you work in AI and have been waiting for a government-side role, today is the day to stop waiting. The National e-Governance Division (NeGD), under Digital India Corporation, is hiring AI/ML Engineers for its New Delhi projects, and applications for that role close today, 1 November 2026. The related Data Scientist (AI and ML) role stays open a little longer, until 4 November 2026.
NeGD supports the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on e-governance programmes used by citizens every day, and its listed projects include DigiLocker, UMANG and Poshan Tracker. The people hired here will work on models that touch real public services, not demo datasets.
Both roles are contractual, initially for three years, with possible extensions based on project requirements. Shortlisting comes first, followed by a panel interview and a final committee decision.
What is open, and when does it close
The official Digital India Corporation listings confirm two headline roles:
- AI/ML Engineer: 6 positions, New Delhi, last date 1 November 2026.
- Data Scientist (AI and ML): 4 positions, New Delhi, last date 4 November 2026, under advertisement number N/39/2026-NeGD.
Career listings also note related AI roles closing on 4 November. The engineer deadline falls today.
What the AI/ML Engineer will do
The engineer role is hands-on and production focused: building, training and fine-tuning machine learning and deep learning models for text classification, summarisation, entity extraction, document understanding, image matching, object detection and speech recognition.
Much of the work is around large language models: fine-tuning open-weight models, building retrieval-augmented systems, and distilling larger models into smaller cost-efficient ones.
Underneath the models, the brief asks for training data pipelines, reproducible experiments, quantisation and serving optimisation, and monitoring deployed models for drift, latency and cost. Document understanding recurs throughout, with OCR models for forms and handwritten records, including Indian languages.
What the Data Scientist role involves
The Data Scientist role leans towards problem framing, statistical rigour and evaluation: translating business needs into well-defined analytical problems, building models for classification, regression, ranking and forecasting, and developing fraud and anomaly detection models where labelled data is scarce.
Generative AI features heavily too, with retrieval-augmented generation and tool-using agents. Evaluation gets unusual weight: leakage-free validation, hallucination checks and golden datasets.
Responsible AI runs through both roles: guardrails, leakage checks, anonymisation and model cards.
Who can apply
For the Data Scientist post, listings specify a B.Tech or B.E., M.Tech or M.S., or M.Sc. in Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Data Science, AI/ML or a related quantitative discipline, plus four or more years of experience. The maximum age is listed as 55 years, and the listed budget goes up to Rs 40 lakh per annum.
For the AI/ML Engineer post, recent NeGD adverts prefer B.E., B.Tech. or MCA degrees in computing, with experience commonly in the four to eight year range for mid-senior contributors, and three or more years working with Generative AI and LLMs. The skill list is specific: hands-on RAG design, vector databases and LLM integration, Python backends with FastAPI or Flask, React and TypeScript frontends, and cloud fluency on AWS, Azure or GCP with Docker and CI/CD.
Those details are a guide, not a substitute for the notification. Read the specific PDF before you submit.
How to apply, step by step
- Visit negd.gov.in/careers and open the role you want: AI/ML Engineer or Data Scientist (AI and ML).
- Read the attached notification PDF in full, including eligibility, experience and document requirements.
- Click Apply Online, which takes you to the Digital India Corporation ORA recruitment portal at ora.digitalindiacorporation.in.
- Register or log in, complete the form carefully, and upload your resume, certificates and identification documents.
- Government employees should keep a No Objection Certificate ready for the interview stage.
- Submit well before the portal closes: today, 1 November, for AI/ML Engineer, and by 4 November for Data Scientist.
Keep your resume evidence-led: a shipped model or a cut in inference cost beats a list of tools.
FAQs
What is the last date to apply for NeGD AI/ML Engineer posts?
The last date is today, 1 November 2026, for 6 AI/ML Engineer positions in New Delhi.
What is the last date for NeGD Data Scientist posts?
Data Scientist (AI and ML) applications close on 4 November 2026. There are 4 positions under advertisement N/39/2026-NeGD.
Where do I apply for NeGD recruitment 2026?
Apply through negd.gov.in/careers, which links to the Digital India Corporation ORA portal at ora.digitalindiacorporation.in.
Are these permanent government jobs?
No. Both roles are contractual, initially for three years, with possible extensions based on project requirements.
What qualification is needed for the Data Scientist role?
A B.Tech/B.E., M.Tech/M.S. or M.Sc. in Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Data Science, AI/ML or a related discipline, plus four or more years of experience, as per the listing. Confirm the exact criteria in the notification PDF.
To sum up: if the AI/ML Engineer role fits you, apply today. If the Data Scientist role is the better match, you have until 4 November, but there is little to gain by leaving it to the last hour, when portals slow down and documents go missing.
