I think there is room for specialist field called numerical programming or scientific programming. Someone who knows basics of numerical programming, math, statistics, data science, computational modeling and simulation, DSP etc. and can apply the skills to multiple different fields, including machine learning.

The skill level needed to work independently usually requires at least masters level, but there could be BS level degree as well. Today the problem is that you have research PhD's doing basic grunt work because you can't just hire a coder. All they know is web stacks, android and SQL.