AI Development Lead

TheIncLab•McLean, VA

11d

About The Position

The Mission Starts Here TheIncLab engineers and delivers intelligent digital applications and platforms that revolutionize how our customers and mission-critical teams achieve success. We are where innovation meets purpose; and where your career can meet purpose as well.  We are looking for an AI Development Lead to join our RAPID AI Research team to deliver TheIncLab's vision. Our work spans the full AI lifecycle, from research and early prototyping through production-grade systems impacting real customers. We encourage you to apply and take the first step in joining our dynamic and impactful company. Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept As an AI Development Lead, you will work cross-functionally with product, engineering, and business leaders to translate cutting-edge AI research into scalable, reliable, and mission-impacting software. We encourage you to apply and take the first step in joining our dynamic and impactful company. What will you do Drive Technical Strategy & Execution Lead architecture, design, and delivery of AI/ML systems, including LLMs, RAG workflows, agents, and foundation models from prototyping to production. Lead End-to-End AI Lifecycle Oversee model development including data preparation, training/optimization, evaluation/validation, deployment, monitoring, and iteration. Ensure systems adhere to robustness, scalability, observability, and ethical AI standards. Collaborate Cross-Functionally Partner with product managers, data engineers, UX/design, and business stakeholders to define requirements, set priorities, and deliver impactful AI solutions aligned to business needs. Establish Best Practices Champion CI/CD and MLOps practices, including model versioning, automated pipelines, performance monitoring, and reproducibility. Mentorship & Leadership Mentor engineers and scientists, fostering high engineering standards, technical growth, innovation, and accountability. Research & Innovation Impact Stay ahead of industry advancements in generative AI, foundational model tech, self-supervised learning, optimization techniques, RLHF, and robustness/interpretability. Apply research insights to product enhancements and novel solutions. What Success Looks Like Robust, scalable, and maintainable foundations for TheIncLab’s products and services Increased velocity of AI development through strong engineering processes High team morale and growth through mentorship and technical leadership Measurably better customer outcomes informed by AI research You are an analytical and inventive thinker who loves both building and leading . You deliver systems that work at scale. You combine research fluency with practical engineering rigor to bridge innovation and production delivery. You Are: Innovative. You constantly survey emerging AI technologies and apply them where they advance business value. Collaborative. You communicate technical concepts clearly to technical and non-technical audiences alike. A Proven Leader. You set direction, elevate execution quality, and nurture talent. Technical & Hands-On. Comfortable writing production-grade code and architecting systems with deep knowledge of modern AI frameworks.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Mathematics, Engineering, or related field.
Minimum 5+ years in AI/ML development with clear progression into technical leadership roles.
Experience from concept through execution and operationalization of AI/ML systems.
Deep understanding of generative AI architectures, training paradigms, and foundation models.
Hands-on experience with large deep learning models: language, vision, event, or graph domains.
Expertise in one or more advanced topics: self-supervised learning, training optimization, robustness, explainability, RLHF.
Demonstrated record of delivering AI systems at scale, both training compute and inference loads.
Experience building platform-level capabilities or reusable libraries that uplift other teams.
Track record of meaningful contributions to the field, such as publications, open-source code, or recognized projects.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills and ability to align AI work with business strategy.
Willingness to travel to customer sites as needed.
Applicants must be a U.S. Citizen and willing and eligible to obtain a U.S. Security Clearance at the Secret or Top-Secret level.

Nice To Haves

Graduate degrees preferred.
Existing clearance is preferred.

Responsibilities

Drive Technical Strategy & Execution Lead architecture, design, and delivery of AI/ML systems, including LLMs, RAG workflows, agents, and foundation models from prototyping to production.
Lead End-to-End AI Lifecycle Oversee model development including data preparation, training/optimization, evaluation/validation, deployment, monitoring, and iteration. Ensure systems adhere to robustness, scalability, observability, and ethical AI standards.
Collaborate Cross-Functionally Partner with product managers, data engineers, UX/design, and business stakeholders to define requirements, set priorities, and deliver impactful AI solutions aligned to business needs.
Establish Best Practices Champion CI/CD and MLOps practices, including model versioning, automated pipelines, performance monitoring, and reproducibility.
Mentorship & Leadership Mentor engineers and scientists, fostering high engineering standards, technical growth, innovation, and accountability.
Research & Innovation Impact Stay ahead of industry advancements in generative AI, foundational model tech, self-supervised learning, optimization techniques, RLHF, and robustness/interpretability. Apply research insights to product enhancements and novel solutions.

Benefits

Hybrid and flexible work schedules
Professional development programs
Training and certification reimbursement
Extended and floating holiday schedule
Paid time off and Paid volunteer time
Health and Wellness Benefits include options for Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance along with access to Wellness, Mental Health, and Employee Assistance Programs.
100% Company Paid Benefits that include STD, LTD, and Basic Life insurance.
401(k) Plan Options with employer matching
Incentive bonuses for eligible clearances, performance, and employee referrals.
A company culture that values your individual strengths, career goals, and contributions to the team.