AI Engineer

BB6 Defense•Columbia, MD

172d•$160,000 - $220,000

About The Position

The AI Engineer provides technical advisory support to government teams designing, evaluating, and advancing AI-enabled applications, tools, and workflows. The role is hands-on and focuses on guiding the development of practical solutions using large language models, agentic workflows, orchestration frameworks, and supporting software infrastructure. The position calls for a curious builder who explores frameworks, prototypes ideas, and keeps up with developments in the AI ecosystem. The engineer provides SETA support, advises on AI application design and integration, reviews architectures and technical risks, evaluates frameworks and AI tools, and supports testing and evaluation activities. The role involves working with platform engineers, product leads, mission users, and government leadership to keep AI efforts technically grounded and operationally relevant. The position is based in Columbia, Maryland, and requires an active TS/SCI with CI Polygraph clearance.

Requirements

At least 18 years of experience with a bachelor's degree, or 15 years with a master's degree, in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, Mathematics, or a related field.
Experience designing, building, integrating, or evaluating AI/ML-enabled applications or software tools.
Familiarity with modern AI application patterns, including LLM-based applications, RAG, prompt engineering, agentic systems, and AI-assisted workflows.
Working knowledge of one or more agentic or orchestration frameworks, such as LangChain, LangGraph, Semantic Kernel, AutoGen, CrewAI, Haystack, or LlamaIndex, or similar ecosystems.
Experience with software development fundamentals, APIs, data handling, and system integration.
Ability to assess technical tradeoffs and communicate them clearly to engineers and government stakeholders.
Strong written and verbal communication skills.
Active TS/SCI with CI Polygraph security clearance.

Nice To Haves

Experience with Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, or similar languages used in AI application development.
Familiarity with vector databases, embeddings, model APIs, evaluation frameworks, and agent testing harnesses.
Exposure to model hosting, inference pipelines, or cloud-based AI development environments.
Understanding of secure AI development practices, data protection, and operational constraints in government settings.
Experience supporting defense, cyber, intelligence, or mission application development.
Familiarity with human-in-the-loop workflows, AI assurance, and evaluation methodologies.

Responsibilities

Provide SETA support to government teams developing or assessing AI-enabled applications and tools.
Advise on technical approaches for AI application design, prototyping, integration, and evaluation.
Assess solutions involving LLMs, retrieval-augmented generation, tool use, agentic workflows, orchestration layers, prompt pipelines, and evaluation harnesses.
Support review of architectures, development approaches, model usage patterns, and technical risk areas.
Advise on AI engineering considerations including latency, reliability, observability, testability, guardrails, data flow, and system integration.
Evaluate and compare modern AI frameworks, agentic libraries, and experimentation harnesses for suitability in mission use cases.
Assist with developing technical guidance, prototypes, engineering recommendations, and briefings for government stakeholders.
Support test and evaluation activities for AI tools, including performance assessment, qualitative review, and workflow validation.
Collaborate with platform engineers, product leads, mission users, and government leadership to keep AI efforts technically grounded and operationally relevant.
Stay current on changes in the AI ecosystem and provide informed recommendations on emerging tools and practices.