AI/ML Engineering Director Fellow (Contract)

FAS•Washington, DC

60d•$164,000 - $164,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The FAS Talent Hub is seeking an Impact Fellow in a contractual capacity for a 24-month term to join the Department of Information Technology within a state government. This Gubernatorial Administration has an ambitious vision to become a national leader in responsible, productive use of artificial intelligence (AI). State agencies are eager to explore how AI can improve public services and deliver better outcomes for residents. To turn that momentum into impact, the state is building a new AI Innovation Lab to scale responsible, productive AI across Executive Branch agencies. To achieve this goal, the state is collaborating with the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) to recruit an AI/ML Engineering Director who will lead high-impact projects, expand technical capacity, and help drive the use of AI to modernize public services. This entrepreneurial leader will support innovation across workforce systems and help position the state as a national model for using AI in the public interest. Current employees of the state are not eligible for this position.

Requirements

5 - 7 years of engineering leadership, preferably mentoring and growing engineering teams to design/build/ship AI systems.
Exceptional ability to build strong relationships with cross-functional peers in Design, Legal, Product, and other diverse disciplines.
Envision the “art of the possible” – you have a strong point of view on where AI is going next and will make a plan to keep our state at the forefront.
Deep knowledge of the end-to-end AI product lifecycle, from user research to continuous improvement and monitoring.
Hands-on experience defining and implementing robust frameworks for system orchestration, continuous evaluation, and post-deployment monitoring.
A holistic approach to building AI: You value its ethics and impact as much as its accuracy.
Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis; the employer will not sponsor applicants for work visas.

Nice To Haves

A track record building and launching AI systems in highly regulated industries, including the government and healthcare, is preferred but not required.

Responsibilities

Lead technical strategy, delivery, and capacity-building to expand the state’s ability to develop and scale AI solutions.
Identify areas where state-led AI experimentation can have the greatest impact.
Identify systemic barriers – such as gaps in technical expertise, procedural bottlenecks, or infrastructure/architectural limitations – that slow the adoption of AI tools across state government, and developing technical/policy/talent solutions to remove these barriers.
Shape an emerging accelerator program for agencies starting their AI journeys, shepherding them from business use case definition to helping them deploy to higher environments.
Collaborate with agencies through AI office hours, solutions architecture sessions, and ongoing guidance to help them find the best fit-for-purpose AI, from models to data patterns.
Ensure that the AI Innovation Lab's work, from team structure to tech stack, aligns with industry best practices to make sure we offer state agencies the most responsible, productive AI possible.
Scrub in as needed to build AI solutions alongside agency partners.
Championing an MLOps strategy for the state’s first AI Innovation Lab, which aims to scale AI pilot projects into ongoing AI products.
Building longer-term capacity by establishing practices that enable sustained AI adoption, including with and for agentic systems.