IT Systems Engineer - Continuous Improvement

Fairbanks Morse Defense•Beloit, WI

About The Position

Fairbanks Morse Defense's Aftermarket Continuous Improvement (CI) function is driving a portfolio of artificial intelligence (AI), business intelligence (BI), and process-automation initiatives; the Fairbanks Morse Operating System (FMOS) program, to make the business faster, better, and more reliable. In order to support the growth and demands of our customers, FMD needs to deliver higher-quality service, faster quoting, faster job completion, and better insight all enabled by automation of manual data tasks, data visualization, and utilizing AI tools to drive efficiency. FMA is seeking an IT Systems Engineer as the dedicated technical resource who designs, builds, deploys, operates and maintains these AI, BI, and automation solutions across the organization. This is a hands-on lead role: you will take prioritized ideas from the CI pipeline (e.g., AI inside-sales and technical-data assistants, contract review and quoting, service-maintenance platforms, onboarding agents, revenue/margin and P&L dashboards, PO review and pricing automation) and turn them into secure, production-grade solutions running primarily in Microsoft Azure. The ideal candidate combines strong Azure engineering, hands-on AI development (agents, retrieval-augmented generation, and modern AI coding tools), and the ability to stand up and integrate secure solutions and network infrastructure within a government-contracting IT environment.

Requirements

BS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a related technical field; or equivalent practical experience.
5+ years of experience in IT, software, or automation development and deployment, including hands-on design, build, and production support, with demonstrated technical leadership.
Strong hands-on experience with Microsoft Azure deploying and operating workloads across compute, storage, networking, identity, and Azure AI / Azure OpenAI services.
Demonstrated experience developing and deploying AI agents into production, including retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), tool use / function calling, and orchestration.
Experience using modern AI-assisted coding tools such as Claude / Claude Code, Cursor, Codex Gemini, GitHub Copilot, or equivalent.
Experience designing and deploying network solutions and integrations virtual networks, secure connectivity, and APIs
Experience building BI dashboards and data models (e.g., Power BI) sourced from ERP and CRM systems such as Oracle and Salesforce.
Proficiency with REST API design, modern authentication (OAuth 2.0 / OpenID Connect), Git-based version control, CI/CD, and containerization tools such as Docker.
Strong problem-solving skills, attention to detail, and excellent written and verbal communication, with the ability to explain technical concepts to varied audiences and work productively across teams.
Ability to work independently in a fast-paced environment and lead initiatives from idea to deployed solution.
This position requires access or potential access to Unclassified Naval Nuclear Propulsion Information, which is Not Releasable to Foreign Nationals (NOFORN) data. Therefore, to meet the NOFORN requirement, you will have to provide proof of US Citizenship and attest that you do not have dual citizenship. Acceptable proof of US Citizenship is a US Passport, US Birth Certificate or Naturalization Certificate.

Nice To Haves

Experience working in CMMC and government-contract IT environments, including NIST 800-171, DFARS, STIG, and RMF compliance.
Hands-on experience building and operating applications within Azure Government Cloud (GCC-High, FedRAMP, IL4 / IL5) environments.
Experience building AI agents with frameworks such as Microsoft Semantic Kernel, LangChain, LangGraph, AutoGen, or equivalent.
Experience with vector databases, embedding models, and RAG over large technical-document corpora.
Strong programming skills in Python and JavaScript/TypeScript, plus SQL; experience with C# / .NET is a plus.
Experience integrating with Oracle ERP, Salesforce, HFM, and CPQ / quoting platforms.
Infrastructure-as-code experience (Terraform, Bicep) and CI/CD with Azure DevOps or GitHub Actions.
Experience with the Microsoft Power Platform (Power Automate, Power Apps) for low-code automation.
Familiarity with LLM evaluation, observability, and prompt-engineering best practices.
Experience in manufacturing, defense, or maritime / aftermarket service environments.
Familiarity with Lean / Six Sigma or other continuous-improvement methodologies, and working knowledge of MS Project.

Responsibilities

Partner with the CI Lead, executive sponsors, and business subject-matter experts to translate the prioritized idea pipeline into deployed, measurable solutions, working highest-impact / lowest-difficulty items first.
Design, build, and deploy AI agents with retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), tool use / function calling, and human-in-the-loop controls for use cases such as a technical-data inside-sales assistant, contract review and quoting, automated project-brief and after-action-review generation, and new-hire onboarding.
Build BI dashboards and automated reporting (e.g., revenue/margin, P&L, FQL / roll-up, and utilization) that pull from source systems such as Oracle, HFM, and Salesforce to give leadership real-time visibility.
Develop process-automation solutions EDI-style order processing, PO review and compliance checks, price justification, and “like-parts” categorization to remove manual effort and improve accuracy.
Use modern AI-assisted coding tools (e.g., Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, or equivalent) to accelerate development and establish best practices for their secure use across the team.
Architect, deploy, and operate solutions in Microsoft Azure including compute, storage, identity, App Service / Functions, and Azure Open AI solutions in a GCC-High (GovCloud) tenant.
Design and deploy network solutions and integrations (virtual networks, secure connectivity, VPN / private endpoints, and APIs) that connect new solutions to existing systems and data sources.
Stand up CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure-as-code, logging, and monitoring so solutions are repeatable, observable, and reliable in production.
Ensure solutions meet security and compliance requirements for a government-contract environment, including CMMC and NIST 800-171 controls, secure handling of credentials, model inputs/outputs, and sensitive data.
Integrate with enterprise on-prem systems such as Oracle ERP, Salesforce, Oracle HFM, and CPQ / quoting tools; build and secure REST APIs and data pipelines that feed AI and BI solutions.
Implement document-processing and OCR workflows over technical manuals, contracts, Excel workbooks, and scanned content where projects require it.
Act as the technical lead and internal consultant for CI automation — helping run charters, defining requirements with SMEs, and coordinating with the FMT dev/AI team and IT.
Establish development standards, technical documentation, and evaluation / observability practices to measure and continuously improve AI output quality.
Manage the solution backlog, track ROI and key metrics, and demonstrate value early to build momentum and support for the program.
Mentor and provide technical direction to other developers and contract resources supporting the initiative.
Any other duties as the job requires.