SENIOR AI SOFTWARE ENGINEER/AI ENGINEER

Huntington Ingalls • Newport News, VA

3d • $144,000 - $190,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

Newport News Shipbuilding is hiring an experienced Senior AI Software Engineer/AI Engineer to join its multidisciplinary AI team alongside data engineers, data scientists, machine-learning engineers, and software engineers. The senior-level role designs, develops, integrates, and deploys secure, scalable, and reliable enterprise applications that use artificial intelligence, machine learning, and generative AI. The position calls for strong software engineering and architecture expertise and practical experience integrating AI technologies into production applications.

The role designs, develops, documents, tests, and debugs IT applications software and systems. It collaborates with IT systems designers and engineers on planning, designing, developing, and using electronic data processing systems. It analyzes user needs and system capabilities, resolves issues involving program intent and input/output requirements, prepares operating instructions, and ensures software standards are met.

This position is based at Newport News Shipbuilding. First-shift work is specified, occasional or hybrid telework is available, and travel of 10%–25% is required. U.S. citizenship is required, and final clearance is required to start. Relocation assistance is not available. The listed base salary range is $144,000 to $190,000; final compensation depends on experience, qualifications, and other job-related factors.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field, with 14 years of relevant exempt experience; alternatively, a master’s degree with 12 years of relevant professional experience or a Ph.D. with 9 years of experience.
• For information-technology-related positions, the posting lists alternatives to a bachelor’s degree: NNS Apprentice School graduate; Navy Nuclear Power School graduate; associate’s degree or other formal two-year program plus 2 years of relevant exempt experience or 4 years of relevant non-exempt experience; military experience at paygrade E-5 or above; high school/GED plus 4 years of combined manufacturing, shipbuilding, trades, military, or other relevant exempt experience; high school/GED plus 8 years of combined manufacturing, shipbuilding, trades, military, or other relevant non-exempt experience; or a relevant professional certification substituted for a bachelor’s degree.
• Professional software engineering experience, including designing and delivering complex production applications.
• Strong proficiency in Python, backend development, RESTful APIs, and microservices.
• Experience with software architecture, distributed systems, databases, and enterprise application integration.
• Hands-on experience developing or integrating AI/ML-enabled applications or generative AI services.
• Experience with cloud platforms (Azure, AWS, or GCP), Git, CI/CD, and automated testing.
• Strong troubleshooting, problem-solving, communication, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Ability to independently lead complex technical development efforts.
• U.S. citizenship is required for this position.
• Final clearance is required to start.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, AI, or a related field.
• At least 2 years of practical experience developing AI/ML or generative AI applications.
• Experience integrating LLMs, building retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) solutions, or developing AI-powered workflows.
• Familiarity with AI orchestration frameworks such as LangChain, LangGraph, LlamaIndex, or Semantic Kernel.
• Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, and cloud-native application deployments.
• Knowledge of MLOps/LLMOps, AI application evaluation, monitoring, and security.
• Experience with enterprise AI platforms such as Azure OpenAI, Amazon Bedrock, or Google Vertex AI.
• Demonstrated technical leadership, mentoring, and architecture experience.
• Preferred technical skills include Python, FastAPI, REST APIs, microservices, SQL, Java, C#, or TypeScript; LLM integration, OpenAI-compatible APIs, Azure OpenAI, prompt engineering, RAG, embeddings, agentic AI, and AI orchestration frameworks; Azure, AWS, GCP, Docker, Kubernetes, and cloud-native architectures; Git, CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, containerization, and application monitoring; SQL/NoSQL and vector databases, semantic search, and ML inference APIs; and secure API development, authentication, authorization, AI security, performance optimization, and application observability.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and deploy enterprise-grade AI-enabled applications, APIs, microservices, and backend services.
• Integrate large language models, generative AI, and machine-learning capabilities into business applications and workflows.
• Turn AI prototypes and models into scalable, secure, maintainable production solutions.
• Collaborate with data scientists, machine-learning engineers, and data engineers to deliver end-to-end AI solutions.
• Develop cloud-native applications and implement CI/CD, automated testing, monitoring, and deployment practices.
• Ensure application performance, reliability, scalability, and adherence to security standards.
• Provide technical leadership and architecture guidance, conduct code reviews, and mentor other engineers.
• Evaluate emerging AI technologies and recommend practical solutions that deliver business value.
• Design, develop, document, test, and debug IT applications software and systems.
• Collaborate with IT systems designers and engineers in planning, designing, developing, and using electronic data processing systems.
• Determine computer user needs and analyze IT system capabilities to resolve issues involving program intent, output requirements, input data acquisition, programming techniques, and controls.
• Prepare operating instructions and design and develop compilers, assemblers, utility programs, and operating systems.
• Ensure IT software standards are met.

Benefits

• Medical, prescription drug, dental, and vision plan choices.
• On-site health centers, telemedicine, wellness resources, and employee assistance programs.
• Savings plan options (401(k)).
• Financial education and planning tools.
• Life insurance.
• Tuition reimbursement.
• Employee discounts.
• Early childhood and post-secondary education scholarships.
• Educational and training programs for continued career growth.
• Competitive benefits and a supportive, welcoming environment.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior