Senior AI Systems Engineer

Systems Planning and Analysis•Colorado Springs, CO

5h•Hybrid

About The Position

Systems Planning and Analysis, Inc. (SPA) delivers high-impact, technical solutions to complex national security issues. With over 50 years of business expertise and consistent growth, we are known for continuous innovation for our government customers, in both the US and abroad. Our exceptionally talented team is highly collaborative in spirit and practice, producing Results that Matter. Come work with the best! We offer opportunity, unique challenges, and clear-sighted commitment to the mission. SPA: Objective. Responsive. Trusted. The Space and Intelligence Division provides professional services to the US Space Force, Combatant Commands, Intelligence Community, and NASA. Our work includes enterprise architectural assessments, systems engineering and integration, test, planning and execution, cost estimating and analysis, acquisition support, and cybersecurity. We are trusted partners developing approaches and concepts to meet emerging high priority needs, assessing cutting-edge technologies, and supporting capabilities for our National Defense. Come join the fastest growing Division at Systems Planning and Analysis, Inc.! The Space Systems Group (SSG), part of SPA’s Space and Intelligence Division, provides timely and objective assessments and recommendations integrating technical, operational, programmatic, policy and business analysis. We focus on our key clients in the Space community including the US Space Force’s Space Systems Command (USSF/SSC), one of the three designated Field Commands under USSF. We work tirelessly to provide integrated solutions based on information and communications throughout the chain of command. We provide clear and consistent analysis and recommendations which are aligned to strategic and leadership goals while balancing the ability to execute on time and on budget within the technical communities. Come join an organization responsible for being a key enabler of Spacepower! SPA has an immediate need for a Senior AI Systems Engineer.

Requirements

US Citizen and current active DoD Secret clearance
Minimum 8 years of professional software engineering experience, with a strong foundation in backend or platform engineering
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field
Demonstrated experience shipping and maintaining production systems
Strong proficiency in at least one modern programming language (e.g., Python, Go, Java, TypeScript)
Hands-on experience integrating foundation models via APIs (e.g., OpenAI-compatible or equivalent services)
Experience building AI agents, orchestration workflows, or tool-using models
Familiarity with retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), embeddings, vector search, and knowledge-based AI patterns
Practical understanding of AI failure modes, hallucinations, and mitigation strategies
Experience designing or contributing to platform services, shared tooling, or developer enablement capabilities
Familiarity with cloud-native architectures, containerization, and service-based systems
Experience working with logs, metrics, telemetry, or operational analytics
Experience implementing systems in secure, regulated, or high-consequence environments
Understanding of access control, audit logging, and secure API design
Familiarity with Responsible AI concepts such as human-in-the-loop, explainability, and governance (practical application, not policy theory)

Responsibilities

Applied AI Systems Engineering
Design and implement production AI-enabled services using modern foundation models via secure APIs.
Build AI agents and agent-orchestrated workflows that support decision-making, automation, and system intelligence.
Develop reference implementations (code, patterns, architectures) that other teams can adopt and extend.
Integrate AI with structured and unstructured data sources, including knowledge graphs, embeddings, retrieval pipelines, and system telemetry.
Implement human-in-the-loop mechanisms for oversight, escalation, and trust in high-consequence workflows.
Platform AI Enablement
Expand AI usage beyond chat interfaces into platform capabilities, such as:
log and telemetry analysis
operational anomaly detection
self-healing and automated remediation
runbook generation and improvement
documentation synthesis and maintenance
Enable downstream development teams to safely consume AI capabilities within their own applications through shared services, APIs, and patterns.
Establish reusable approaches for AI integration across environments, rather than one-off implementations.
Security, Responsibility, and Reliability
Design AI solutions that operate in secure and controlled environments, with strong attention to:
access control and least privilege
auditability and traceability
data handling boundaries
logging and monitoring
Embed Responsible AI principles into system design, including transparency, controllability, and failure awareness.
Partner with security and platform teams to ensure AI capabilities meet operational, compliance, and accreditation expectations.
Hands-On Engineering
Write production code weekly, not just architecture diagrams.
Prototype, harden, and productionize AI-enabled capabilities.
Participate in code reviews, design reviews, and technical decision-making.
Balance speed with rigor—moving fast without breaking trust.

Benefits

SPA provides eligible employees with an opportunity to enroll in a variety of benefit programs, generally including health insurance, flexible spending accounts, health savings accounts, retirement savings plans, life and disability insurance programs, and a number of programs that provide for both paid and unpaid time away from work.
Pay Transparency Range: 140k - 200k.

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