Senior Manager of AI

LeoLabs, Inc.•Chantilly, VA

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

At LeoLabs, we’re building the living map of activity in space. Through our proprietary global radar network and AI-enabled analytics platform, we collect millions of measurements daily on more than 25,000 objects in low Earth orbit (LEO). Our radar-powered intelligence protects billions in assets, monitors adversarial behavior, and ensures safe operations for commercial and government missions. We’re not just building technology, we are redefining global security, safety, and transparency in space. As orbital activity accelerates and threats grow more complex, LeoLabs is a trusted partner for Space Domain Awareness, Space Traffic Management, and Satellite Operations for top-tier space operators and allied defense organizations. If you're looking to work on mission-critical challenges at the forefront of aerospace, national security, and AI, your impact starts here. We are seeking an experienced and highly motivated Senior Manager of AI to join our team at LeoLabs. You will play a critical role in managing our new AI team. This is a team of approximately 5 engineers and a key part of the broader, 30-person software engineering organization. The AI team is responsible for customer-facing and internal AI and data engineering initiatives. This includes agentic AI development, orbital event detection and characterization, and LeoLabs’ data lake. The team leverages services built and maintained by other teams, including radar development and operations and catalog maintenance. You will be responsible for providing leadership to a cross-functional team of AI/ML Engineers, Data Engineers, and Software Engineers. You will ensure that our AI/ML algorithms meet strict performance requirements, that our data lake meets internal and external needs, and that our organization is a leader in agentic AI.

Requirements

M.S in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, or equivalent experience.
Proven experience (7+ years) as a Software Engineering Manager or AI Manager in a fast-paced software development environment.
Hands-on, up-to-date experience with agentic AI technology.
Extensive experience in building, rolling out, and maintaining cloud-based software services.
Experience deploying software services to US High Side networks.
Strong knowledge of software development and testing methodologies, best practices, and industry standards.
Experience working with large-scale distributed data platforms (e.g., Databricks, Spark).
Solid understanding of Agile and DevOps principles.
Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to manage, lead, and mentor a team effectively.
Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to collaborate with various stakeholders.
Ability to work on-call outside of normal business hours during critical escalations.
Eligibility to obtain and maintain a U.S. personnel security clearance.

Nice To Haves

Experience with cloud environments like AWS/GCP/Azure.
Experience with databases like Postgres/MySQL.
Experience with security requirements, including static and dynamic code analysis and penetration testing.
Background in Math/Physics or Orbital mechanics.

Responsibilities

Providing leadership to a cross-functional team of AI/ML Engineers, Data Engineers, and Software Engineers.
Ensuring that our AI/ML algorithms meet strict performance requirements.
Ensuring that our data lake meets internal and external needs.
Ensuring that our organization is a leader in agentic AI.
Completing our onboarding program designed to get you up to speed on our business, vision, and team.
Gaining an understanding about how your role fits into LeoLabs broader organization.
Taking over leadership of our new AI team.
Owning the AI teams’ OKRs and roadmap.
Leading, mentoring, and guiding the AI team to achieve these objectives.
Being actively involved with the company’s AI and software roadmap planning.
Achieving significant progress in achieving the team’s key roadmap goals.
Playing a key role in driving excellence in our company’s AI/ML algorithm performance.
Regularly collaborating with stakeholders to define our AI and Data Engineering.
Successfully leading one of the most critical teams in the organization.
Leading your team to continuously deliver on the company’s AI needs.
Providing regular reports on AI team performance and results to the Senior and Executive Leadership Teams.
Promoting a healthy culture of algorithm and software excellence throughout the organization.