Senior Software Engineer – AI Infrastructure

Bitwise • Laurel, MD

4h • Onsite

About The Position

This is a senior-level full-stack engineering role at the heart of a growing AI platform organization — and it's not just a coding job. You'll be building and operating the infrastructure that powers next-generation AI capabilities for a mission-critical customer, while also stepping into a technical leadership position that shapes how the team works and grows. You'll lead development of production AI services — think retrieval augmented generation (RAG), autonomous agents, and scalable model inference — while also owning the reliability, observability, and security posture of the platform. You'll set technical direction, define policies and governance frameworks where none yet exist, and drive adoption of new technologies across engineering teams. When things are ambiguous (and they will be), you'll be the one who brings clarity. On top of the technical work, you'll serve as a people lead for a small, integrated team — running one-on-ones, providing coaching and feedback, and acting as the point of contact for contract administration functions. You're the kind of engineer who can context-switch between a Kubernetes cluster and a career conversation, and you do both well. This role is based in Laurel, MD.

Requirements

• 12 years of experience in software engineering, or a B.S. in a technical discipline plus 8 years of experience
• Extensive experience designing, building, and operating large-scale production systems
• Deep expertise in systems integration across diverse technologies and platforms
• Hands-on experience with cloud engineering in AWS
• Advanced proficiency with Kubernetes administration and deployment patterns
• Strong Python programming skills
• Experience implementing and scaling observability solutions, including APM, OpenTelemetry, Grafana, and Prometheus
• Proven ability to lead technical initiatives and influence organizational change
• Experience developing technical policies and governance frameworks
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and leadership skills
• Demonstrated ability to balance hands-on engineering with leadership and coordination responsibilities
• Active TS//SCI clearance with polygraph

Nice To Haves

• Experience with AI inference serving technologies such as vLLM or LiteLLM
• Previous experience with agentic frameworks such as LangChain
• Knowledge of vector databases and embedding systems
• Experience with high-performance computing or distributed systems
• A track record of successfully driving technical and cultural change across engineering organizations

Responsibilities

• Building and operating the infrastructure that powers next-generation AI capabilities.
• Leading development of production AI services (e.g., RAG, autonomous agents, scalable model inference).
• Owning the reliability, observability, and security posture of the platform.
• Setting technical direction, defining policies and governance frameworks.
• Driving adoption of new technologies across engineering teams.
• Bringing clarity to ambiguous situations.
• Serving as a people lead for a small, integrated team, running one-on-ones, providing coaching and feedback.
• Acting as the point of contact for contract administration functions.

Benefits

• Top salaries
• Flexible PTO (3-5 weeks with corresponding pay adjustment)
• Paid federal holidays (11)
• Paid snow days (up to 2)
• 401(k) with 4x match on the first 6% contributed (up to 24% company match)
• 100% employer-paid medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurances (or salary boost if already covered)
• $5,250 annual education assistance
• Spot bonuses

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: Associate degree