Senior Applied AI Engineer

Senior AI Engineer

TS/SCI and Poly Required

Annapolis Junction, MD

Responsibilities: • Architect and implement production-grade AI systems for cyber operations, handling scale and reliability. • Lead technical exploration into novel AI applications, charting paths through unproven territory. • Design and build sophisticated agent orchestration systems that coordinate multiple AI models and tools. • Create robust MCP server implementations that become foundational infrastructure for the team. • Develop advanced prompt engineering strategies and reusable patterns for complex cyber scenarios. • Build fault-tolerant API integration layers that gracefully handle model failures and edge cases. • Mentor junior engineers while maintaining high personal code output. • Make architectural decisions that balance innovation with operational reliability. • Drive technical discussions about AI capabilities, limitations, and strategic applications. • Create proof-of-concepts that demonstrate previously impossible capabilities. • Establish best practices for AI development within the unique constraints of cyber operations.

Skills Requirements: • 12+ years of software engineering experience with deep Python expertise. • Extensive hands-on experience building and deploying AI-powered applications in production. • Expert-level understanding of modern AI architectures (agents, RAG, chains, function calling). • Proven track record of integrating multiple AI services and handling their failure modes. • Strong experience with MCP servers or similar model serving infrastructure. • Advanced prompt engineering skills with demonstrable results. • Experience building resilient distributed systems and handling async workflows. • Deep understanding of AI model capabilities and limitations across providers. • Ability to rapidly prototype while maintaining production-quality standards. • Track record of solving novel technical problems without existing solutions. • Excellent debugging skills for non-deterministic AI behaviors.

Nice to Haves: • Direct experience applying AI to cybersecurity or intelligence use cases. • Contributions to major AI frameworks or tools. • Experience fine-tuning models for specialized domains. • Background in building developer tools or platforms. • Knowledge of adversarial AI and security considerations for AI systems. • Published research or talks on applied AI topics. • Experience leading technical initiatives in ambiguous problem spaces.