Senior Applied AI Engineer

Senior AI Engineer

TS/SCI and Poly Required
Annapolis Junction, MD

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.