- McLean, Virginia, United States
Location: McLean – Tysons Corner, VA
Work Model: Hybrid, Full-Time
Compensation: $180K to $230K Base + Equity
Overview
An early-stage AI company is building advanced software for complex, high-impact U.S. government applications. The team is small, highly technical, and ships production AI into environments where the problems are hard and the outcomes matter.
The role will architect and deploy production AI systems from scratch, working directly with the end users who depend on them. The position carries real authority over technical architecture and final delivery.
The work spans AI/ML, software engineering, data, and deployment. It suits an engineer who builds rather than maintains and wants early-stage ownership with direct impact.
What You’ll Do
- Architect, build, and deploy production AI and machine learning systems
- Develop agentic capabilities, including RAG pipelines, tool-calling systems, and multi-agent workflows
- Work directly with end users to translate complex requirements into working solutions
- Own projects from data exploration and architecture decisions through production deployment
- Prepare, transform, and analyze complex public and private datasets
- Select the models, algorithms, and architectures best suited to each problem
- Build reliable Python systems that move beyond experimentation into real-world use
Qualifications
- 3+ years of professional software engineering experience, with demonstrated experience applying AI/ML techniques to real-world systems
- Agentic AI or LLM systems built and shipped to production
- Strong Python and software engineering fundamentals, with end-to-end delivery experience
- Experience building systems from scratch, not only evaluating or optimizing existing ones
- Hands-on work across data exploration, transformation, model selection, and system architecture
- Ability to operate in ambiguous, rapidly evolving environments
- Clear evidence of exceptional technical ability through prior work, education, or projects
- Required: U.S. citizenship
- Required: Based in or willing to relocate to the Washington, DC area
Preferred
- Active U.S. security clearance
- Experience supporting government or defense customers
- Founder, founding engineer, or early-stage startup background
- Experience with fraud detection, anomaly detection, or similar data-intensive applications
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Engineering, or a related technical field
Compensation
$180,000 to $230,000 base salary plus equity, based on experience and qualifications. Competitive benefits provided.