Senior Forward Deployed Engineer, U.S. Government

Role and location

Lead the engineering and deployment of applied AI systems across research and production for strategic U.S. Government partners. This full time role is based in Greater Washington DC, with onsite attendance three to four times each week.

The work combines model experiments, infrastructure and production delivery in secure environments where reliability and mission outcomes matter. You will own complex initiatives, make architectural decisions and translate operational needs into dependable systems.

Technical responsibilities

• Lead agentic AI systems from early prototypes through production deployment for government missions.
• Design and connect LLM applications, including multiple cooperating agents, agents that call tools, retrieval augmented generation and autonomy with human oversight.
• Work directly with senior government stakeholders to turn mission requirements into reliable systems that can scale.
• Lead large data curation and evaluation pipelines that support model training and improvement.
• Build and expand infrastructure for inference, experimentation, evaluation and deployment across advanced AI environments.
• Connect mission data, models and tools to create operational autonomy.
• Own architecture, implementation, release, reliability, security and continued refinement across the technical lifecycle.
• Resolve difficult engineering problems, guide technical choices and mentor other engineers.

Required experience

Extensive software engineering experience and a record of delivering complex production systems are expected. Advanced Python skills should be supported by demonstrated responsibility from initial design through delivery.

Candidates need practical experience building and deploying LLM applications and agentic systems, as well as designing scalable data pipelines, machine learning infrastructure and model evaluations. Familiarity with reinforcement learning workflows, simulation environments or model experimentation is also expected.

The role calls for technical leadership, sound architectural judgment and an ability to mentor engineers. You should be able to work independently with partners when requirements are uncertain, take technical and operational responsibility, and work comfortably in secure settings with demanding reliability needs.

Preferred background

An active U.S. security clearance, or eligibility and willingness to obtain one, is preferred. Useful experience includes support for government, defense, intelligence or national security missions and work in startups, defense organizations, the Department of War or technology businesses serving government.

Direct leadership of initiatives with government stakeholders is valuable. Experience in rapidly changing startups, critical government operations or both is also preferred.

Compensation and benefits

The national base salary range is $200,000 to $250,000. Employees are eligible for equity compensation, while performance bonuses may be available depending on the role and applicable policies.

Benefits include reimbursement of up to 100% of health insurance premiums, paid time off, a 401(k) with an employer match and additional employee benefits. AI tools assist with screening and assessment while human judgment remains part of hiring decisions.