AI ML Engineer

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Travel Required:

Clearance Required:

Guidehouse is seeking a Lead AI/ML Engineer to join our Technology / AI and Data team supporting mission-critical initiatives for Defense and Security this role you will help design and operationalize advanced AI solutions that leverage large language models (LLMs) retrieval systems and secure scalable inference pipelines to enable data-driven decision-making. You will lead efforts to ensure models are accurate reliable and compliant with stringent security and regulatory standards while collaborating with architects engineers and subject matter experts to deliver innovative solutions that enhance operational effectiveness. This is an opportunity to shape cutting-edge AI capabilities that directly support national security objectives.

What You Will Do:

• Serves as the lead AI/ML engineer responsible for developing optimizing and operationalizing advanced LLM-driven workflows for the FBI adjudication platform. Drives design and implementation of inference pipelines RAG workflows retrieval systems prompt architectures and model lifecycle processes.

• Leads development of dual-path model operations supporting self-hosted openweight LLMs in AWS GovCloud and FedRAMPHigh managed endpoints. Engineers GPU-based inference infrastructure model containerization distributed inference strategies and performanceoptimized reasoning workflows.

• Designs and maintains continuous learning systems including SFT LoRA/QLoRA adapters dataset curation automated evaluation suites hallucination detection bias evaluation and model drift monitoring. Ensures models are safe accurate reliable and aligned to SEAD4 adjudication criteria.

• Ensures all model operations adhere to FedRAMP High RMF CJIS and FBI ATO requirements including controls for logging access explainability evidence provenance and data protection.

LLM Development Inference Optimization & Prompt Engineering

• Develop and maintain LLM inference pipelines supporting longdocument reasoning multidocument fusion entity extraction anomaly detection SEAD4 scoring and structured memo generation.

• Build and manage advanced prompt architectures including system prompts instruction sets retrievalaugmented prompts multi-step reasoning flows and outputschema enforcement to ensure accuracy and stability.

• Implement distributed GPU inference frameworks (vLLM TGI DeepSpeed Sagemaker) and optimize workloads with KV caching tensor parallelism dynamic batching and memory efficiency strategies.

• Develop outputvalidation routines enforcing schema correctness keyevidence referencing structured scoring and quality controls for all modelgenerated adjudicative content.

RetrievalAugmented Generation (RAG) & Embedding Pipelines

• Implement RAG architectures including embedding generation vector indexing longcontext retrieval and retrieval scoring to support evidencegrounded outputs for 300400page investigative files.

• Optimize chunking strategies ranking models hybrid search pipelines and retrieval heuristics to ensure accurate and contextually aligned LLM output.

• Develop retrieval pipelines that reduce hallucination risk enforce evidence provenance and provide structured citationlinked responses consistent with adjudication standards.

FineTuning Model Customization & Learning Systems

• Lead development of supervised finetuning (SFT) pipelines using adjudicator examples SEAD4 scoring decisions historical memos and SMEcurated datasets.

• Build LoRA/QLoRA finetuning workflows for secure GovCloud environments enabling highfidelity model specialization without full retraining cycles.

• Design evaluation suites measuring guideline adherence evidence alignment factual consistency hallucination probability and reasoning stability across adjudicative categories.

• Implement model drift detection scoring distribution monitoring and automated retraining triggers tied to analyst feedback and dataset evolution.

Secure ML Operations & Compliance Alignment

• Ensure ML operations align with FedRAMP High and RMF requirements including encryption boundary isolation identity controls inference logging and auditable modeloutput trails.

• Establish secure inputvalidation flows restrictedcontext enforcement prompt sanitization and runtime protections to mitigate security and dataintegrity risks.

• Develop telemetry pipelines capturing query metadata retrieval context response confidence scoring variances and override patterns for audit and monitoring.

Backend Integration Workflow Support & Platform Engineering

• Integrate LLM inference services with backend APIs scoring engines memogeneration modules entityresolution tools and analystfacing UI workflows.

• Develop supporting microservices for prompt routing retrieval assembly evaluation probes model profiling and inference orchestration.

• Collaborate with backend engineers to optimize throughput latency concurrency and reliability for highvolume adjudication workflows.

Collaboration Leadership & Mission Support

• Work with the AI Solutions Architect to maintain coherence between ML pipelines and systemwide architecture.

• Collaborate with adjudicators SEAD4 SMEs and mission stakeholders to translate adjudicative logic into prompts features and structured model outputs.

• Mentor junior engineers lead experimentation cycles participate in design reviews and contribute to Guidehouse AI/ML engineering best practices.

What You Will Need:

• An ACTIVE and MAINTAINED TOP SECRET Federal or DoD securityclearance and obtained and maintain TS/SCI clearance.

• Minimum of Eight (8) years of experience in AI/ML engineering with 4 years focused on NLP LLMs or MLOps.

• Bachelor s Degree or Four (4) additional Years of experience in lieu of degree.

• Expertise in PyTorch HuggingFace Transformers vLLM DeepSpeed or equivalent frameworks.

• Strong background in retrieval systems embeddings RAG pipelines vector databases and longcontext optimization.

• Experience implementing MLOps workflows evaluation frameworks drift detection and responsibleAI safeguards.

• Experience delivering ML systems in secure federal environments subject to FedRAMP High or RMF controls.

What Would Be Nice To Have:

• Experience supporting adjudication continuous vetting background investigations or SEAD4 scoring workflows.

• Experience deploying openweight LLMs in GovCloud or secure enclaves.

• Experience with citationgrounding pipelines evidenceverification workflows or structured modeloutput evaluation.

• AWS Machine Learning Specialty Solutions Architect Professional or GPU Compute certifications.

• Experience with explainability tooling guardrails reasoning verification or adversarial evaluation.

What We Offer:

Guidehouse offers a comprehensive total rewards package that includes competitive compensation and a flexible benefits package that reflects our commitment to creating a diverse and supportive workplace.

Benefits include:

• Medical Rx Dental & Vision Insurance

• Personal and Family Sick Time & Company Paid Holidays

• Parental Leave

• 401(k) Retirement Plan

• Group Term Life and Travel Assistance

• Voluntary Life and AD&D Insurance

• Health Savings Account Health Care & Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts

• Transit and Parking Commuter Benefits

• Short-Term & Long-Term Disability

• Tuition Reimbursement Personal Development Certifications & Learning Opportunities

• Employee Referral Program

• Corporate Sponsored Events & Community Outreach

• annual membership

• Employee Assistance Program

• Supplemental Benefits via Corestream (Critical Care Hospital Indemnity Accident Insurance Legal Assistance and ID theft protection etc.)

• Position may be eligible for a discretionary variable incentive bonus

About Guidehouse

Guidehouse is an Equal Opportunity EmployerProtected Veterans Individuals with Disabilities or any other basis protected by law ordinance or regulation.

Guidehouse will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable law or ordinance including the Fair Chance Ordinance of Los Angeles and San Francisco.

If you have visited our website for information about employment opportunities or to apply for a position and you require an accommodation please contact Guidehouse Recruiting at 1- or via email at . All information you provide will be kept confidential and will be used only to the extent required to provide needed reasonable accommodation.

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