Senior Machine Learning Engineer Secure AI Lab

At the SEI AI Division we conduct research in applied artificial intelligence and the engineering questions related to the practical design and implementation of AI technologies and systems. We currently lead a community-wide movement to mature the discipline of AI Engineering for Defense and National Security.

As our government customers adopt AI and machine learning toprovideleap-ahead mission capabilities we

• build real-world mission-scale AI capabilities through solving practical engineering problems

• discover and define the processes practices and tools to support operationalizing AI for robust secure scalable and human-centered mission capabilities

• prepare our customers to be ready for the unique challenges of adopting deploying using andmaintainingAI capabilities

• identifyand investigate emerging AI and AI-adjacent technologies that are rapidly transforming the technology landscape

Are you creative curious energetic collaborative technology-focused and hard-working Are you interested in making a difference by bringing innovation to government organizations and beyond Apply to join our team.

Overview:As a Senior Machine Learning Engineeryou will specialize in engineering solutions that supportresearchinto the vulnerabilities of AIandML algorithms and securing against those vulnerabilities.

TheSecure AILab within the SEIs AI Division focuses on improving the security and robustness of AI systems. As part of the world-class research community at Carnegie Mellon University theSecure AILabconducts and appliescutting-edgeresearch toprotectAI systems fromadversaries who aim to manipulatethe systemto learn do or revealsomething itisntsupposed to.

TheSecure AILab consists of machine learning research scientists machine learning engineers and software developers who work together to solve problems in the following areas:

• Counter AI Research:Study threat modelstargeting AIandML algorithmsunderstand the behaviors of AI algorithmsidentifyweak points and design novel ways to subvert AIandMLsystems.

• AIandMLAlgorithm DefenseResearch:Createpractical mitigations and defenses forobservedattacksaffecting AIandML algorithmsand evaluate the effectiveness ofdefensivetechniques.

• Applied Adversarial Machine Learning:Advance the state of the art in adversarial machine learning by developing and transitioning capabilities to government sponsors.

As an engineer you will solve problems for government sponsors by analyzing designing and building responsible AI systems.

Your day-to-day engineering tasks will include:

• Identifyingandinvestigatingemerging AI and AI-adjacent technologies.

• Defining andrefiningprocesses practices and tools for working with AI.

• Designing andbuildingwell-engineered prototypes of AI systems.

• Transitioning andprovidingguidance onAI capabilities to government sponsors.

Duties

• Building Machine Learning Models and Systems:You will work with machine learning frameworks such as TensorFlowPyTorch Torch and Caffe and modern programming languages including Python C/C and Java. You will build and work with datapipelines ETL processes and backend systems. You will work with extend and implementstate-of-the-artmachine learning methods.

• Technical Experimentation:You will experiment with modern and emerging machine learning frameworks methods and algorithms in application domains that include computer vision natural language processingplanningand scheduling robot control and engineering safe trusted and reliable machine learning systems.

• Testingand evaluation.Youllconduct rapid prototyping todemonstrateand evaluate technologies in relevant environments.Youllevaluate systems for performance and security.Youlltest capabilities using novel testing and analysis techniques.

• Collaboration.Youllactivelyparticipateon teams of developers researchers designers and technical leads.Youllcollaborate with researchers and our government customers to understand challenges needs andpossible solutions.

• Mentoring.Youllcontribute to improving the overall technical capabilities of the Division by mentoring and teaching othersparticipatingin design (software and otherwise) sessions and sharing insights and wisdom across the SEI.

Knowledge andExperience

• Comprehensiveknowledge ofmachine learning;previousexperiencein adversarial machine learningdesirablebut not

• A track recordofusingwell-establishedengineering practices to solvedifficult problems

• An understanding ofhow toconvertresearch resultsintofunctioning prototypesor capabilities

• Experienceleadingtechnicalprojectsinnovelareaswith limitedpreviouswork to build upon

• Strong written and verbal communication skills;able to convey complex technical ideasinalaypersons terms

• Ampleexperience with publishingwritten or technicalartifactsshowcasingyour work

• Strong collaboration skills for working with colleagues and sponsors

• Willingnesstoguide andmentorjunior team members

Requirements

• A bachelors degree in computer science statistics machine learning electrical engineering or related discipline with ten (10) years of experience; OR MS in the same fields with eight (8) years of experience; OR PhD with five (5) years of experience.
  

• Willingness to work onsite 5 days per week at SEI offices in Pittsburgh PA or Arlington VA.

• Be able to obtain andmaintainan active Department of War security clearance.
  

• Willing to travel up to 25% of the time to locations outside of your home location. Travel sites include SEI offices in Pittsburgh and Washington D.C. sponsor sites and conferences.