Senior Machine Learning Engineer

We are looking for a seasoned Senior Machine Learning Engineer to join our team of Data Architects and Developers bridging the rigor of data science with the engineering discipline needed to build and ship production AI systems. This hybrid role spans the full ML lifecycle - from exploratory data analysis feature engineering and model experimentation through to building integrating and deploying scalable AI/ML and generative AI solutions. We are looking for more than a model builder: we need a technologist with strong software engineering fundamentals excellent communication and customer service skills and a passion for turning data and cutting-edge AI techniques into robust mission-ready capabilities.

• Develop end-to-end ML/AI solutions spanning predictive models LLM-powered applications multi-agent workflows and RAG pipelines on structured and unstructured datasets.
• Perform exploratory data analysis feature engineering and data visualization to inform model design and validate assumptions.
• Apply deep learning methodologies and state-of-the-art libraries and frameworks to build and improve models.
• Integrate AI/ML models with enterprise systems APIs data platforms vector databases and cloud-native services to deliver scalable mission capabilities.
• Design and implement advanced prompt strategies context management layers retrieval systems and LLM orchestration logic.
• Build scalable inference services optimize model performance and collaborate with MLOps/LLMOps to enable robust deployment monitoring and continuous improvement.
• Develop and execute comprehensive test plans for AI/ML models including functional regression and edge case testing.
• Design test cases to evaluate performance accuracy bias fairness and robustness of AI outputs and conduct adversarial and stress testing to assess model resilience.
• Track key quality metrics such as precision recall F1 score false positives/negatives and usability metrics; document and report defects and unexpected behaviors.
• Validate compliance with data privacy security and ethical AI standards including safety guardrails input sanitization and content filtering.
• Support an Agile software development lifecycle contributing reusable AI components libraries and APIs that accelerate delivery across programs.
• Collaborate with product managers data architects designers and mission stakeholders to translate mission needs into intuitive reliable AI-powered features.
• Mentor junior developers conduct code reviews and support engineering excellence across multi-disciplinary AI delivery teams.
• Stay current with emerging AI techniques libraries foundation models and agent frameworks evaluating their applicability to client missions.
• Contribute to the growth of our AI & Data Exploitation Practice.

• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government security clearance.
• Bachelors Masters or Ph.D. in Computer Science Data Science Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning Engineering or a related scientific/technical discipline.
• 7 years of total experience.
• 3-5 years of industry experience developing ML/AI solutions including hands-on experience with generative AI or LLM-driven application development.
• Demonstrated experience manipulating structured and unstructured data for analysis including data modeling and data solution development.
• Strong programming skills in Python and modern AI frameworks such as PyTorch TensorFlow Keras Hugging Face Transformers LangChain or LlamaIndex.
• Experience implementing RAG architectures embeddings vector stores and context retrieval patterns plus familiarity with multi-agent orchestration and prompt engineering.
• Demonstrated experience in big data systems including Hadoop and Spark and additional programming proficiency in SQL R Scala or Java.
• Data visualization skills in Tableau Power BI D3 ArcGIS or similar.
• Strong understanding of cloud platforms (AWS Azure GCP) including compute serverless services and security fundamentals for AI workloads with tools such as AWS SageMaker or Azure HDInsight.
• Working knowledge of containerization (Docker) orchestration (Kubernetes) and CI/CD pipelines for AI-based systems.
• Experience with Git Bash and Unix commands and familiarity with DevSecOps MLOps and LLMOps practices as applied to AI/ML delivery.
• Understanding of responsible AI principles including safety fairness privacy bias mitigation and model risk management.
• Strong analytical and communication skills with the ability to collaborate across engineering design and mission domains.
• Proven experience mentoring teammates and raising the technical bar of development teams.
• Familiarity with Flask Solr or Elasticsearch is a plus.

Steampunk relies on several factors to determine salary including but not limited to geographic location contractual requirements education knowledge skills competencies and experience. The projected compensation range for this position is $140000 to $190000. The estimate displayed represents a typical annual salary range for this position. Annual salary is just one aspect of Steampunks total compensation package for employees. Learn more about additional Steampunk benefits here.

Identity Statement

As part of the application process you are expected to be on camera during interviews and assessments. We reserve the right to take your picture to verify your identity and prevent fraud.

Steampunk is aChange Agentin the Federal contracting industry bringing new thinking to clients in the Homeland Federal Civilian Health and DoD sectors. Through ourHuman-Centered delivery methodology we are fundamentally changing the expectations our Federal clients have for true shared accountability in solving their toughest mission you want to learn more about our story visit.

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race color religion sex national origin disability status protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by participates in the E-Verify program.