Agile-Defense

Senior AI/ML Engineer

Fort Meade, MD

Live, first seen by us 27 days ago

Pay: USD 155,000–175,000/year — pay source
Salary 155,000 – 175,000 USD per year Our Core Values
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Work setting: Not stated
Employment: Not stated

Before you apply

Work authorization: Citizens onlyTS/SCI w/ Polygraph, Must Have Clearance to Start

What you’ll work on

Full posting

Design and integrate LLM/agent orchestration workflows with frameworks like LangGraph
Tune model gateway routing across frontier and open-weight models for cost and performance
Build RAG pipelines, vector databases, and memory services for agent access to mission knowledge
Implement MCP-based tool-broker integrations so agents can securely use enterprise tools
Build automated evaluation pipelines to track model and agent quality, safety, and performance

From the employer’s posting

Design and integrate LLM/agent orchestration workflows using agentic frameworks such as LangGraph, Agno, and the NVIDIA NeMo Agent Toolkit.

Tune model gateway routing logic to select, evaluate, and optimize across multiple frontier and open-weight models for cost, performance, and mission fit.

Develop and integrate RAG pipelines, vector databases, and memory services to give agents access to mission knowledge and context.

Implement MCP (Model Context Protocol)-based tool-broker integrations so agents can safely and securely access enterprise tools and data.

build automated evaluation pipelines to track quality, safety, and performance over time.

What you’ll bring

All qualifications

Core experience

Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in Computer Science, Data Science, or a related discipline and 8+ years of experience
Demonstrated experience building or integrating LLM/agent-based systems in production
Experience with retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), vector databases, and prompt/context engineering
Ability to manage competing priorities in fast-paced mission environments and identify/escalate operational risks early

Preferred experience

Experience supporting mission environments
Experience with frameworks such as LangGraph, Agno, or the NVIDIA NeMo Agent Toolkit
Experience with model inference/serving platforms (NVIDIA NIM, vLLM, Ollama, LiteLLM)
Experience with MCP (Model Context Protocol) or similar tool-broker/integration standards

Qualification wording

Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in Computer Science, Data Science, or a related discipline and 8+ years of experience

Demonstrated experience building or integrating LLM/agent-based systems in production

Experience with retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), vector databases, and prompt/context engineering

Ability to manage competing priorities in fast-paced mission environments and identify/escalate operational risks early

Experience supporting mission environments

Experience with frameworks such as LangGraph, Agno, or the NVIDIA NeMo Agent Toolkit

Experience with model inference/serving platforms (NVIDIA NIM, vLLM, Ollama, LiteLLM)

Experience with MCP (Model Context Protocol) or similar tool-broker/integration standards

Education & alternatives

Basic Qualifications - Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in Computer Science, Data Science, or a related discipline and 8+ years of experience - Advanced proficiency in Python for AI/ML application development

About Agile-Defense

At Agile Defense we know that action defines the outcome and new challenges require new solutions.

In the employer’s words · Read in context

Apply at Agile-Defense

Posting record

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Status in our records: Live
First seen by us: Oct 8, 202627 days ago
Recorded sightings: 57
Last seen by us: Nov 4, 2026

These dates show when we found the posting. Check the employer’s website to confirm it is still accepting applications.

How this job compares

Pay

Lower than most similar jobs

$155K–$175K against $166K–$240K, the middle half of what similar US postings state.

From 1,279 postings in the last year. Stated ranges, not salaries paid.

Time since we first saw it

Day 27

Similar jobs usually come down between day 6 and day 69.

From 4,331 similar postings that came down. Coming down is not always a hire.

Agile-Defense is hiring

29 open jobs

Open jobs by the week we first saw them, last 12 weeks.

Hiring is picking up
Takes jobs down at a usual pace

Hiring record

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Python

Where the posting names them

- Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in Computer Science, Data Science, or a related discipline and 8+ years of experience - Advanced proficiency in Python for AI/ML application development - Demonstrated experience building or integrating LLM/agent-based systems in production

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About the role

We file this job under ML Engineer, by the work the posting describes.

ML engineers put machine learning models into products. They write the code that trains, ships, serves and monitors models so a recommendation or prediction works for real users.

Postings ask for strong Python and software engineering, a framework such as PyTorch, cloud services, and more and more often experience with large language models.

A data scientist often works out which model to build; an ML engineer makes it run reliably in production.

US government figures for computer and information research scientists

Median yearly pay, May 2025: $140,300
Expected change, 2025 to 2035: 21.8% more jobsagainst 3.5% for all jobs

The government has no code for ML engineers, so these figures are for the closest group, computer and information research scientists.

Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025) and Employment Projections (2025 to 2035). Occupation code 15-1221.

Job description

View original posting ↗

About Agile Defense

At Agile Defense we know that action defines the outcome and new challenges require new solutions. That’s why we always look to the future and embrace change with an unmovable spirit and the courage to build for what comes next.

Our vision is to bring adaptive innovation to support our nation's most important missions through the seamless integration of advanced technologies, elite minds, and unparalleled agility—leveraging a foundation of speed, flexibility, and ingenuity to strengthen and protect our nation’s vital interests.

Requisition #: 1920

Job Title: Senior AI/ML Engineer

Location: Fort Meade, MD | Onsite

Clearance Level: TS/SCI w/ Polygraph, Must Have Clearance to Start

Job Description

Ready for a challenge that puts you at the center of AI innovation for cyber operations? Are you an experienced AI/ML engineer who thrives in a fast-paced environment, enjoys turning research and prototypes into real mission capability, and wants to help shape how AI is built and delivered across a national mission?

Our team is standing up an AI Enterprise capability — the central hub that mission teams turn to when they want to move an AI solution from prototype to a secure, governed, enterprise-scale service. As a Senior AI/ML Engineer on this team, you will design and integrate the models, agents, and AI workflows that run on that platform, with significant, visible impact on the mission.

What You'll Be Doing:

Provide embedded operations support, capability integration, and rapid prototyping for AI/ML-enabled tools in support of our customer.

Design and integrate LLM/agent orchestration workflows using agentic frameworks such as LangGraph, Agno, and the NVIDIA NeMo Agent Toolkit.

Tune model gateway routing logic to select, evaluate, and optimize across multiple frontier and open-weight models for cost, performance, and mission fit.

Develop and integrate RAG pipelines, vector databases, and memory services to give agents access to mission knowledge and context.

Implement MCP (Model Context Protocol)-based tool-broker integrations so agents can safely and securely access enterprise tools and data.

Evaluate, benchmark, and tune models and agent behaviors; build automated evaluation pipelines to track quality, safety, and performance over time.

Partner with data scientists and mission analysts to translate research and prototypes into production-grade AI capabilities for the command.

Implement AI governance guardrails — content/safety filters, policy enforcement, and approval gates — for agentic workflows, and document model/agent architectures and evaluation results for reuse.

Research and evaluate emerging LLM, agent, and AI tooling to keep the command's AI capability current and adaptable.

Basic Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in Computer Science, Data Science, or a related discipline and 8+ years of experience
Advanced proficiency in Python for AI/ML application development
Demonstrated experience building or integrating LLM/agent-based systems in production
Experience with retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), vector databases, and prompt/context engineering
Ability to manage competing priorities in fast-paced mission environments and identify/escalate operational risks early
Active TS/SCI clearance w/Poly

Preferred Skills

Experience supporting mission environments
Experience with frameworks such as LangGraph, Agno, or the NVIDIA NeMo Agent Toolkit
Experience with model inference/serving platforms (NVIDIA NIM, vLLM, Ollama, LiteLLM)
Experience with MCP (Model Context Protocol) or similar tool-broker/integration standards
Experience with AI evaluation frameworks, model benchmarking, and observability (logs/metrics/traces) for AI workloads

Salary

155,000 – 175,000 USD per year

Our Core Values

Employees of Agile Defense are our number one priority, and the importance we place on our culture here is fundamental. Our culture is alive and evolving, but it always stays true to its roots. Here, you are valued as a family member, and we believe that we can accomplish great things together. Agile Defense has been highly successful in the past few years due to our employees and the culture we create together.

What makes us Agile? We call it the 6Hs, the values that define our culture and guide everything we do. Together, these values infuse vibrancy, integrity, and a tireless work ethic into advancing the most important national security and critical civilian missions. It's how we show up every day. It's who we are.

Happy - Be Infectious. Happiness multiplies and creates a positive and connected environment where motivation and satisfaction have an outsized effect on everything we do.
Helpful - Be Supportive. Being helpful is the foundation of teamwork, resulting in a supportive atmosphere where collaboration flourishes, and collective success is celebrated.
Honest - Be Trustworthy. Honesty serves as our compass, ensuring transparent communication and ethical conduct, essential to who we are and the complex domains we support.
Humble - Be Grounded. Success is not achieved alone, humility ensures a culture of mutual respect, encouraging open communication, and a willingness to learn from one another and take on any task.
Hungry - Be Eager. Our hunger for excellence drives an insatiable appetite for innovation and continuous improvement, propelling us forward in the face of new and unprecedented challenges.
Hustle - Be Driven. Hustle is reflected in our relentless work ethic, where we are each committed to going above and beyond to advance the mission and achieve success.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities

Employment type

Regular

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