AI Engineer - SME

Gormat

$120K — $150K *
Information Technology
11 - 15 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Minimum 18 years of experience with a Bachelor's, or 15 years with a Master's in relevant fields.
  • Experience in designing and evaluating AI/ML applications.
  • Familiarity with modern AI patterns including LLMs and agentic systems.
  • Knowledge of orchestration frameworks like LangChain and Semantic Kernel.
  • Experience with software development, APIs, and system integration.
  • Strong ability to assess and communicate technical tradeoffs.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Responsibilities

  • Provide advisory support for AI application design and evaluation.
  • Advise on prototyping and integration of AI tools.
  • Assess solutions using LLMs and agentic workflows.
  • Review architectures and risk areas related to AI systems.
  • Advise on AI-related engineering considerations.
  • Evaluate modern AI frameworks for specific use cases.
  • Develop technical guidance and engineering recommendations.
  • Support performance assessment and validation of AI tools.
  • Collaborate with engineers and government leadership on AI projects.
  • Stay updated on AI advancements and recommend emerging tools.

Benefits

  • Opportunities for continuous learning and professional development.
  • Collaborative environment with government teams.
  • Exposure to cutting-edge AI technologies and frameworks.
  • Chance to influence the deployment of AI in mission-critical applications.
Full Job Description
We're seeking an amazingly talented AI Engineer to join our team! In this role you will get to provide technical advisory support for the design, evaluation, and advancement of AI-enabled applications, tools, and workflows. This role is intended for a hands-on technical professional who understands how modern AI systems are built and can help guide teams developing practical solutions using large language models, agentic workflows, orchestration frameworks, and supporting software infrastructure.

The right candidate is a builder at heart-someone who explores new frameworks, prototypes ideas, and continuously teaches themselves emerging techniques. Curiosity and passion matter greatly in this role. We want someone who follows the fast-moving AI ecosystem because they genuinely enjoy it, not just because the job requires it.

What You'll Be Doing:
  • Provide SETA support to government teams developing or assessing AI-enabled applications and tools.
  • Advise on technical approaches for AI application design, prototyping, integration, and evaluation.
  • Assess solutions involving LLMs, retrieval-augmented generation, tool use, agentic workflows, orchestration layers, prompt pipelines, and evaluation harnesses.
  • Support the review of architectures, development approaches, model usage patterns, and technical risk areas.
  • Advise on AI engineering considerations such as latency, reliability, observability, testability, guardrails, data flow, and system integration.
  • Evaluate and compare modern AI frameworks, agentic libraries, and experimentation harnesses for suitability in mission use cases.
  • Assist with the development of technical guidance, prototypes, engineering recommendations, and briefings for government stakeholders.
  • Support test and evaluation activities for AI tools, including performance assessment, qualitative review, and workflow validation.
  • Collaborate with platform engineers, product leads, mission users, and government leadership to ensure AI efforts remain technically grounded and operationally relevant.
  • Stay current on rapid changes in the AI ecosystem and provide informed recommendations on emerging tools and practices.

What Required Skills You'll Bring:
  • Min 18 years with Bachelors, 15 years with Masters degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, Mathematics, or related field.
  • Experience designing, building, integrating, or evaluating AI/ML-enabled applications or software tools.
  • Familiarity with modern AI application patterns, including LLM-based applications, RAG, prompt engineering, agentic systems, and AI-assisted workflows.
  • Working knowledge of one or more agentic or orchestration frameworks such as LangChain, LangGraph, Semantic Kernel, AutoGen, CrewAI, Haystack, LlamaIndex, or similar ecosystems.
  • Experience with software development fundamentals, APIs, data handling, and system integration.
  • Ability to assess technical tradeoffs and communicate them clearly to both engineers and government stakeholders.
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills.

What Desired Skills You'll Bring:
  • Experience with Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, or similar languages commonly used in AI application development.
  • Familiarity with vector databases, embeddings, model APIs, evaluation frameworks, and agent testing harnesses.
  • Exposure to model hosting, inference pipelines, or cloud-based AI development environments.
  • Understanding of secure AI development practices, data protection, and operational constraints in government settings.
  • Experience supporting defense, cyber, intelligence, or mission application development.
  • Familiarity with human-in-the-loop workflows, AI assurance, and evaluation methodologies.

TS/SCI with polygraph is required.

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