Steampunk

AI Innovation Engineer

Steampunk$90K — $130K *
Education, Government & Non-Profit
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Public trust eligibility with US government
  • Bachelor’s or Master’s in Computer Science, AI, Machine Learning, or related field
  • 3+ years in software engineering, data engineering, or applied AI/ML roles
  • Hands-on experience with GenAI tools like OpenAI, LangChain, and vector databases
  • Strong Python skills for data pipelines and demos
  • Ability to present AI demos to technical and non-technical audiences
  • Familiarity with DevSecOps, CI/CD, and GitHub

Responsibilities

  • Serve as a trusted advisor on modern AI capabilities
  • Develop tailored AI education materials and onboarding sessions
  • Lead AI enablement events such as workshops and innovation sprints
  • Design and implement AI prototypes for specific mission use cases
  • Integrate prototypes into modern cloud environments
  • Participate in cross-functional working groups to align AI adoption with modernization goals
  • Ensure AI solutions comply with responsible AI principles and security practices

Benefits

  • Collaborative and innovative work culture
  • Opportunity to contribute to real-world AI applications
  • Engagement with public-sector clients
  • Focus on human-centered impact in technology
  • Development of professional skills in cutting-edge AI tools
Full Job Description
Overview

We are seeking a hands-on, creative, and technically strong AI Innovation Engineer to support our client delivery teams in bringing modern AI solutions to life within public-sector organizations. This role is focused on client enablement, prototyping, and cross-functional engagement—helping our clients understand the potential of AI, design proofs-of-concept, and build working prototypes that demonstrate value in their specific mission context.

 

The ideal candidate combines strong technical skills (especially with GenAI, LLMs, data pipelines, and cloud-native services) with the ability to collaborate across disciplines—working with DevSecOps teams, cloud working groups, data stewards, and communities of practice to drive AI adoption and build momentum. You’ll play a critical role in bridging the gap between strategy and execution, demonstrating how AI can solve real-world problems and catalyze digital transformation.

Contributions

 

This role is ideal for someone who thrives at the intersection of technical innovation and human-centered impact. You’ll help our clients not only understand what AI can do, but also show them how through prototypes, pilots, and practice. You’ll be an early advocate for the latest AI service offerings that are available for our clients. You'll join a collaborative, forward-leaning culture that values exploration, rapid iteration, and practical impact. You’ll contribute to the growth of our AI & Data Exploitation Practice.

 

Your key contributions include:

 

  • Client AI Enablement & Education
    • Serve as a trusted advisor to the client organization on modern AI capabilities, best practices, and responsible use
    • Develop AI education materials, tutorials, demo videos, and onboarding sessions that are tailored to the client organization’s needs
    • Lead or support AI enablement events such as workshops, lunch-and-learns, innovation sprints, and capability briefings
  • Prototyping & Proof-of-Concepts
    • Design and implement AI prototypes and proof-of-concept solutions tailored to specific mission use cases (e.g., summarization, entity extraction, classification, semantic search)
    • Work with cloud platform teams to integrate prototypes into modern cloud environments (e.g., AWS Bedrock, GCP Vertex AI, Azure OpenAI)
    • Leverage RAG pipelines, orchestration frameworks (LangChain, LlamaIndex), and LLM APIs to rapidly deliver working demos
  • Cross-Functional Integration
    • Participate in communities of practice and cross-team working groups (e.g., cloud, data, architecture, cybersecurity) to ensure AI adoption is aligned with broader modernization goals
    • Share findings, prototype patterns, and reusable components across delivery teams to accelerate reuse and scale impact
    • Serve as a liaison between data scientists, platform engineers, and user-facing teams to ensure end-to-end viability of AI solutions
  • Standards, Security & Compliance
    • Ensure all AI solutions are designed with responsible AI principles, data sensitivity awareness, and security-first practices
    • Collaborate with compliance and governance stakeholders to vet tools, define usage boundaries, and mitigate risks in AI application
Qualifications

Required

  • Ability to hold a position of public trust with the US government.
  • Bachelor’s or Master's in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, or a related field.
  • 3+ years of experience in software engineering, data engineering, or applied AI/ML roles.
  • Demonstrated hands-on experience with modern GenAI tooling, such as:
    • OpenAI (GPT-4), Claude, Gemini, Llama 3
    • LangChain, LlamaIndex, or similar RAG frameworks
    • AWS Bedrock, GCP Vertex AI, Azure OpenAI Service
    • Vector databases (e.g., FAISS, Pinecone, Weaviate, Chroma)
  • Strong Python development skills with familiarity in building data pipelines, API wrappers, and lightweight front-ends for demos.
  • Ability to build and present AI-powered demos to both technical and non-technical audiences.
  • Familiarity with DevSecOps and CI/CD principles.
  • Familiarity with GitHub.
  • Experience engaging with external clients or business stakeholders in a consultative role.
  • Relevant Professional Certification(s)
  • Experience supporting HHS or NIH programs
  • Experience working in scientific environments 

Preferred Qualifications

  • Experience delivering AI capabilities into federal government agencies or highly regulated industries.
  • Experience customizing AI services for biomedical or health research.
  • Understanding of NIST AI Risk Management Framework and other public-sector digital policy memos.
  • Hands-on knowledge of data governance, PII handling, and compliance-aware prototyping.
  • Exposure to Human-Centered Design practices, user research synthesis, or journey mapping.
  • Prior involvement in standing up or contributing to an AI Community of Practice or Innovation Hub.

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.

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