Applied AI EngineerAn active TS//SCI clearance with polygraph is required for this role About this RoleYou'll lead forward-deployed engagements with operations customers, working directly with operators and analysts to identify where AI can save the most time and deliver solutions from prototype to production. As a senior Applied AI Engineer, you'll architect and build agentic systems in Python that connect large language models, enterprise AI platforms, and operational tools to mission data sources. You'll design guardrails for autonomous agents-including scoped permissions, human approval gates, and audit logging-so agents can act safely on operational systems. You'll build evaluation suites with mission users to measure accuracy, reliability, and failure modes, and use those results to decide when capabilities are ready to field.
You'll evaluate new models, frameworks, and AI design patterns for fit against mission problems and brief findings and tradeoffs to technical and government leadership. You'll use AI coding agents in your daily development work and help define team standards for reviewing, testing, and validating AI-generated code. You'll mentor engineers through design reviews, code reviews, and pairing, and lead technical design discussions for your project area. Throughout, you'll communicate progress, risks, and tradeoffs to project leads and government stakeholders, shaping how AI is fielded across operations and growing into project leadership.
Requirements- 12+ years of relevant experience with a B.S. in a technical discipline, or 16+ years of relevant experience without a degree
- Extensive professional software engineering experience with advanced Python proficiency, including production services, APIs, and data pipelines that users depend on
- Experience building LLM applications or agentic systems that use tool/function calling, structured outputs, context management, and multi-step workflows
- Experience working directly with end users or mission customers to turn ambiguous operational problems into delivered software
- Experience designing tests, evaluations, or validation layers for AI or other non-deterministic systems
- Experience using AI coding assistants or agents (e.g., Claude Code, Codex, Copilot) for code generation, refactoring, and debugging, with the review discipline to own and explain everything they produce
- Technical leadership experience, such as serving as tech lead, leading design decisions, or mentoring engineers
- Experience with Git, CI/CD pipelines (GitLab preferred), Docker/Kubernetes, and Atlassian tools (Jira, Confluence)
- Strong written and verbal communication with technical and non-technical audiences
Preferred Skills- Experience with Model Context Protocol (MCP), Skills, subagents, or multi-agent orchestration frameworks such as PydanticAI or LangGraph
- Experience securing LLM applications against prompt injection, data leakage, and over-permissioned tool access
- Experience with retrieval systems (RAG, vector databases, Elasticsearch)
- Experience building spec-driven or autonomous development pipelines with AI coding agents
- Prior forward-deployed or embedded customer-facing engineering experience
- Experience with production CNO capabilities and operations, or knowledge of end-to-end SIGINT collection and analysis systems
Benefits at Bitwise- Top salaries because we're top performers
- Pick your PTO - Everyone values time and money differently, so we give you the flexibility to choose between 3 and 5 weeks of PTO with a corresponding adjustment to your pay. Your choice, your balance.
- All 11 federal holidays, paid!
- Up to 2 snow days, paid!
- We'll quadruple (4x!) the first 6% you contribute to your 401(k), giving you up to a 24% company match. Contributing less than 6%? Unclaimed matches come right back to you as extra income, giving you a guaranteed 24% that goes to your retirement, to your paycheck, or both. C'mon now!
- 100% employer-paid medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurances. That's a lot. Already covered on health insurance? No problem - we'll trade you this benefit for a boost to your salary instead.
- $5,250 annual education assistance for training, certifications, tuition, and even student loan repayments.
- Spot bonuses for obtained certifications, customer recognition, and just about anything else that makes us go "Hot damn!". We hope to say that many times about you.
Salary Range$282,000 - $332,000
This range includes our flex income and depends upon your annual work hours.
Salary is determined on an individual basis following the interview process and considering various factors such as years of experience, skills, education, and certifications.
What to Expect After ApplyingYou'll get an email from us right away to acknowledge your application. After that, we'll:
- Send over additional company materials for you to review
- Schedule a video call to talk about you, our company, and your place in it
- Craft a delightful offer package for you and record a video walkthrough
- Work closely with you through onboarding. We'll keep it joyful and easy.
