Steampunk

Senior AI Developer

Steampunk$140K — $190K *
Information Technology
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Ability to hold a position of public trust with the U.S. government.
  • Bachelor's Degree and 7+ years of experience.
  • 5+ years of hands-on software engineering experience focused on AI/ML, generative AI, or LLM development.
  • Strong proficiency in Python and modern AI frameworks such as PyTorch and TensorFlow.
  • Demonstrated ability to design and develop production-grade AI applications, including APIs and orchestration logic.
  • Experience with RAG architectures and context retrieval patterns.
  • Strong understanding of cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, or GCP.

Responsibilities

  • Develop end-to-end AI solutions like LLM-powered applications and predictive ML models.
  • Implement reusable AI components and libraries to accelerate delivery.
  • Integrate AI models with enterprise systems and cloud-native services.
  • Drive iterative experimentation and model improvement cycles with Data Scientists.
  • Design advanced prompt strategies and orchestration logic for LLM applications.
  • Build scalable inference services and optimize model performance in collaboration with LLMOps.
  • Translate user needs and workflows into reliable, AI-powered features.

Benefits

  • Mentorship opportunities to lead and inspire junior developers.
  • Access to continuous learning on emerging AI techniques and frameworks.
  • Opportunity to contribute to the growth of the AI & Data Exploitation Practice.
  • Flexible working conditions depending on project and team requirements.
Full Job Description
Overview

We are looking for a highly skilled Senior AI Developer to design, build, and optimize advanced AI solutions across predictive, generative, and autonomous system domains. This role requires strong hands-on engineering capabilities, deep familiarity with modern AI architectures, and the ability to translate mission needs into robust, production-ready AI capabilities. The Senior AI Developer will work across the full stack of AI development, from data ingestion and model experimentation to application integration, orchestration, and deployment, and will collaborate closely with product teams, LLMOps engineers, designers, and mission stakeholders.

Contributions

Responsibilities include:
  • Develop end-to-end AI solutions including LLM-powered applications, predictive ML models, multi-agent workflows, RAG pipelines, and specialized AI microservices.
  • Implement reusable AI components, libraries, and APIs that streamline application development and accelerate delivery across programs.
  • Integrate AI models with enterprise systems, APIs, data platforms, vector databases, and cloud-native services to deliver scalable mission capabilities.
  • Drive iterative experimentation, prototyping, and model improvement cycles in collaboration with Data Scientists and AI Evaluation Scientists.
  • 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 LLMOps to enable robust deployment, monitoring, and continuous improvement.
  • Translate user needs and mission workflows into intuitive, reliable AI-powered features through active partnership with designers and product teams.
  • Implement secure-by-design and trustworthy AI practices, including safety guardrails, input sanitization, content filtering, and integration of evaluation metrics.
  • Contribute to internal AI frameworks, code patterns, and shared accelerators that raise delivery quality across the AI & Data Exploitation Practice.
  • 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.
  • You will contribute to the growth of our AI & Data Exploitation Practice!


Qualifications

Required:
  • Ability to hold a position of public trust with the U.S. government.
  • Bachelor's Degree and 7+ years of experience.
  • 5+ years of hands-on software engineering experience, with at least 2+ years focused on AI/ML, generative AI, or LLM-driven application development.
  • Strong proficiency in Python and modern AI frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, Hugging Face Transformers, LangChain, LlamaIndex, or similar.
  • Demonstrated ability to design and develop production-grade AI applications, including APIs, back-end services, orchestration logic, and front-end integrations (when needed).
  • Experience implementing RAG architectures, embeddings, vector stores, and context retrieval patterns.
  • Familiarity with multi-agent orchestration frameworks, prompt engineering strategies, and advanced LLM interaction design.
  • Strong understanding of cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP), including compute, serverless services, and security fundamentals for AI workloads.
  • Working knowledge of containerization (Docker), orchestration (Kubernetes), and CI/CD pipelines for AI-based systems.
  • Experience with structured and unstructured data, document processing, and application integration with existing enterprise systems.
  • Understanding of responsible AI principles including safety, fairness, privacy, and model risk mitigation.
  • 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.


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 $140,000 to $190,000. The estimate displayed represents a typical annual salary range for this position. Annual salary is just one aspect of Steampunk's total compensation package for employees. Learn more about additional Steampunk benefits here.

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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