Software Developer (AI/ML), TS//SCI with Counterintelligence Polygraph Required

Accrete

$170K — $220K *
Aerospace & Defense
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Active TS//SCI clearance with Counterintelligence or Lifestyle Polygraph
  • 5+ years of experience in data science, machine learning, or a related technical field
  • Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, or related quantitative discipline
  • Strong experience with programming languages like C++, Python, and Java
  • Deep understanding of machine learning and statistics fundamentals
  • Hands-on experience with building and deploying AI systems
  • Comfortable working from data exploration to production deployment

Responsibilities

  • Design and develop AI-driven automation solutions for government workflows
  • Identify processes that can be improved through AI and automation
  • Build systems that integrate data, machine learning, and workflow automation
  • Develop LLM-based applications and evaluate their performance
  • Establish human-in-the-loop workflows within regulatory guidelines
  • Develop and iterate on prototypes based on user feedback
  • Translate mission requirements into actionable technical solutions

Benefits

  • Comprehensive insurance coverage for you and your family
  • 401(k) retirement savings plan
  • Access to professional learning opportunities
  • Company-sponsored team bonding and social events
  • Catered lunches and fully stocked kitchen on-site
Full Job Description
Location: Alexandria

The Role

As a Software Developer (AI/ML) you will work at the intersection of data science, artificial intelligence, advanced analytics, and workflow automation. You will identify opportunities to automate complex, manual processes and build intelligent systems that can analyze data, make recommendations, and execute tasks with minimal human intervention.

You will work on a multi-disciplinary team with mission specialists, AI/ML engineers, software engineers, product delivery specialists, and government end users to turn mission requirements into practical AI and automation solutions. This role requires strong technical depth, excellent analytical judgment, and the ability to move quickly from an ambiguous problem to a working solution.

The ideal candidate has experience applying data science and AI to real-world problems and is excited about using modern AI technologies to automate knowledge-intensive work.
What You'll Do
AI & Automation
  • Design and develop AI-driven automation solutions for complex government and national security workflows
  • Identify manual, repetitive, and knowledge-intensive processes that can be improved through AI and automation
  • Develop systems that combine data, machine learning, LLMs, and workflow automation to accomplish mission objectives
  • Build intelligent workflows capable of extracting information, reasoning over data, generating outputs, and triggering downstream actions
  • Develop and evaluate LLM-based applications, including retrieval-augmented generation, agents, tool use, and structured outputs
  • Design approaches for human-in-the-loop and human-on-the-loop workflows in compliance with government legal and regulatory constraints
  • Develop automated methods for data ingestion, classification, enrichment, transformation, and analysis
  • Build rapid prototypes and iterate based on user feedback and system performance
  • Evaluate automation opportunities based on accuracy, reliability, scalability, and mission impact
Data Science & Analytics
  • Analyze large, complex, and heterogeneous datasets to identify patterns and opportunities for automation
  • Develop statistical and machine learning models to support AI-enabled applications
  • Perform exploratory data analysis, feature engineering, model development, and evaluation
  • Develop quantitative methods for measuring AI and automation performance
  • Design experiments and evaluation frameworks for AI systems
  • Investigate data quality issues and develop automated methods for validation and remediation
  • Apply natural language processing, information retrieval, classification, entity resolution, anomaly detection, and other analytical techniques as appropriate
  • Develop data pipelines and analytical workflows supporting production AI systems
Production AI
  • Partner with software and ML engineers to move data science prototypes into production
  • Design scalable data and AI workflows that can operate reliably in production environments
  • Monitor model and automation performance and identify opportunities for improvement
  • Develop evaluation datasets, benchmarks, and automated testing approaches for AI systems
  • Help establish best practices for responsible, ethical, and reliable deployments of AI capabilities
  • Troubleshoot model, data, and system performance issues
  • Contribute to the technical architecture of AI-enabled applications
  • Develop software documentation
Mission & Customer Collaboration
  • Work directly with government customers and mission users to understand operational challenges
  • Translate ambiguous mission requirements into technical approaches and measurable outcomes
  • Demonstrate AI and automation capabilities to customers and stakeholders
  • Gather user feedback and incorporate it into iterative product development
  • Explain complex AI concepts, capabilities, limitations, and results to technical and non-technical audiences
  • Identify additional opportunities where AI and automation can deliver measurable mission value
What We're Looking For
  • Active TS//SCI clearance with Counterintelligence or Lifestyle Polygraph
  • 5+ years of experience in data science, machine learning, AI, quantitative analysis, or a related technical field
  • Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Engineering, or a related quantitative discipline
  • Strong experience with C++, Python, Java, SQL, and any equivalent programming skills
  • Deep understanding of machine learning, statistics, and data science fundamentals
  • Hands-on experience building and deploying machine learning or AI systems
  • Experience applying LLMs or other modern AI techniques to real-world applications
  • Experience designing automated data or business workflows
  • Strong understanding of model evaluation, experimentation, and performance measurement
  • Ability to work across the full lifecycle from data exploration and prototyping through production deployment
  • Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills
  • Ability to operate independently and take ownership of ambiguous technical problems
Preferred Qualifications
  • Experience building AI agents or agentic workflows
  • Experience with LLM APIs, open-source language models, embeddings, RAG, vector databases, or tool calling
  • Experience with NLP, information extraction, semantic search, or knowledge graphs
  • Experience building production data pipelines and ML systems
  • Experience with PyTorch, TensorFlow, scikit-learn, Spark, or similar technologies
  • Experience with cloud platforms such as AWS or Azure
  • Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, and modern CI/CD practices
  • Experience with MLOps, model monitoring, and automated evaluation
  • Experience supporting the Department of Defense, Intelligence Community, or other federal mission
  • Experience working in classified, secure, or air-gapped environments
  • Experience automating complex analyst or operational workflows
  • Experience with geospatial, graph, time-series, or other specialized data
  • Ability to obtain and maintain additional security clearance accesses to Special Access Programs (SAP) or Access Compensatory Control Measures (ACCM)
What Success Looks Like

Success in this role means identifying opportunities where AI can meaningfully replace or accelerate manual work and turning those opportunities into reliable, production-ready capabilities.

You will be expected to move beyond experimentation and demonstrate measurable impact. That could mean reducing hours of manual analysis, accelerating information discovery, automating data processing, improving decision support, or enabling mission users to accomplish work that previously required significant human effort.

The strongest candidates will combine deep data science expertise with practical AI engineering instincts. You should be comfortable exploring a new dataset, building an AI prototype, designing an evaluation framework, working with engineers to productionize it, and iterating directly with users.
Company Benefits
  • Competitive Salary: Aligned with experience and market standards
  • Comprehensive Insurance: Health, dental, and vision coverage for you and your family
  • 401(k) Plan: Build your financial future with our retirement savings plan
  • Growth & Development: Access professional learning opportunities and career advancement support
  • Onsite Perks: Enjoy catered lunches, snacks, and a fully stocked kitchen
  • Team Bonding: Company-sponsored happy hours and social events to connect and unwind

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