AI Engineer

BB6 Defense; Columbia (MD); On-site; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

BB6 Defense seeks an AI Engineer in Columbia, MD, to provide technical advisory support for AI-enabled applications and workflows. This hands-on role requires building and evaluating AI systems, guiding teams on LLMs, RAG, and orchestration, with a focus on secure, reliable delivery for government use.

The successful candidate will advise on architectures, data flows, latency and observability, and will stay current with rapid AI ecosystem advances to inform mission-ready solutions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering/Data Science or related field.
• 18+ years with Bachelor's or 15+ years with Master's in CS/related field.
• Experience designing/evaluating AI/ML-enabled applications or tools.
• Active TS SCI w/ CI Polygraph security clearance required.

Responsibilities

• Provide SETA support to government teams for AI-enabled apps and tools.
• Advise on technical approaches for AI design, prototyping, integration and evaluation.
• Assess solutions involving LLMs, RAG, prompts, and agentic workflows.
• Review architectures, model usage, and technical risk areas.
• Advise on latency, reliability, observability, guardrails, and data flow.
• Evaluate AI frameworks and experimentation harnesses for mission use cases.
• Develop technical guidance, prototypes, and briefings for government stakeholders.
• Support test and evaluation activities for AI tools and workflows.
• Collaborate with platform engineers, mission users, and leadership.
• Stay current on AI ecosystem changes and emerging tools.

Skills

AI/ML development

Systems integration

Communication skills

Security clearance

Agentic frameworks

Software development

Tradeoff analysis

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/engineering/Data Science

Master's degree in CS/related field

Tools

LangChain

LangGraph

Semantic Kernel

AutoGen

CrewAI

Haystack

LlamaIndex

Job description

Job Title: AI Engineer

Location: Columbia, MD Position Type: Full Time Clearance Required: TS/SCI with Polygraph

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. Security Clearance Requirement: An active Top Secret SCI w/ CI Polygraph is required for this position.

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.
• Active TS SCI w/ CI Polygraph security clearance required

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