AI Engineer - FDE (Forward Deployed Engineer) - U.S. Federal Sector

Vibehackers; Washington, Northern (District of Columbia, KY); Hybrid; USD 182,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

Databricks is hiring an AI Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) to design, build, and productionize GenAI applications for the U.S. federal sector. This senior, customer-facing role requires U.S.

citizenship and eligibility for a secret clearance, and is based in the Washington, D.C./Maryland/Virginia metro area with periodic on-site work. Remote work is possible. You will own end-to-end GenAI deployments, advise customers, and influence product and engineering roadmaps while collaborating with

Qualifications

• U.S. citizenship and eligibility for a U.S. government secret clearance (active Secret or higher strongly encouraged).
• Based in the Washington, D.C., Maryland, or Virginia metropolitan area with periodic on-site work.
• Extensive hands-on data science experience and deployment of production-grade ML/GenAI apps.
• Experience building GenAI apps (e.g., RAG, multi-agent systems, Text2SQL, fine-tuning) using HuggingFace, LangChain, and DSPy.
• Experience deploying machine learning at scale on cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP).

Responsibilities

• Develop and deploy cutting-edge GenAI solutions leveraging latest research and techniques.
• Own production rollouts of consumer-facing and internal GenAI applications, including evaluation and optimizations.
• Serve as a trusted technical advisor to customers across domains and collaborate closely with product and engineering teams.
• Present and represent Databricks at conferences and external events.
• Support cross-functional initiatives and internal subject-matter expert teams.

Skills

GenAI development

Model deployment

Evaluation & optimization

Data science

Machine learning

Customer-facing consulting

Cross-functional collaboration

Technical communication

Presentation / thought leadership

Production engineering

Tools

HuggingFace

LangChain

DSPy

Pandas

scikit-learn

PyTorch

AWS

Azure

GCP

Job description

Building GenAI/LLM applications and LLMOps using tools like HuggingFace and LangChain—directly aligned with vibe coding focused on AI/ML rapid development.

About the Role

Databricks is hiring an AI Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) for the U.S. federal sector to design, build, and productionize GenAI applications for government customers. The role is customer-facing, requires U.S. citizenship and eligibility for a U.S. government secret clearance, and is based in the Washington, D.C./Maryland/Virginia metro area with periodic on-site work (role can be remote).

Job Description

Role

Databricks is seeking an AI Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) to deliver customer-facing GenAI solutions for the U.S. federal sector. The position focuses on building and rolling out production-grade GenAI applications, advising customers, and influencing product and engineering roadmaps.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and deploy cutting-edge GenAI solutions leveraging latest research and techniques.
• Own production rollouts of consumer-facing and internal GenAI applications, including evaluation and optimizations.
• Serve as a trusted technical advisor to customers across domains and collaborate closely with product and engineering teams.
• Present and represent Databricks at conferences and external events.
• Support cross-functional initiatives and internal subject-matter expert teams.

Requirements

• U.S. citizenship and eligibility for a U.S. government secret clearance (active Secret or higher strongly encouraged).
• Based in the Washington, D.C., Maryland, or Virginia metropolitan area with periodic on-site work and customer collaboration.
• Extensive hands-on industry data science experience and experience deploying production-grade machine learning/GenAI applications.
• Experience building GenAI applications (e.g., RAG, multi-agent systems, Text2SQL, fine-tuning) and using tools such as HuggingFace, LangChain, and DSPy.
• Proficiency with common data science and ML tools (pandas, scikit-learn, PyTorch).
• Experience deploying machine learning at scale on cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP).
• Strong communication skills and experience explaining technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Willingness to travel to customer sites approximately once every 4–8 weeks as needed.

Preferred

• Experience using the Databricks Intelligence Platform and Apache Spark to process large-scale distributed datasets.

Compensation

• Local pay range: $182,000—$250,208 USD. Actual compensation may include eligibility for annual performance bonus and equity and will vary by factors such as skills, experience, and work location.

Notes

• Compliance: access to export-controlled technology or source code may be subject to employer discretion and U.S. government licensing.
• Benefits: region-specific comprehensive benefits are provided (see company link for details).

Skills

GenAI development Model deployment Evaluation & optimization Data science Machine learning Customer-facing consulting Cross-functional collaboration Technical communication Presentation / thought leadership Production engineering

Experience Level

Senior

USD 182,000 - 250,208/year

Employment Type

{Full-Time}

• Role can be remote
• Annual performance bonus eligibility
• Comprehensive region-specific benefits (link provided)