AI Engineering & Cybersecurity Capability Lead

ECS Corporate Services; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 215,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Everforth ECS Federal seeks a Senior AI Engineering & Cybersecurity Capability Lead to drive AI strategy, development, and operational integration across federal cybersecurity missions.

You will lead a multidisciplinary AI team, partnering with section chiefs and executives to translate emerging AI technologies into mission-ready capabilities and secure, production-ready solutions. Salary range is $215,000–$240,000 with Top Secret clearance and 10+ years of experience.

Qualifications

• Active Top Secret security clearance.
• 10+ years of relevant technical experience, including 2+ years in a technical leadership or management capacity.
• Demonstrated experience leading AI/ML engineering initiatives from solution architecture through production deployment.
• Hands-on experience with modern AI technologies, including LLMs, agentic AI frameworks, RAG architectures, machine learning, and AI automation.
• Proficiency in Python, API development, systems integration, data engineering, and modern software development practices.
• Experience designing and implementing AI solutions within secure enterprise environments.
• Working knowledge of cybersecurity operations, including threat detection, vulnerability management, incident response, or offensive/defensive security.
• Demonstrated ability to lead technical teams, establish engineering direction, and mentor senior engineers.
• Experience advising senior technical or executive stakeholders and translating complex engineering concepts into mission outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Establish and execute the AI capability roadmap aligning priorities with cybersecurity objectives.
• Serve as the principal AI technical advisor to program leadership and executive stakeholders.
• Translate cybersecurity challenges into actionable AI initiatives with measurable outcomes.
• Evaluate emerging AI/ML technologies and identify opportunities for innovation.
• Define technical priorities and guide progression from POC to IOC/FOC and operations.
• Communicate progress, risks, and strategic recommendations to senior leadership.
• Lead architecture, development, integration, and deployment of AI/ML for offensive/defensive operations.
• Provide hands-on leadership in LLMs, agentic AI, RAG, ML, and intelligent workflow automation.
• Guide AI-enabled capabilities for threat hunting, adversary emulation, vulnerability prioritization, security analytics, and incident response.
• Integrate AI with SIEM/SOAR, vulnerability tools, threat intelligence, and security assessments.
• Oversee secure AI infrastructure including private hosting, GPUs, air-gapped deployments, data pipelines, and orchestration.
• Ensure compliance with FBI security requirements, RMF, and NIST AI RMF.

Skills

AI engineering

Cybersecurity

Technical leadership

Python

API development

Systems integration

Data engineering

LLMs

Agentic AI

RAG

Machine learning

Automation

Threat detection

Vulnerability management

Incident response

Secure enterprise environments

Tools

SIEM/SOAR

GPU environments

Private model hosting

Air-gapped deployments

Job description

Everforth ECS Federal is seeking a Senior AI Engineering & Cybersecurity Capability Lead to drive the strategy, technical development, and operational integration of artificial intelligence across enterprise level cybersecurity missions for Federal agencies. In this role, you will lead a specialized AI engineering team responsible for developing, integrating, and deploying advanced AI/ML capabilities supporting Red Team, Blue Team, Purple Team, and Enterprise Vulnerability Management operations. The ideal candidate combines deep, hands-on AI engineering expertise with strategic vision, strong technical leadership, and the ability to translate emerging technologies into practical, mission-ready solutions. Working directly with section chiefs, customer executive leadership, cybersecurity operators, and technical stakeholders, this leader will establish the direction, architecture, and delivery priorities for AI-enabled cybersecurity capabilities. This is a customer facing, technical leadership role requiring someone who can shape the future of AI-enabled cyber operations while remaining actively engaged in engineering, innovation, and delivery.

Key Responsibilities include:

Strategic Direction & Executive Engagement

• Establish and execute the AI capability roadmap, aligning engineering priorities, investments, and implementation milestones with cybersecurity objectives.
• Serve as the principal AI technical advisor to program leadership, Section Chiefs, and executive stakeholders on emerging technologies, operational opportunities, and AI-related risks.
• Translate complex cybersecurity mission challenges into actionable AI engineering initiatives, measurable outcomes, and scalable enterprise solutions.
• Evaluate emerging AI/ML technologies, commercial products, open-source frameworks, and industry advancements to identify opportunities for innovation.
• Define technical priorities and guide progression from proof of concept through initial operational capability (IOC), full operational capability (FOC), and sustained operations.
• Communicate technical progress, mission impact, operational risks, and strategic recommendations to senior leadership.

Technical Architecture, Engineering & Innovation

• Lead the architecture, development, integration, and deployment of AI/ML solutions supporting offensive and defensive cybersecurity operations.
• Provide hands-on technical leadership in LLMs, agentic AI, RAG, machine learning, model optimization, and intelligent workflow automation.
• Guide development of AI-enabled capabilities for threat hunting, adversary emulation, vulnerability prioritization, security analytics, incident response, and defensive automation.
• Direct integration of AI solutions with enterprise cybersecurity platforms, including SIEM/SOAR, vulnerability management tools, threat intelligence sources, and security assessment technologies.
• Oversee secure AI infrastructure, including private model hosting, GPU environments, air-gapped deployments, data pipelines, and model orchestration.
• Advance capabilities for detecting and responding to AI-enabled adversarial activity, including automated reconnaissance, adaptive attacks, prompt injection, and model exploitation.
• Establish engineering standards for AI solution reliability, evaluation, testing, observability, security, and operational performance.
• Balance technical innovation with security, governance, and operational requirements applicable to classified customer environments.

Team Leadership & Operational Delivery

• Lead, mentor, and develop a multidisciplinary team of AI engineers and technical specialists, fostering technical excellence, innovation, collaboration, and accountability.
• Establish clear engineering workstreams, delivery priorities, technical milestones, and performance expectations.
• Build strong partnerships between AI engineers and existing Red, Blue, Purple, SOC, and Vulnerability Management teams to ensure solutions address real operational requirements.
• Guide technical design reviews, architecture decisions, engineering troubleshooting, and resolution of complex implementation challenges.
• Develop team capabilities through mentoring, technical knowledge sharing, training, and exposure to emerging AI engineering practices.
• Manage competing technical priorities and resources while maintaining delivery momentum and responsiveness to mission requirements.
• Establish repeatable processes for moving AI solutions from experimentation into secure, supportable production environments.

Enterprise Integration & Mission Impact

• Identify opportunities to reduce manual effort, improve analytical accuracy, accelerate threat identification, and strengthen enterprise cybersecurity visibility.
• Lead integration of AI capabilities into existing cybersecurity workflows, tools, and operational processes rather than creating disconnected solutions.
• Collaborate with government system owners, security stakeholders, infrastructure teams, and mission operators to ensure secure and sustainable implementation.
• Establish measurable performance indicators demonstrating improvements in operational efficiency, threat detection, vulnerability remediation, and analyst effectiveness.
• Support major cybersecurity exercises, incident response activities, and enterprise security initiatives through AI-enabled analytics and decision-support capabilities.
• Ensure solutions comply with applicable FBI security requirements, RMF, NIST AI RMF, data governance, and responsible AI principles.

Salary Range: $215,000 - $240,000

General Description of Benefits

• Active Top Secret security clearance.
• 10+ years of relevant technical experience, including at least 2 years in a technical leadership or management capacity.
• Demonstrated experience leading AI/ML engineering initiatives from solution architecture through production deployment.
• Strong hands-on experience with modern AI technologies, including LLMs, agentic AI frameworks, RAG architectures, machine learning, and AI automation.
• Proficiency in Python, API development, systems integration, data engineering, and modern software development practices.
• Experience designing and implementing AI solutions within secure enterprise environments.
• Working knowledge of cybersecurity operations, including threat detection, vulnerability management, incident response, or offensive/defensive security.
• Demonstrated ability to lead technical teams, establish engineering direction, and mentor senior engineers.
• Experience advising senior technical or executive stakeholders and translating complex engineering concepts into mission outcomes.