AI/Machine Learning Engineer SME

Socket.dev; Washington (District of Columbia); Hybrid; USD 200,000 - 350,000; Full time

Job summary

Integration Innovation, Inc. (i3) is seeking a Senior AI/ML Engineer to architect enterprise AI/ML solutions for the DIA EDMA initiative. You will lead multi-disciplinary teams and serve as the primary technical interface with government stakeholders to ensure mission-aligned, secure AI capabilities.

The role emphasizes responsible-AI governance, secure software practices, and cloud/hybrid integrations, with potential for hybrid work across projects in the Defense/IC space.

Qualifications

• U.S. Citizenship required.
• Active Secret clearance with ability to obtain/maintain TS/SCI.
• Bachelor’s degree in CS/Engineering/Data Science or related field; Master’s preferred.
• 14+ years of progressive AI/ML, data engineering, or analytics experience.
• Experience architecting enterprise AI/ML systems and leading technical teams.
• Strong Python proficiency and experience with PyTorch, TensorFlow, or JAX.
• Knowledge of secure software engineering, distributed systems, and containerization.
• Ability to interface with senior government stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Architect enterprise-ready AI/ML solutions including training pipelines, inference services, feature stores, data ingestion, and MLOps.
• Define technical roadmap by breaking down mission needs into architectures and work plans.
• Lead multi-disciplinary teams on algorithms, data strategy, integration, and delivery cadence.
• Oversee sprint planning, execution, and ensure artifacts meet enterprise standards.
• Serve as primary technical interface with government stakeholders and articulate decisions and risk tradeoffs.
• Enforce best practices across ML engineering, DevSecOps, testing, and model governance.
• Mentor engineers and elevate team capabilities to align with mission outcomes.
• Guide evaluation/adoption of ML tools (PyTorch, TensorFlow, JAX), distributed compute, MLOps platforms, and generative AI patterns.

Skills

Python

PyTorch

TensorFlow

JAX

DevSecOps

MLOps

Leadership

Communication

Security

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Master’s degree preferred

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

Overview

Integration Innovation, Inc. (i3) is seeking a motivated SME level AI/Machine Learning Engineer to support the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Enterprise Data Management & Analytics (EDMA) effort. As part of this dynamic program, you will architect enterprise-ready AI/ML solutions and serve as primary technical interface with government stakeholders.

This role is ideal for experienced engineers who can champion responsible-AI and governance principles, ensuring approaches align with IC and DoD directives.

The AI Team is distributed across multiple projects and could have potential for some hybrid work.

Pay Range $200,000 - $350,000

The pay range for this position is a general guideline only and not a guarantee of compensation or salary. Additional factors considered in extending an offer include (but are not limited to) responsibilities of job, education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity, alignment with market data, geographic location, and any applicable laws

Responsibilities

• Architect enterprise-ready AI/ML solutions, including model-training pipelines, inference services, feature stores, data-ingestion pathways, and MLOps frameworks aligned to requirements.
• Define the technical roadmap, breaking down complex mission needs into actionable architectures, workstreams, and implementation plans.
• Lead multi-disciplinary engineering teams, providing direction on algorithms, model selection, data strategy, integration, and delivery cadence.
• Oversee sprint planning and technical execution, ensuring deliverables are on time, blockers are removed, and engineering artifacts meet enterprise standards.
• Serve as primary technical interface with government stakeholders, articulating architecture decisions, model behaviors, risk tradeoffs, and recommended solution pathways.
• Establish and enforce best practices across ML engineering, DevSecOps, coding standards, test automation, and model-life-cycle governance.
• Conduct technical reviews and mentor engineers, elevating team capability and ensuring alignment with mission outcomes.
• Guide evaluation and adoption of advanced ML tools, including deep-learning frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow, JAX), distributed compute, MLOps platforms, generative-AI modernization patterns, and enterprise scale data solutions.
• Lead integration of AI capabilities into cloud-native or hybrid architectures, ensuring compliance with security, accreditation, and enterprise-data-management requirements.
• Provide SME-level support for strategic planning, including solution briefs, architecture diagrams, CONOPS development, and decision-ready artifacts for government review panels.
• Champion responsible-AI and governance principles, ensuring approaches align with IC and DoD directives.

Qualifications

• U.S. Citizenship.
• Active Secret clearance w/ the ability to obtain and maintain a TS/SCI security clearance.
• Bachelor's degree (Master's preferred) in Computer Science, Engineering, Applied Mathematics, Data Science, or related field.
• Minimum 14 years of progressive experience in AI/ML, data engineering, or advanced analytics.
• Demonstrated experience architecting and deploying enterprise AI/ML systems.
• Deep proficiency in Python and modern ML frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow, JAX).
• Experience leading technical teams, performing architecture trade studies, and guiding full ML lifecycle development.
• Strong understanding of secure software engineering, distributed systems, DevSecOps, and containerization.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to interface with senior government stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting AI/ML projects in government, defense, or intelligence environments.
• Familiarity with Intelligence Community mission needs and data types.
• Exposure to cloud-native development (AWS, Azure, GovCloud).
• Experience building or supporting NLP, computer-vision, generative-AI, or anomaly-detection models.
• Knowledge of MLOps, CI/CD, container orchestration, or distributed training frameworks.

About i3

Founded in 2007, Integration Innovation, Inc. (i3) is headquartered in Huntsville, AL, with additional offices in Orlando, FL, and the National Capital Region. We are a 100% team member-owned mid-tier integrator with over 800 employee-owners, and our culture speaks for itself: we've earned ten Best Places to Work awards, driven by strong employee engagement, transparent leadership, and a genuine commitment to communication.

i3 team members operate at the leading edge of national defense across a broad range of technical disciplines, from systems and software engineering to modeling, simulation, and training solutions to cybersecurity, digital engineering, and enterprise IT. We also take products from prototype through production, bringing that same engineering rigor to manufacturing and delivering hardware at scale. For candidates, that means a rare opportunity: the innovation and mission focus of an engineering services company paired with the hands-on impact of building and delivering real solutions that benefit the Warfighter, all inside an employee-owned company where your contributions directly shape both the mission and your ownership stake in the business