AI/ML Engineer

540; Arlington (VA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

540 is seeking an AI/ML Engineer to design, build, and maintain production AI/ML services and infrastructure for mission-critical modernization efforts.

You will work with software engineers, data engineers, data scientists, cybersecurity teams, and stakeholders to enable scalable model development, deployment, monitoring, and governance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in CS or related field or equivalent experience.
• 4+ years in AI/ML engineering or data science.
• Proficiency with Python and ML frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain AI/ML services and pipelines.
• Develop model training, validation, deployment, and monitoring.
• Collaborate with engineers, data scientists, and security teams to ensure reliability.

Skills

AI/ML engineering

Python

CI/CD

Model deployment

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/engineering or related field

Tools

CI/CD pipelines

Cloud infrastructure

Job description

540 is seeking an AI/ML Engineer to support a mission‑critical technology modernization effort for the Department of War. You will design, build, and maintain production AI/ML services and infrastructure that enable teams to develop, deploy, monitor, and scale models supporting complex defense missions. Working with software engineers, data engineers, data scientists, cybersecurity teams, and mission stakeholders, you will build reusable ML capabilities and automated pipelines using modern software engineering and MLOps practices. The ideal candidate enjoys solving complex engineering challenges and building secure, reliable AI/ML systems that directly support mission outcomes.

Location : Arlington, VA Citizenship & Clearance Requirement : Per client requirements, candidates must be U.S. Citizens with an active DoW Secret (or higher) clearance Education Requirement: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field preferred; equivalent combinations of education and relevant experience will be considered 540 Internal Thrive Level: Software Engineer II or III

WHY 540?

540 is a forward-thinking company that the government turns to in order to #getshitdone. We don’t just talk about innovation – we deliver it. We break down barriers, build impactful technology, and solve mission‑critical problems.

HOW YOU’LL DRIVE IMPACT

• Design, build, and maintain AI/ML services, products, and lifecycle capabilities supporting WDP
• Develop automated pipelines for model training, validation, testing, deployment, and monitoring
• Create reusable frameworks, libraries, and shared components that accelerate AI/ML development
• Build model‑serving capabilities supporting secure, scalable, and reliable batch or real‑time inference
• Implement MLOps practices using CI/CD, infrastructure as code, automated testing, and source control
• Develop model monitoring, performance tracking, drift detection, and operational health capabilities
• Support model explainability, reproducibility, governance, and lifecycle traceability
• Manage model versions, artifacts, datasets, and feature‑engineering workflows
• Optimize AI/ML services and infrastructure for performance, scalability, reliability, and cost efficiency
• Collaborate with data engineers and data scientists to prepare data and operationalize models
• Partner with cybersecurity teams to implement security, access‑control, auditing, and governance requirements
• Troubleshoot issues spanning models, applications, data pipelines, infrastructure, and production services
• Document AI/ML architectures, engineering processes, and operational procedures

REQUIRED SKILLS & EXPERIENCE

• 4+ years of relevant AI/ML engineering, software engineering, or data science experience
• Experience developing and deploying production‑grade AI or machine learning systems
• Proficiency with Python and commonly used AI/ML frameworks
• Experience building automated model training, validation, deployment, and monitoring pipelines