Applied AI Engineer 3

Akina, Inc.; Columbia (MD); On-site; USD 241,000 - 295,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

PTO 24 days annually plus 11 federal

401k with 10% company match

Healthcare fully covered for employees

Educational assistance for job-related

Job summary

Akina, Inc. is seeking an Applied AI Engineer 3 to lead forward-deployed efforts in Columbia, Maryland, turning conversations into production-ready autonomous AI agents and tools while setting technical direction for the team.

You will build agentic systems that integrate LLMs with mission data and tooling, ensure safety through guardrails, and mentor engineers. Strong Python, LLM experience, and leadership are essential for collaboration with government stakeholders.

Qualifications

• Extensive professional software engineering experience with advanced Python and production services.
• Experience building LLM applications or agentic systems that use tool calls and multi-step workflows.
• Experience translating operator problems into delivered software for mission customers.
• Experience designing tests, validations, or guardrails for AI systems.
• Experience using AI coding assistants for code generation, refactoring, and debugging, with strong review discipline.

Responsibilities

• Lead forward-deployed engagements with operators and analysts, translating requirements into production solutions.
• Architect and build agentic systems in Python connecting LLMs, MCP, Skills, and subagents to mission data.
• Design guardrails including permissions, human gates, and audit logging for safe agent actions.
• Build evaluation suites to measure accuracy and reliability and guide deployment decisions.
• Evaluate new models and design patterns, briefing tradeoffs to leadership and stakeholders.
• Mentor engineers through design and code reviews and lead technical design discussions.

Skills

Python

LLM applications

agentic systems

engineering leadership

mentoring engineers

Git

CI/CD pipelines

Docker/Kubernetes

communication

problem solving

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related discipline

Tools

Git

CI/CD pipelines

Docker

Kubernetes

Jira

Confluence

Claude Code

Codex

Copilot

Job description

Akina, Inc. is hiring an Applied AI Engineer 3 for onsite work in Columbia, Maryland. In this role, you will lead forward-deployed efforts with mission customers, helping turn early conversations into production-ready autonomous AI agents and tools while setting the technical direction for what your team builds.

You will build and evaluate agentic systems that integrate LLMs with mission data and operational tooling, and you will help ensure capabilities are safe to deploy through guardrails, validation layers, and rigorous testing. The position also includes mentoring engineers, defining development and review standards, and communicating progress, risks, and tradeoffs to project leads and government stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Lead forward-deployed engagements with operations customers by eliciting requirements from operators and analysts, identifying workflows where AI can save the most time, and delivering solutions from prototype to production.
• Architect and build agentic systems in Python that connect LLMs, MCP servers, Skills, and subagents to mission data sources and existing operational tools.
• Design guardrails for autonomous agents, including scoped permissions, human approval gates, and audit logging, so agents can act on operational systems safely.
• Build evaluation suites with mission users to measure accuracy, reliability, and failure modes, and use results to determine when capabilities are ready to field.
• Evaluate new models, frameworks, and AI design patterns, including frontier and open-weight options, and brief findings and tradeoffs to technical and government leadership.
• Use AI coding agents (e.g., Claude Code) in daily development, and help define team standards for reviewing, testing, and validating AI-generated code.
• Mentor engineers through design reviews, code reviews, and pairing, and lead technical design discussions for your project area.
• Communicate progress, risks, and tradeoffs to project leads and government stakeholders.

Requirements

• Extensive professional software engineering experience with advanced Python, including production services, APIs, and data pipelines relied on by users.
• Experience building LLM applications or agentic systems that use tool/function calling, structured outputs, context management, and multi-step workflows.
• Experience working directly with end users or mission customers to translate ambiguous operational problems into delivered software.
• Experience designing tests, evaluations, or validation layers for AI or other non-deterministic systems.
• Experience using AI coding assistants or agents (e.g., Claude Code, Codex, Copilot) for code generation, refactoring, and debugging, with the review discipline to own and explain everything produced.
• Technical leadership experience, such as serving as tech lead, leading design decisions, or mentoring engineers.
• Experience with Git, CI/CD pipelines (GitLab preferred), Docker/Kubernetes, and Atlassian tools (Jira, Confluence).
• Strong written and verbal communication with technical and non-technical audiences.

Technologies

• Python
• LLMs
• Model Context Protocol (MCP)
• Skills
• subagents
• Git
• CI/CD pipelines
• GitLab
• Docker
• Kubernetes
• Jira
• Confluence
• Claude Code
• Codex
• Copilot
• Atlassian tools

Benefits

• 24 days PTO accrued annually and 11 federal holidays
• 401k is 100% vested on your start date, and the company makes a direct contribution worth 10% of your salary
• Akina covers 100% of healthcare costs for employees and 50% toward dependents
• Educational assistance toward college classes, and coverage of costs for job-related training and certifications

Clearance

• TS/SCI - Polygraph required

Nice to Haves

• Experience with Model Context Protocol (MCP), Skills, subagents, or multi-agent orchestration frameworks such as PydanticAI or LangGraph.
• Experience securing LLM applications against prompt injection, data leakage, and over-permissioned tool access.
• Experience with retrieval systems (RAG, vector databases, Elasticsearch).
• Experience building spec-driven or autonomous development pipelines with AI coding agents.
• Prior forward-deployed or embedded customer-facing engineering experience.
• Experience with production CNO capabilities and operations, or knowledge of end-to-end SIGINT collection and analysis systems.

Minimum Qualifications (SWE3)

• Minimum of twelve (12) years of experience as a SWE in programs and contracts of similar scope, type, and complexity.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related discipline from an accredited college or university is required.
• Four (4) years of additional SWE experience on projects with similar software processes may be substituted for a bachelor's degree.

Compensation and Location

• Location: Columbia, Maryland (onsite)
• Salary range: USD 241,000 - 295,000 per year
• The displayed range is a likely salary range; salary is set based on experience, geographic location, and possible contractual requirements and could fall outside this range.