Applied AI Engineer for Mission-Critical Defense Systems

Goodwin Recruiting; San Bruno (CA); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Full Health Benefits

401k

Job summary

Goodwin Recruiting is seeking an AI Engineer for an early-stage startup focused on AI-native software for defense applications. The role involves hands-on ML model development, data engineering, and deploying systems for high-stakes environments.

You will work across the full ML lifecycle, from data preparation to monitoring, with opportunities to prototype LLMs and multimodal approaches. Travel up to 15% and clearance eligibility are expected.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in CS or related field.
• Strong software engineering fundamentals.
• Hands-on ML with production rollout.
• Experience with ML frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow, Hugging Face).
• Experience deploying ML systems in production.
• Familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure).
• Willingness to travel up to 15% to engage with DoD partners.
• Eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance.

Responsibilities

• AI/ML Development: Design, train, fine-tune, and deploy state-of-the-art ML models; manage lifecycle from data exploration to production monitoring.
• Data & Systems Engineering: Build scalable data pipelines for structured and unstructured data; optimize training and inference systems for edge deployment.
• Engineering Excellence: Integrate models into robust production systems with testing, observability, and CI/CD practices.
• Research & Experimentation: Prototype and benchmark new modeling approaches (LLMs, multimodal systems, RAG) to improve performance and mission impact.

Skills

Strong software engineering

ML principles

PyTorch TensorFlow HuggingFace

Data pipelines

Cloud platforms

Security clearance eligibility

Travel up to 15%

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

PyTorch

TensorFlow

Hugging Face

Job description

Goodwin Recruiting is seeking an AI Engineer for an early-stage startup focused on AI-native software for defense applications. The role involves hands-on ML model development, data engineering, and deploying systems for high-stakes environments.

You will work across the full ML lifecycle, from data preparation to monitoring, with opportunities to prototype LLMs and multimodal approaches. Travel up to 15% and clearance eligibility are expected.