Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Engineer 1

Akina, Inc.; Maryland; On-site; USD 170,000 - 208,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

PTO 24 days

11 holidays

401k 100% vested

Employer health coverage

Dependent coverage 50%

Education assistance

Training costs

Job summary

Akina, Inc. in Annapolis Junction, MD, is hiring an AI/ML Engineer 1 to design, build, and productionize AI/ML capabilities. The role is onsite with heavy work on language models and scalable environments, across model development, evaluation, and cloud deployment.

You will collaborate across data scientists, product teams, and engineers to translate business needs into technical solutions and build end-to-end AI-driven applications.

Qualifications

• Two years of applied ML experience in similar scope projects.
• B.S. in advanced math, CS, or related STEM field from an accredited university.
• Three additional years of ML experience may substitute for a bachelor’s degree.

Responsibilities

• Design, create, test, and productize AI/ML algorithms for business needs.
• Work across model architecture, data pipelines, metrics, and visuals.
• Build, train, and fine-tune language models.
• Apply best practices for training, tuning, and deployment.
• Improve system performance via benchmarking, evaluation, and diagnostics.
• Perform error analysis and model diagnostics for reliability.
• Integrate models into production environments and ensure system interaction.
• Contribute to full-stack development for AI-driven applications.
• Collaborate with software engineers to build scalable deployment pipelines.
• Translate business requirements with data scientists and product teams.
• Document workflows, model designs, and specs.
• Select datasets, run analyses, and use results to improve models.
• Run standard test/evaluation protocols and oversee system integration.
• Support AI efforts as primary POC, possibly leading geographically diverse teams.

Skills

Language models

Computational linguistics

Open-source libraries

Model evaluation

NLP

Data structures

System design

LLMs

Education

BS in advanced math/CS or related STEM

4+ years ML experience substitute for degree

Tools

TensorFlow

PyTorch

Hugging Face

SageMaker

AWS Lambda

EC2

S3

MLFlow

Git

Kubernetes

DLC

Marian

Java

C

C++

JavaScript

Python

Job description

Akina, Inc. is hiring an Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Engineer 1 to design, build, and transition AI/ML capabilities into production. In this onsite role in Annapolis Junction, MD, you will work across model development, evaluation, and cloud deployment, with a strong emphasis on language models and scalable environments.

Role overview

• Design, create, test, and productize AI/ML algorithms to address business challenges and customer requirements.
• Work across model architecture, data pipeline interaction, and metrics application, interpretation, and presentation.
• Build, train, and fine-tune machine learning models, particularly language models.
• Apply best practices for training, tuning, and optimization, including iterative improvement through training, retraining, deploying, scheduling, and monitoring.
• Lead system performance improvement by designing and implementing solutions for benchmarking, evaluation, and diagnostics.
• Perform error analysis, debugging, and model diagnostics to support quality and reliability.
• Integrate machine learning models into production environments and ensure seamless interaction with other systems.
• Contribute to full-stack development for AI model-based applications, including front-end and back-end components.
• Collaborate with software engineers to build scalable and efficient deployment pipelines.
• Partner with data scientists, product teams, and engineers to translate business requirements into technical solutions.
• Document workflows, model design processes, and technical specifications.
• Select appropriate datasets, perform statistical analysis, run machine learning algorithms, and use results to improve models.
• Run standard test and evaluation protocols and provide system integration oversight.
• Support AI-related efforts as a primary POC, including potentially leading geographically diverse teams.

Cloud and tooling

• Deploy and scale models using AWS SageMaker and other AWS tools, including Lambda, EC2, and S3.
• Work with cloud-based AI platforms to manage the training and operational lifecycle of models, including retraining when needed.
• Use model evaluation, optimization, and performance monitoring practices alongside deployment pipelines.
• Support model versioning and management using tools such as MLFlow or Git.
• Use containerization and GPU-related technologies, including Deep Learning Containers (DLC) and Kubernetes.

Required qualifications

• Two (2) years experience in applied machine learning in programs and contracts of similar scope, type, and complexity.
• A B.S. degree in advanced math (e.g., calculus, linear algebra, or Bayesian statistics), computer science, or a related STEM discipline from an accredited college or university.
• Three (3) additional years of machine learning experience on projects with similar machine learning processes may be substituted for a bachelor’s degree.

Required technical and domain knowledge

• Knowledge and experience with language models, including Marian and multi-lingual model development.
• Knowledge of computational linguistics.
• Experience with open-source model libraries.
• Optimization and tuning experience.
• Strong programming experience in Java, C, and C++.
• Strong proficiency in AI/ML frameworks such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, or Hugging Face.
• Hands-on experience with AWS tools including SageMaker, Lambda, EC2, and S3.
• Experience developing full-stack software applications using technologies such as JavaScript, Python, and Java.
• Solid understanding of data structures, algorithms, and system design.
• Extensive experience in machine learning model development, including NLP.
• Experience with model evaluation, optimization, and performance monitoring.
• Familiarity with containerization tools such as Kubernetes.

Technologies

• Marian, TensorFlow, PyTorch, Hugging Face
• AWS SageMaker, AWS Lambda, AWS EC2, AWS S3
• MLFlow, Git, Kubernetes
• Deep Learning Containers (DLC), GPU technologies
• Java, C, C++, JavaScript, Python
• NLP, Large Language Models (LLMs)

Benefits

• 24 days PTO accrued annually
• 11 federal holidays
• 401k is 100% vested on your start date
• Company direct contribution worth 10% of your salary
• Akina covers 100% of healthcare costs for employees; 50% toward dependents
• Educational assistance toward college classes
• Training and certification costs for job-related needs

Security clearance

• TS/SCI - Polygraph required within 7 years

Desired skills

• Willingness to support occasional on-call duties
• Experience in a government or defense-related environment
• Experience with secure data handling and compliance requirements
• Experience working with LLMs

Location and salary

• Location: Annapolis Junction, MD (onsite)
• Salary: USD 170,000 - 208,000 per year
• The displayed range is likely based on experience, geographic location, and possible contractual requirements; actual compensation may fall outside this range.