Chief AI Architect for Mission-Critical Defense Systems

Innovative Defense Technologies; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 198,000 - 328,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous benefits package

401(k) with matching

9/80 optional schedule

Tuition Assistance

Job summary

Innovative Defense Technologies seeks a Chief AI Subject Matter Expert to lead AI adoption, governance, and acceleration across our Integrated Warfare Systems Division. You will guide AI-enabled development, ensure reliability and security, and collaborate with DoW software teams to deliver mission-critical systems.

The role demands 15+ years of experience, Secret clearance eligibility, and on-site presence in San Diego, Arlington, or Mount Laurel.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, or related field, or equivalent full-time professional experience.
• 15+ years of full-time professional experience.
• Ability to travel up to 10% of the time, as needed.
• Demonstrated curiosity and experimentation with emerging AI technologies and engineering practices.
• Daily use of generative AI coding tools such as GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Codeium, ChatGPT, Claude, or similar systems.
• Ability to critically evaluate AI-generated code for correctness, security, and performance.
• Expert level of experience with agent-based development workflows and AI-assisted engineering environments, LLM APIs, RAG architectures, vector databases, and model evaluation.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the organization's subject matter expert on AI, generative AI, LLMs, machine learning, and emerging AI capabilities.
• Lead the integration of AI Components into Complex DoW Software Environments.
• Lead the integration of AI models and services into mission-critical software systems.
• Demonstrate and share AI-enabled engineering techniques that improve team productivity and software quality.
• Lead the definition and evolution of AI-augmented engineering standards, patterns, and best practices.
• Develop Intelligent Data Processing and NLP Pipelines.
• Deliver AIEnabled Dashboards, Interfaces, and Insights.
• Develop proofs-of-concepts and demonstrations to validate potential AI use cases.
• Prototype and evaluate emerging AI developer tooling (e.g. agent frameworks, code copilots, automated testing agents).
• Use generative AI tools as a core part of daily software engineering workflows.
• Mentor engineering teams on effective use of generative AI in development workflows.
• Help identify areas of the software lifecycle that can be accelerated through generative AI and automation.

Skills

Leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication skills

Curiosity with AI technologies

Travel readiness

Critical evaluation of AI-generated代码

Problem-solving

Attention to detail

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science / Data Science / Engineering

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

Podman

VMware

VirtualBox

LangChain

LangGraph

Semantic Kernel

LLM APIs

RAG architectures

Vector databases

Job description

Innovative Defense Technologies seeks a Chief AI Subject Matter Expert to lead AI adoption, governance, and acceleration across our Integrated Warfare Systems Division. You will guide AI-enabled development, ensure reliability and security, and collaborate with DoW software teams to deliver mission-critical systems.

The role demands 15+ years of experience, Secret clearance eligibility, and on-site presence in San Diego, Arlington, or Mount Laurel.