Forward-Deployed AI Engineer - LLM & Systems (Hybrid/DC)

24-MAG; Washington (District of Columbia); Hybrid; USD 300,000 - 500,000; Full time

Job summary

24-MAG LLC is seeking a Forward Deployed Engineer to design and deploy mission-critical AI systems for U.S. Government environments.

You will own projects from discovery to production, building secure, scalable data pipelines, distributed systems, and production-grade LLM applications in forward-deployed, partner-facing engagements. The role requires strong Python skills, experience with agentic AI, and the ability to work in high-security environments, including potential security clearance.

Qualifications

• Strong Python engineering with end-to-end ownership.
• Experience building production applications using LLMs.
• Hands-on experience with agentic or multi-agent AI systems.
• Experience building or maintaining data pipelines or ML infrastructure.
• Strong understanding of distributed systems.
• Familiarity with reinforcement-learning workflows or simulation environments.
• Comfortable operating in high-security, high-reliability, or mission-critical environments.
• Active U.S. security clearance is highly advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Build and deploy advanced AI systems supporting high-impact U.S. Government missions.
• Work directly with government partners in forward-deployed environments.
• Translate mission requirements into practical technical systems.
• Take projects from prototype and experimentation through production deployment.
• Maintain strong technical and operational ownership in ambiguous partner-facing environments.
• Design and integrate production-grade LLM applications.
• Build multi-agent and tool-using AI systems.
• Develop retrieval-augmented generation workflows.
• Implement human-in-the-loop autonomy where appropriate.
• Convert mission data, models, and tools into operational AI capabilities.
• Build and maintain large-scale data-curation pipelines.
• Develop evaluation infrastructure for model training and improvement.
• Create systems supporting inference, experimentation, evaluation, and deployment.
• Maintain scalable ML and data workflows across advanced AI platforms.
• Support reliable operation as mission and model requirements evolve.
• Design and operate distributed systems in high-reliability environments.
• Own architecture, implementation, deployment, and production iteration.
• Build systems with security, resilience, and operational continuity in mind.
• Diagnose system failures and improve reliability and performance.

Skills

Python

LLMs

Agentic AI

Data pipelines

Distributed systems

Production infrastructure

Security & reliability

Job description

24-MAG LLC is seeking a Forward Deployed Engineer to design and deploy mission-critical AI systems for U.S. Government environments.

You will own projects from discovery to production, building secure, scalable data pipelines, distributed systems, and production-grade LLM applications in forward-deployed, partner-facing engagements. The role requires strong Python skills, experience with agentic AI, and the ability to work in high-security environments, including potential security clearance.