Forward Deployed Data Scientist

Air; Pittsburgh, Arlington (Allegheny County, VA); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Air seeks a Data Scientist to lead AI/DS initiatives for defense and national security, leveraging deep expertise in AI and complex acquisition challenges. You will work with proprietary and commercial datasets to derive actionable insights and deploy scalable AI solutions that inform government clients.

You will translate complex AI concepts for technical and non-technical audiences, engage with clients directly, and drive end‑to‑end AI deployments in a fast-paced, high-scrutiny environment.

Qualifications

• Ability to translate customer problems into technical AI requirements and document them for multiple teams.
• Experience prototyping models, heuristics, and agentic solutions and deploying production-grade code.

Responsibilities

• Developing new AI methods and solutions for defense problems.
• Developing working AI systems and deploying them in production.
• Rapid prototyping of AI models, systems, heuristics, and agentic solutions.
• Working directly with customers to understand and solve their problems.
• Translating customer problem definitions into technical requirements for AI systems.
• Translating vague customer needs into concrete AI workflows and DS solutions.
• Evaluating solution effectiveness with customers and tuning accordingly.
• Deploying code into production AI systems and taking end-to-end ownership.
• Communicating clearly with both non-technical and technical users.
• Collaborating with AI platform and data engineering teams for end-to-end deployments.
• Generalizing AI/DS solutions into reusable agentic features/skills.

Skills

AI/ML proficiency

Prototype rapid

Production deployment

Client engagement

Job description

Company Description

Air is the leader in Enterprise Readiness. Our mission is to establish readiness as a real-time condition that is continuously achieved. Today, a dangerous Readiness Gap exists between what the front line needs and what is delivered. Our AI-native platform, Air Enterprise Readiness, aligns development, production, delivery, and sustainment into one coordinated execution system for government agencies and industrial suppliers. By revealing true capacity, exposing real constraints, coordinating resources, and executing at the speed of operational demands, the front line gets what it needs to succeed.

Job Description

We are seeking an inquisitive Data Scientist to join our team, leveraging deep expertise in Artificial Intelligence and a keen understanding of complex Defense Acquisition challenges. Your primary focus will be to work with our proprietary and commercial datasets to find critical connections, derive actionable knowledge, and identify potential issues that help our government clients make more informed decisions. Your role will involve designing, developing, and rapidly deploying scalable AI solutions that transform these insights into mission-critical capabilities. You will have the opportunity to expand and grow data-driven research across Air, leading new areas to apply advanced analytics to drive strategic business and national security results. As part of our team, you must be an AI expert with a strong command of data science fundamentals and a proven ability to bring data-driven solutions to life within the defense ecosystem.

In order to do this job well, you must be a highly organized problem-solver and possess excellent oral and written communication skills, capable of translating complex AI concepts for both technical and non-technical audiences. You are independent, driven, and motivated to jump in and roll up your sleeves to get the job done. You lead by influence and motivation. You have a passion for great work and nothing less than your best will do. You share our intolerance of mediocrity. You’re uber‑smart, challenged by figuring things out and producing simple, impactful AI solutions to complex defense problems. Knowing there are always multiple answers to a problem, you know how to engage in a constructive dialogue to find the best path forward. You’re scrappy. We like scrappy. We need a creative, out‑of‑the‑box thinker who shares our passion and obsession with quality and rapid prototyping/deployment.

This role is a full-time position located out of our office in Arlington, VA, Pittsburgh, PA, or Remote.

This role may require up to 50% travel.

Scope of Responsibilities

• Developing new AI methods and using existing ones to solve complex defense problems
• Developing working AI systems and deploying them
• Rapid prototyping of AI models, systems, heuristics, and agentic solutions
• Working directly with customers to understand and solve their problems
• Translating customer problem definitions into technical requirements for AI-based systems
• Translating vague customer needs into concrete AI workflows and Data Science solutions
• Evaluating solution effectiveness with customers, tuning, and redefining solutions when needed
• Deploying code into production AI systems
• Taking end‑to‑end ownership of client problems
• Communicating clearly with both non-technical and technical users
• Working with AI platform, agentic AI, and data engineering teams to build end‑to‑end solutions in production deployments
• Collaborating with AI platform and agentic AI teams to generalize capabilities into reusable agentic AI features/skills for other deployments
• Wrapping AI/DS solutions into AI agentic/skills frameworks
• Create agentic AI systems, using AI orchestrators and particular AI reasoning capabilities as tools.

Qualifications

• U.S. Citizenship is required

Required Skills:

• Ability to translate customer problems into technical AI requirements, and write down the documentation to be used by multiple teams.
• Deep ability to embed with clients, understand vague business or national security challenges, and translate these customer problems into concrete, actionable technical requirements and detailed documentation for AI-based systems.
• Expertise in rapidly prototyping models, heuristics, and agentic solutions. The ability to translate vague needs into concrete AI workflows and Data Science solutions, followed by deploying production‑grade code and taking end‑to‑end ownership of the client’s problem.
• Skill in defining concrete AI workflows from vague requirements.
• Experience evaluating and tuning AI solutions for effectiveness. Experience in measuring the impact of AI/DS solutions.
• Competency in deploying code into production AI systems. Competency in building agent/skills solving particular problems.
• Expertise in integrating AI/DS solutions into agentic frameworks.
• End-to‑end ownership of client problems.
• Strong communication with non-technical users and technical users.
• Collaboration with cross‑functional teams for production deployment.
• Strong collaboration and communication skills to work effectively with AI platform and data engineering teams. This includes generalizing unique AI/DS solutions into reusable agentic features/skills and integrating them into agentic frameworks for other production deployments.

Desired Skills:

• A strong publication record in the top conferences in one of the AI, ML, NLP, or decision science areas
• Deep knowledge of LLM and Agentic system evaluation, experience in building evaluation systems
• Extensive expertise in specialized domains such as Operations Research, Optimization, and Decision Science.
• Track record of successfully transitioning AI research prototypes into robust, production‑grade enterprise solutions

We firmly believe that past performance is the best indicator of future performance. If you thrive while building solutions to complex problems, are a self-starter, and are passionate about making an impact in global security, we’re eager to hear from you.

Air is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability and protected veterans status or any other characteristic protected by law.

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