Lead AI Engineer/ Architect

PRECISE SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS INCORPORATED; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 170,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

401(k) with match

Paid time off

Training and development

Wellness incentives

Employee referral program

Job summary

Precise Software Solutions, Inc. seeks a Lead AI Engineer/Architect to serve as the senior technical lead for a federal Generative AI program. You will set architecture, standards, and Responsible AI practices, staying hands‑on in design, development, and troubleshooting.

You will guide cross‑functional teams and drive ATO processes, security, and governance across enterprise AI systems for government customers.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Systems, or a related discipline; 7+ years of relevant experience.
• 7+ years hands‑on AI/ML engineering, enterprise architecture, cloud engineering, data engineering, or software engineering.
• 2+ years hands‑on Generative AI, LLM integration, RAG, model evaluation, or production AI systems.
• Experience delivering secure enterprise or federal AI solutions.
• Experience with FedRAMP, cloud AI platforms, APIs, data pipelines, MCP, vector databases, and MLOps.

Responsibilities

• Lead AI solution architecture, design, integration, deployment, and oversight for Generative AI, LLM, and RAG.
• Architect agentic AI workflows and MCP server components with autonomy limits and human oversight.
• Define engineering standards, patterns, and delivery approaches across agencies and AI systems.
• Make architecture decisions for government approval, including cloud design, data flows, encryption, access controls, and technical debt.
• Oversee security, evaluation, and compliance controls per NIST RMF and FedRAMP where applicable.
• Provide hands‑on leadership in development, testing, deployment, and reviews; lead sprint planning.

Skills

AI/ML engineering

Enterprise architecture

Cloud engineering

Data engineering

Security architecture

Leadership

Governance

Zero Trust

MLOps

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering/CS/Systems

Job description

Description

Position Summary

Precise Software Solutions Inc. is seeking a Lead AI Engineer / Architect to serve as the senior technical lead and enterprise-wide technical authority for a Generative AI engineering program supporting the federal Government. You will set the architecture, engineering standards, and Responsible AI and security practices used across the AI systems the team delivers, and stay hands‑on in design, development, and troubleshooting.

You will lead a cross-functional team of AI engineers, developers, data engineers, UI/UX, and security specialists; author the program's core architecture, governance, and compliance deliverables; and lead each AI system through the federal Authority to Operate (ATO) process.

• Must be a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident (green card holder).
• Must reside in the Washington, DC metropolitan area and be able to work on-site at DC Government offices.
• Must be able to obtain and maintain a Government background investigation.

Key Responsibilities

Architecture and Technical Leadership

• Lead AI solution architecture, design, integration, deployment, and technical oversight for Generative AI, Large Language Model (LLM), Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), agentic, and AI-enabled automation capabilities.
• Architect agentic and multi‑agent AI workflows, and design and integrate Model Context Protocol (MCP) server‑based components with appropriate autonomy limits and human oversight.
• Define engineering standards, reusable architecture patterns, and delivery approaches applied across all supported agencies and AI systems.
• Make and document major architecture decisions for Government approval, including cloud AI platform design, data flows, integrations, encryption, access controls, fallback procedures, and technical debt.
• Support multimodal AI with structured evaluation, security and privacy controls consistent with the NIST AI Risk Management Framework.
• Provide hands‑on leadership in development, integration, testing, deployment, and troubleshooting, and lead technical reviews, release readiness reviews, and sprint planning and demos.

Technology Governance

• Ensure every design uses only Government‑furnished tools and environments or open, standards‑based technologies.
• Prepare Model/Service Approval Requests before any model or AI service is integrated, including version, hosting approach, FedRAMP status, benchmarks, limitations, and data handling.
• Security and Authority to Operate
• Lead the ATO effort under the NIST Risk Management Framework (SP 800-37), including security boundaries, FISMA Moderate categorization, and ATO documentation.
• Submit ATO packages before production deployment and maintain a current ATO or Interim ATO for all production AI systems.
• Oversee AI‑specific security, including prompt‑injection, jailbreak, and data‑poisoning defenses, red teaming, Zero Trust architecture, and the AI Incident Response Plan.

AI Operations, Data, and Responsible AI

• Oversee AI data architecture, model evaluation, MLOps, and operational readiness.
• Design continuous monitoring for production AI systems, covering model, prompt, RAG, and dataset drift; retrieval quality; and security and compliance telemetry.
• Lead Responsible AI activities, including Responsible AI Impact Assessments (RAIAs), model cards, bias and fairness reviews, explainability documentation, and human‑in‑the‑loop controls, and lead quarterly AI governance reviews with customer stakeholders.
• Serve as a Tier 3 escalation resource for production issues, including after‑hours escalation of critical incidents.

Deliverables You Will Own

• Task Order Management Plan; AI System Architecture Design Documents; AI Governance & Responsible AI Reports; RAIA packages; AI Incident Response Plan; and weekly AI efficiency and cost‑savings metrics.

Leadership and Stakeholder Engagement

• Mentor engineers, oversee code and prompt reviews, and personally review AI‑generated code before deployment.
• Advise Government leaders on AI use‑case feasibility, roadmaps, emerging technologies, and value measurement, and brief technical decisions to technical and non‑technical audiences.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Systems, or a related scientific/technical discipline and 7+ years of relevant experience.
• 7+ years of hands‑on experience in AI/ML engineering, enterprise architecture, cloud engineering, data engineering, or software engineering, including direct technical delivery of AI‑enabled systems.
• 2+ years of hands‑on experience with Generative AI, LLM integration, RAG, model evaluation, agentic AI, or production AI systems.
• Demonstrated experience architecting and delivering secure enterprise or federal AI solutions.
• Experience with AI system architecture, cloud AI platforms, APIs, data pipelines, MCP, vector databases, AI orchestration, model evaluation, and MLOps practices.
• Experience designing AI solutions in FedRAMP‑authorized environments under a Zero Trust security architecture.
• Experience with AI‑specific security and adversarial testing, including prompt injection, jailbreak, data‑poisoning testing, and red teaming.
• Knowledge of Responsible AI, AI governance, privacy, and federal compliance requirements, and experience delivering technology that conforms to Section 508 / WCAG 2.1 A and AA.
• Experience leading technical teams and advising Government or enterprise stakeholders.
• At least one current Generative AI or Machine Learning certification (e.g., Microsoft Azure AI, AWS, Google Cloud, or Databricks), or an equivalent.
• Must be a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident (green card holder).
• Must reside in the Washington, DC metropolitan area and be able to work on‑site at Government offices.
• Must be able to obtain and maintain a Government background investigation.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, and 10+ years of experience, including federal agency programs.
• Multiple cloud architecture certifications (e.g., AWS Solutions Architect Professional, Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Google Cloud Professional Architect) and Kubernetes certification (CKA).
• Experience with multiple cloud AI platforms (e.g., AWS Bedrock, Azure AI Foundry, Google Vertex AI) and open‑weight model serving (e.g., vLLM, TGI).
• Familiarity with the NIST AI RMF, OMB M-25-21 and M-25-22, OWASP Top 10 for LLM Applications, and MITRE ATLAS.
• Experience with CMMI or ISO‑based quality processes and Agile program delivery.
• An active federal background investigation.

ABOUT US

Precise Software Solutions, Inc. is a mission‑focused technology services company delivering secure digital platforms, infrastructure, and operational IT services to government organizations. A CMMI Level 3-appraised company, Precise partners with agency technology leaders and solution providers to design, build, operate, and modernize enterprise IT solutions that support critical public missions combining agility, innovation, and performance to deliver measurable results.

Precise specializes in cloud and hybrid infrastructure, platform engineering, security operations and compliance, application modernization, and data platforms and analytics. The company is known for its agile, delivery‑driven approach and innovative engineering practices, applying operational rigor and performance‑focused execution to improve system resilience, security, and scalability across complex government environments.

BENEFITS AND PERKS:

• Comprehensive Health Benefits (Medical, Dental and Vision)
• Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) & Health Savings Account (HSA)
• Retirement Plan with 4% match and discretionary match at year end
• Paid Time Off (PTO): 15 days of PTO accrued per year; 7 holidays+ 3 Floating holidays; 2 Innovation days (paid training days)
• Short Term and Long-Term Disability
• Paid Parental Leave
• Paid Jury Duty leave
• Life and AD&D Insurance
• Critical Illness Insurance
• Training and Development
• Wellness Incentives & Discount programs
• Employee Referral Program
• Annual Charity Donation Match
• Awards and Recognition

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

Precise Software Solutions is committed to providing a workplace free from discrimination and harassment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, age, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or other legally protected status.

We are an inclusive organization and actively promote equality of opportunity for all with the right mix of talent, skills and potential. We expect every member of the Precise community to do their part to cultivate and maintain an environment where everyone has the opportunity to feel included and is afforded the respect and dignity they deserve.