Machine Learning Engineer

Elder Research; United States; On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Elder Research, a MANTECH subsidiary, is seeking a motivated Machine Learning Engineer to join our Chantilly, VA team. The role emphasizes building and deploying AI agents to automate workflows, connect models to services, and evaluate performance while maintaining ethical guidelines.

Active TS/SCI security clearance with CI poly is required. Candidates should have a minimum of 3 years experience, a Bachelor's degree, and strong Python/SQL skills, plus familiarity with API endpoints and

Qualifications

• Must have a Bachelor’s degree with at least 3 years of experience.
• Proficient in Python and SQL.
• Experience with API endpoints (REST and FastAPI) and agentic AI workflows.
• Familiarity with containerization (Docker/Rocky Linux) and AI/LLM tooling.

Responsibilities

• Build and deploy AI agents to automate and optimize workflows.
• Support R&D and customer-facing goals to accelerate transition of research into impact.
• Create software to enable AI agent communication and API integrations.
• Utilize open-source and proprietary models for agentic workflows.
• Develop approaches to securing agentic workflows and evaluating results for accuracy and impact.
• Ensure AI systems adhere to ethics, transparency, and fairness.

Skills

Python

SQL

Javascript

NLP

REST APIs

FastAPI

Langchain

OpenAI

Pydantic

Uvicorn

Streamlit

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Docker

Rocky Linux

FastAPI

LangGraph

Langchain

OpenAI Agents

Uvicorn

Streamlit

REST APIs

Pydantic

Job description

General Information

Requisition #728

Locations USA-VA-Chantilly

Posting Date 07/24/2026

Security Clearance Required - TS/SCI + CI Poly

Remote Type N/A

Time Type Full time

Description & Requirements

Elder Research Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of MANTECH international Corporation seeks a motivated, career and customer-oriented Machine Learning Engineer to join our team in Chantilly, VA.

Responsibilities Include But Are Not Limited To

• Build and deploy AI agents to both automate and optimize labor intensive workflows, as well as empowering the human workforce to discover entirely new capabilities.
• Support program with R&D and customer-facing goals, to speed the transition of novel applied research and solutions development into impact on contract.
• Create software to support AI agent communication, connecting models and agents to external services via API calls, testing and debugging tasks, deploying into target environments, setting up monitoring, and ensuring reliable execution of agentic AI systems.
• Utilize a combination of open-source models, agentic tools, and large proprietary commercial models.
• Develop novel approaches to securing agentic workflows and to evaluating the results for accuracy, performance, and impact.
• Ensure AI systems adhere to ethical guidelines, transparency, and fairness principles.
• Solid understanding and hands-on experience with generative AI models including prompt engineering, chain-of-thought reasoning, and Natural Language Processing (NLP) tasks such as entity extraction, summarization, and semantic search.

Minimum Qualifications

• Active U.S. Government Security Clearance at the TS/SCI level with CI polygraph.
• Minimum 3 years of experience with a Bachelor’s degree
• Proficiency in Python and SQL
• Familiarity with Javascript, Containerization (Docker/ Rocky Linux)
• Familiarity with developing & managing API endpoints (Rest and FastAPI)
• Familiarity with developing agenticAI workflows/systems
• Langchain, LangGraph, OpenAI Agents, Pydontic
• UVicorn (webserver)
• Streamlit (web apps)

Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with Multi-agent orchestration
• Familiarity with Cybersecurity (Mandiant)
• AWS Cloud experience
• Experience with Graph Analysis
• Security Plus

Clearance Requirements

• Must have an active TS/SCI + Poly

Physical Requirements

• The person in this position must be able to remain in a stationary position 50% of the time. Occasionally move about inside the office to access file cabinets, office machinery, or to communicate with co-workers, management, and customers, via email, phone, and or virtual communication, which may involve delivering presentations.

About Elder Research, Inc - People Centered. Data Driven

Elder Research considers all qualified applicants for employment without regard to disability or veteran status or any other status protected under any federal, state, or local law or regulation.

If you need a reasonable accommodation to apply for a position with Elder Research, please email us at [e-mail] and provide your name and contact information.