Member of Technical Staff – AI/LLM with Active Secret Clearance

TekPillar®; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

TekPillar® is seeking a strong AI Engineer to build and deploy applied AI systems from research to production. The role blends LLM/agentic AI development with data pipelines, ML infrastructure, and production deployment in high-assurance environments.

You will work directly with U.S. Government partners to translate mission requirements into reliable AI systems, owning end-to-end architecture, deployment, security, and continuous improvement.

Qualifications

• Strong Python engineering skills with end-to-end ownership experience.
• Hands-on experience with LLMs and agentic AI systems.
• Experience building or maintaining data pipelines / ML infrastructure.
• Experience with distributed systems or production-scale infrastructure.

Responsibilities

• Build and deploy agentic AI systems supporting Government missions.
• Design LLM applications including multi-agent systems, tool-using agents, RAG, and human-in-the-loop workflows.
• Work directly with government partners to translate mission requirements into technical solutions.
• Build and maintain data curation, evaluation, and ML pipelines.
• Develop infrastructure for model inference, experimentation, evaluation, and deployment.
• Build AI systems that combine mission data, models, and tools to enable operational autonomy.
• Own systems end-to-end across architecture, development, deployment, reliability, security, and continuous improvement.

Skills

Python

LLM Systems

Agentic AI

Data Pipelines

Distributed Systems

Job description

Required Skills:

Python, LLM Systems, Agentic AI, Data Pipelines, Distributed Systems

Role :

We're looking for a strong AI Engineer to build and deploy applied AI systems from research and experimentation through production. This role combines LLM/agentic AI development, data pipelines, ML infrastructure, and production deployment in high-assurance, mission-critical environments. You'll also work directly with U.S. Government and strategic partners, translating real-world mission requirements into reliable AI systems.

Responsibilities :

• Build and deploy agentic AI systems supporting Government missions.
• Design LLM applications including multi-agent systems, tool-using agents, RAG, and human-in-the-loop workflows.
• Work directly with government partners to translate mission requirements into technical solutions.
• Build and maintain data curation, evaluation, and ML pipelines.
• Develop infrastructure for model inference, experimentation, evaluation, and deployment.
• Build AI systems that combine mission data, models, and tools to enable operational autonomy.
• Own systems end-to-end across architecture, development, deployment, reliability, security, and continuous improvement.
• Strong Python engineering skills with end-to-end ownership experience.
• Hands-on experience with LLMs and agentic AI systems.
• Experience building or maintaining data pipelines / ML infrastructure.
• Experience with distributed systems or production-scale infrastructure.
• Familiarity with RL workflows or simulation environments.
• Ability to work independently in ambiguous, partner-facing environments.
• Comfortable working in high-security and high-reliability environments.

Preferred Qualifications

• Active U.S. security clearance or eligibility and willingness to obtain one.
• Experience supporting U.S. Government, defense, intelligence, or national security missions.
• Experience with defense/government-focused technology companies or startups.
• Background working in fast-moving startup, mission-critical government, or similar environments.