Mission Engineer

Spear AI; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

A technology solutions provider in Washington is seeking a Mission Engineer to lead customer engagements and design solutions within national security technology. The role involves translating mission needs into AI/ML technical solutions, requiring an active Top Secret clearance and a strong software engineering background. Ideal candidates will demonstrate effective communication skills and familiarity with AI technologies. Competitive compensation and benefits are offered.

Qualifications

• Active Top Secret clearance with access to Sensitive Compartmented Information.
• Understanding of technical decisions impacting users.
• Ability to liaise across operational and technical stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Translate mission needs into technical solutions.
• Identify AI/ML operational use cases.
• Ensure delivered solutions are impactful and relevant.

Skills

Software engineering background

Strong written and verbal communication skills

Familiarity with AI/ML systems

Ability to work in classified environments

Education

Formal education in Computer Science

Tools

Cloud infrastructure

Front-end frameworks

Job description

Mission Engineers (MEs) are at the tip of the Spear leading customer engagements and understanding the pain points and issues within current technology. You will design end to end solutions to solve some of the hardest problems within the national security enterprise.

MEs deploy modern technical solutions to solve problems that people are directly affected by. Projects can start with simple questions, like "How could AI help me analyze intelligence reports better" or "How do I write an Operational Report faster?" MEs lead the development of solutions to the questions, from high-level system design and prototyping to application development and data integration. As an ME you leverage Spear AI's core product offering, open source technologies, and whatever you can build to succeed.

Your work will start with the IC at an AI Task Force -- an elite team modeled after Project Maven -- which has the mission to provide the IC with foundational, enterprise-wide AI capabilities. You will be on the ground floor of this organization as it creates the future technology that will power the US Intelligence Community.

You’ll learn how to understand and deconstruct complex problems and analyze the tradeoffs in any solution you propose and create. You’ll learn how to apply Artificial Intelligence to massive data sets, and along the way you’ll learn new technologies, techniques, and languages. You’ll work autonomously and make decisions independently, sometimes alone and unafraid, but often with a community that will support and challenge you as you grow and develop.

Responsibilities

• Act as the connective tissue between operators, analysts, and technical teams to translate mission needs into technical solutions.
• Identify, articulate, and shape operational use cases that can be enhanced or enabled by AI/ML capabilities.
• Interface with DIA leadership, developers, and external stakeholders to align product development with mission-critical needs.
• Drive feedback loops between end users and engineers to ensure delivered solutions are impactful and relevant.
• Support field testing, performance evaluations, and operationalization of new tools in a fast‑paced, iterative environment.

Requirements

• ActiveTop Secret clearance, with the ability to receive access to Sensitive Compartmented Information
• A strong software engineering background, with formal education in Computer Science preferred
• Familiarity with data structures, storage systems, cloud infrastructure, front‑end frameworks, and other technical tools
• Understanding of how technical decisions impact the user of what you're building
• Demonstrated ability to work in classified environments and liaise across operational and technical stakeholders
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, especially in conveying technical ideas to non‑technical audiences.
• Familiarity with AI/ML systems and their operational applications is highly preferred.
• Military background or previous IC/DoD experience is a strong plus.
• Willingness and interest to travel as needed