Principal AI Engineer

ANAUTICS INC; Oklahoma City (OK); On-site; USD 130,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

ANAUTICS INC in Oklahoma City is looking for a seasoned technical leader to set the direction for AI systems, focusing on architecture and reliability. The role involves mentoring engineers and making strategic decisions about AI platforms and tools. Candidates should have over 8 years in software or AI engineering, proven experience in production systems, and the ability to communicate effectively with diverse teams. U.S. citizenship and the capability to obtain Top Secret clearance are required.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of software or AI engineering experience.
• Track record shipping production AI, ML, search, data, or automation systems.
• Deep judgment around model limitations, evaluations, privacy, and operational risk.
• Comfort working with ambiguous mission, data, and engineering problems.

Responsibilities

• Lead design of AI platforms, agent frameworks, model workflows, and evaluation systems.
• Make build-versus-buy decisions across model providers, tools, and infrastructure.
• Review high-risk AI features for reliability, security, and human-in-the-loop controls.
• Partner with product and engineering leaders to turn strategy into shipped systems.

Skills

Software or AI engineering experience

Production AI, ML, search, data, or automation systems experience

Strong written communication

Ability to explain technical decisions

Tools

AWS

Job description

Set technical direction for AI systems that combine models, tools, data, evaluations, and human oversight.

Impact

• Define architecture patterns for reliable AI products.
• Mentor engineers building agentic and decision intelligence capabilities.
• Raise the bar on quality, safety, and production readiness.

What you'll do

• Lead design of AI platforms, agent frameworks, model workflows, and evaluation systems.
• Make build-versus-buy decisions across model providers, tools, and infrastructure.
• Review high-risk AI features for reliability, security, and human-in-the-loop controls.
• Partner with product and engineering leaders to turn strategy into shipped systems.

What we're looking for

• 8+ years of software or AI engineering experience.
• Track record shipping production AI, ML, search, data, or automation systems.
• Deep judgment around model limitations, evaluations, privacy, and operational risk.
• U.S. Citizenship is required.
• Must be capable of obtaining and maintaining a Top Secret security clearance.
• Comfort working with ambiguous mission, data, and engineering problems.
• Strong written communication and ability to explain technical decisions to technical and non-technical teams.

Preferred experience

• AWS experience is a plus, especially secure cloud, GovCloud, serverless, data, or AI services.
• AI, machine learning, LLM, agentic workflow, or decision intelligence experience is a plus.
• Experience in defense, government, manufacturing, aerospace, logistics, or other mission-critical environments is a plus.

Hiring note

Anautics evaluates candidates based on role-relevant skills, judgment, ownership, and ability to work in high-trust environments. AWS and AI experience are strong pluses across this hiring plan.