Senior AI Architect - Secure On-Prem LLMs & Gov Clouds

General Dynamics - IT; Chantilly (VA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Growth opportunities

Internal mobility team

Comprehensive benefits and competitive

401K with company match

Job summary

General Dynamics - IT in Chantilly, VA seeks a senior AI Engineer to lead design, development, and secure integration of AI/ML into mission systems on classified networks. This hands-on leadership role requires establishing architectural patterns, governance, and engineering standards, and growing a small team.

You will collaborate with government stakeholders, security authorities, and program leadership to deliver auditable, compliant AI capabilities in high-side environments, with emphasis on

Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional software development experience (or 6+ with a relevant advanced degree) including 3+ years building or integrating ML/AI capabilities
• Expert-level Python; working proficiency in at least one additional language (JavaScript/TypeScript, Java, or similar)
• Demonstrated experience deploying or serving LLMs or ML models in disconnected, on-premises, or government cloud environments (Azure Government, AWS GovCloud, or equivalent)
• Practical experience with model inference, embeddings, vector search, and prompt engineering in production systems
• Experience with containerization (Docker/Kubernetes or equivalent) and CI/CD in restricted environments
• Strong understanding of data security, classification handling, and responsible AI practices
• Proven ability to work directly with government customers and translate mission requirements into technical solutions

Responsibilities

• Architect, build, and maintain AI-enabled applications and services within air-gapped and government cloud environments
• Deploy, serve, and tune large language models and ML models on-premises or in accredited cloud enclaves (no external API dependency)
• Design retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines and embedding workflows over controlled data sets, with appropriate data handling and classification controls
• Operationalize the program's AI governance framework: model capability tiering, use-case approval workflow, rules of engagement, and audit/logging requirements
• Support security accreditation activities, including AO engagement, RMF documentation inputs, and responsible AI evidence
• Build and optimize data pipelines feeding AI-driven features; integrate with existing program systems and workflows
• Establish code quality, testing, and documentation standards for the AI engineering function; mentor mid-level developers as the team grows
• Brief technical approach and results to program leadership and government customers

Skills

Python

JavaScript/TypeScript

LLMs deployment

CI/CD

Data security

Leadership

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

CI/CD pipelines

Job description

General Dynamics - IT in Chantilly, VA seeks a senior AI Engineer to lead design, development, and secure integration of AI/ML into mission systems on classified networks. This hands-on leadership role requires establishing architectural patterns, governance, and engineering standards, and growing a small team.

You will collaborate with government stakeholders, security authorities, and program leadership to deliver auditable, compliant AI capabilities in high-side environments, with emphasis on