Senior AI Developer

Steampunk; McLean (VA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Steampunk is seeking a Senior AI Developer in McLean, Virginia, to design and build advanced AI solutions. This role requires a deep understanding of AI architectures and extensive hands-on engineering experience. You will work on innovative AI applications and collaborate with teams across various fields. Candidates should have a Master's or Bachelor's degree in a related field, experience in AI/ML, and proficiency in Python and AI frameworks. The salary range for this position is $140,000 to $180,000.

Qualifications

• Ability to hold a position of public trust with the U.S. government.
• 5+ years of hands-on engineering experience, at least 2 in AI/ML.
• Professional certification relevant to the technical service.

Responsibilities

• Develop end-to-end AI solutions including LLM-powered applications.
• Integrate AI models with enterprise systems and cloud-native services.
• Design and implement advanced prompt strategies for AI.

Skills

Hands-on software engineering experience

Proficiency in Python

Experience in AI frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow)

Knowledge of cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP)

Understanding of responsible AI principles

Mentoring experience

Education

Master's Degree in a related program

Bachelor's Degree in a related program

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

Overview

We are looking for a highly skilled Senior AI Developerto design, build, andoptimizeadvanced AI solutions across predictive, generative, and autonomous system domains. This role requires strong hands-on engineering capabilities, deep familiarity with modern AI architectures, and the ability to translate mission needs into robust, production-ready AI capabilities. The Senior AI Developer will work across the full stack of AI development,from data ingestion and model experimentation to application integration, orchestration, and deployment,and will collaborate closely with product teams,LLMOpsengineers, designers, and mission stakeholders.

Contributions

• Develop end-to-end AI solutions including LLM-powered applications, predictive ML models, multi-agent workflows, RAG pipelines, and specialized AI microservices.
• Implement reusable AI components, libraries, and APIs that streamline application development and accelerate delivery across programs.
• Integrate AI models with enterprise systems, APIs, data platforms, vector databases, and cloud-native services to deliver scalable mission capabilities.
• Drive iterative experimentation, prototyping, and model improvement cycles in collaboration with Data Scientists and AI Evaluation Scientists.
• Design and implement advanced prompt strategies, context management layers, retrieval systems, and LLM orchestration logic.
• Build scalable inference services,optimizemodel performance, and collaborate withLLMOpsto enable robust deployment, monitoring, and continuous improvement.
• Translate user needs and mission workflows into intuitive, reliable AI-powered features through active partnership with designers and product teams.
• Implement secure-by-design and trustworthy AI practices, including safety guardrails, input sanitization, content filtering, and integration of evaluation metrics.
• Contribute to internal AI frameworks, code patterns, and shared accelerators that raise delivery quality across the AI & Data Exploitation Practice.
• Mentor junior developers, conduct code reviews, and support engineering excellence across multi-disciplinary AI delivery teams.
• Stay current with emerging AI techniques, libraries, foundation models, and agent frameworks, evaluating their applicability to client missions.
• You will contribute to the growth of our AI & Data Exploitation Practice!

Qualifications

• Ability to hold a position of public trust with the U.S. government.
• Master's Degree (related program) and 7 years of relevant experience; OR
  • Bachelor's Degree (related program) and 10 years of relevant experience; OR
  • No degree and 16 years of relevant experience
• Possesses at least one professional certification relevant to the technical service provided. Maintain a certification relevant to the product being deployed and/or maintained.
• 5+ years of hands-on software engineering experience, with at least 2+ years focused on AI/ML, generative AI, or LLM-driven application development.
• Strong proficiency in Python and modern AI frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, Hugging Face Transformers, LangChain, LlamaIndex, or similar.
• Demonstrated ability to design and develop production-grade AI applications, including APIs, back-end services, orchestration logic, and front-end integrations (when needed).
• Experience implementing RAG architectures, embeddings, vector stores, and context retrieval patterns.
• Familiarity with multi-agent orchestration frameworks, prompt engineering strategies, and advanced LLM interaction design.
• Strong understanding of cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP), including compute, serverless services, and security fundamentals for AI workloads.
• Working knowledge of containerization (Docker), orchestration (Kubernetes), and CI/CD pipelines for AI-based systems.
• Experience with structured and unstructured data, document processing, and application integration with existing enterprise systems.
• Understanding of responsible AI principles including safety, fairness, privacy, and model risk mitigation.
• Strong analytical and communication skills with the ability to collaborate across engineering, design, and mission domains.
• Proven experience mentoring teammates and raising the technical bar of development teams.

Salary & Benefits

Steampunk relies on several factors to determine salary, including but not limited to geographic location, contractual requirements, education, knowledge, competencies, and experience. The projected compensation range for this position is $140,000 to $180,000. The estimate displayed represents a typical annual salary range for this position. Annual salary is just one aspect of Steampunk’s total compensation package for employees. Learn more about additional Steampunk benefits here.

Identity Statement

As part of the application process, you are expected to be on camera during interviews and assessments. We reserve the right to take your picture to verify your identity and prevent fraud.

Equal Employment Opportunity

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Steampunk participates in the E-Verify program.