Senior AI/ML Engineer

Ignite IT; Suitland (MD); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k)

401(k) matching

Dental insurance

Flexible spending account

Health insurance

Life insurance

Paid time off

Professional development assistance

Referral program

Tuition reimbursement

Vision insurance

Job summary

Ignite IT Hub is seeking a senior AI/ML Engineer to maintain and enhance the U.S. Census Bureau's LLM Autocoder, which assigns standardized codes to survey write-in responses.

You will build and test model and software improvements for the ACS, develop pilots for additional surveys, and collaborate with data scientists and MLOps engineers to deploy changes in production. You will develop Python components for text preprocessing, model invocation, prompt management, and structured output

Qualifications

• 8+ years in software or ML engineering, including 3+ years building NLP/ML apps.
• Strong Python development, data processing, APIs, automated testing, and Git.
• Experience deploying or supporting applications in AWS and collaborating with data scientists/ops teams.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain Python components for text preprocessing, model invocation, prompt management, and structured output validation.
• Implement changes to prompts, model configuration, dictionaries, and supporting code in small increments.
• Build pilots using LLMs, fuzzy matching, direct-match dictionaries, or hybrid approaches for surveys.
• Write unit/integration/regression/edge-case tests and compare results to approved baselines.
• Reproduce production issues and implement verified corrections.
• Partner with MLOps on packaging, deployment, rollback, and post-release verification in AWS environments.
• Participate in code reviews and SME sessions; maintain documentation and reproducible examples for Census handoff.

Skills

NLP/ML apps

Python development

Data processing & APIs

Automated testing

Git & maintainable design

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS or related field

Tools

AWS

Git

PyTorch

Hugging Face

Scikit-learn

Job description

Ignite IT Hub is seeking a senior AI/ML Engineer to maintain and enhance the U.S. Census Bureau's LLM Autocoder, which assigns standardized codes to survey write-in responses. You will build and test model and software improvements for the American Community Survey (ACS), develop pilots for additional surveys and fields, and work with data scientists and MLOps engineers to integrate approved changes into production.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain Python components for text preprocessing, model invocation, prompt management, structured output validation, and coding workflows.
• Implement approved changes to prompts, model configuration, dictionaries, rules, and supporting code in small, version-controlled increments.
• Build pilots using LLMs, fuzzy matching, direct-match dictionaries, or hybrid approaches; adapt implementations to survey-specific taxonomies and requirements.
• Write unit, integration, regression, negative, and edge-case tests, and work with the evaluation team to compare candidate results with approved baselines.
• Reproduce production problems, isolate causes across code, data, prompts, and model behavior, and implement verified corrections.
• Partner with the MLOps Engineer on packaging, deployment, rollback, and post-release verification within Government-approved AWS environments.
• Participate in code reviews and SME working sessions; maintain technical documentation, user guidance, and reproducible examples for Government handoff.

Required qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, data science, or a related field, or equivalent relevant professional experience.
• 8+ years in software or ML engineering, including 3+ years building NLP or ML applications and hands-on experience integrating LLMs into working systems.
• Strong Python development skills and experience with data processing, APIs, automated testing, Git, and maintainable software design.
• Experience with text classification, prompt design, structured model outputs, and measuring the effects of implementation changes on model performance.
• Experience deploying or supporting applications in AWS, troubleshooting production issues, and collaborating effectively with data scientists and operational teams.

Preferred qualifications

• Experience with fuzzy matching, dictionary-based coding, survey text, or industry and occupation classification.
• Experience with ML frameworks such as scikit-learn, PyTorch, or Hugging Face, and handling sensitive data in controlled federal environments.

Conditions of employment. Position contingent on contract award. Must be able to obtain and maintain applicable Census Special Sworn Status and Personal Identity Verification (PIV) credentials, follow confidentiality requirements, and support Census core business hours and coordinated critical processing runs.

Benefits

• 401(k)
• 401(k) matching
• Dental insurance
• Flexible spending account
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Professional development assistance
• Referral program
• Tuition reimbursement
• Vision insurance