Senior AI/ML Engineer: Build Production-Ready GenAI Apps

Steampunk; McLean (VA); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Steampunk is seeking a Senior Machine Learning Engineer to bridge data science and software engineering for production AI systems. This hybrid role covers the full ML lifecycle from data exploration to deployment, with emphasis on scalable inference, MLOps, and responsible AI practices.

You will work with data architects, developers, and mission stakeholders to build LLM-powered applications, RAG pipelines, and enterprise integrations, while mentoring teammates and maintaining a high standard of

Qualifications

• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government security clearance.
• Advanced degree in CS/AI/Engineering or related field.
• 7+ years of total experience in ML/AI; 3-5 years delivering ML/AI solutions.
• Experience with structured and unstructured data modeling and solution development.
• Proficiency in Python and modern ML frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow, Keras).
• Experience with RAG architectures, embeddings, vector stores, and context retrieval.
• Big data exposure (Hadoop, Spark); SQL/Scala/Java skills.
• Data visualization (Tableau, Power BI, D3).
• Cloud platforms (AWS/Azure/GCP) for AI workloads; SageMaker/HDInsight experience.
• Docker, Kubernetes, CI/CD; DevSecOps, MLOps, LLMOps practices.
• Understanding of responsible AI principles and safety/fairness considerations.
• Strong analytical and cross-functional communication skills.
• Mentor/leadership experience and ability to raise technical bar.

Responsibilities

• Develop end-to-end ML/AI solutions including predictive models and LLM-powered apps.
• Perform EDA, feature engineering, and data visualization to inform model design.
• Apply deep learning methods using PyTorch/TensorFlow in production pipelines.
• Integrate AI/ML models with enterprise systems and cloud services.
• Design prompt strategies, context management, and LLM orchestration logic.
• Build scalable inference services and optimize model performance.
• Create test plans for AI/ML models (functional, regression, edge cases).
• Evaluate model outputs for accuracy, bias, fairness, and robustness.

Skills

Python

Data modeling

Experimentation

Communication

Mentoring

Problem solving

Cloud concepts

Education

Bachelor's/Master's/PhD in CS/AI/Engineering

Tools

PyTorch

TensorFlow

Keras

Hugging Face Transformers

LangChain

LlamaIndex

Docker

Kubernetes

AWS SageMaker

Azure HDInsight

Job description

Steampunk is seeking a Senior Machine Learning Engineer to bridge data science and software engineering for production AI systems. This hybrid role covers the full ML lifecycle from data exploration to deployment, with emphasis on scalable inference, MLOps, and responsible AI practices.

You will work with data architects, developers, and mission stakeholders to build LLM-powered applications, RAG pipelines, and enterprise integrations, while mentoring teammates and maintaining a high standard of