Senior AI Solutions Engineer, Space Systems Lead

The Aerospace Corporation; Chantilly (VA); On-site; USD 166,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive health care and wellness

Paid holidays, sick time, and vacation

401(k) with company match

Relocation assistance

Education assistance

Job summary

The Aerospace Corporation is seeking Senior Project Engineers to lead AI initiatives across its Digital Innovation Division. You will own the technical approach, requirements, architecture, cost, and schedule for key AI programs, collaborating with engineers, SMEs, and senior stakeholders in a fast-paced, secure environment.

This is a hands-on leadership role focused on delivering actionable capabilities and maintaining rigorous technical standards.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Software Engineering, Data Science, Statistics, Information Systems, Operations, Aerospace Engineering, Physics or related field, or equivalent experience.
• 8 years of progressive technical experience in AI/ML engineering, software or systems engineering, or related disciplines.
• Experience leading a technical project or team with accountability for approach, cost, and schedule.
• Proficiency in Python and modern AI/ML tooling, including APIs, orchestration frameworks, or ML/simulation tools.
• Ability to design system architectures, data flows, and production-ready integrations.
• Working understanding of cloud platforms (Azure/AWS/GCP) and deployment on accredited networks.
• Ability to elicit requirements from subject matter experts and translate them into technical needs.
• Strong written and verbal communication; willingness to travel ~25% and obtain security clearance.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the technical project lead for an assigned AI initiative, owning its approach, requirements, architecture, and dependencies.
• Lead the project team daily, coordinating engineers and SMEs across organizations without direct reporting lines.
• Own cost and schedule performance, including estimates, milestones, and funding requests.
• Decompose goals into scoped increments delivering usable capabilities early and iteratively.
• Define success criteria and acceptance tests; measure performance against thresholds.
• Identify and retire technical risks, escalate unresolved issues to project level as needed.
• Capture expert workflows and translate into tools, data, and agent behavior for engineers.
• Collaborate with platform, data, security, and accreditation teams for production environments.
• Represent initiatives in technical reviews and management forums; communicate status transparently.
• Document baseline configurations and maintain knowledge for long-term sustainment.
• Mentor engineers and grow AI delivery skills across the team.

Skills

Python

AI/ML tooling

Cloud platforms

Leadership

Communication

Security clearance

Education

Bachelor's degree in a technical field

Job description

The Aerospace Corporation is seeking Senior Project Engineers to lead AI initiatives across its Digital Innovation Division. You will own the technical approach, requirements, architecture, cost, and schedule for key AI programs, collaborating with engineers, SMEs, and senior stakeholders in a fast-paced, secure environment.

This is a hands-on leadership role focused on delivering actionable capabilities and maintaining rigorous technical standards.