Senior AI Systems Architect with Security Clearance

Unissant; Ashburn (VA); On-site; USD 170,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Unissant, Inc. is seeking a Senior AI Systems Architect to lead enterprise AI architectures and Gen-AI initiatives for national-security aligned missions. You will guide AI engineering, cloud modernization, and secure operations across multiple platforms, collaborating with stakeholders and cybersecurity teams.

The role demands strong leadership, 12+ years in related fields, and 5+ years delivering Gen-AI solutions in enterprise or federal contexts, with expertise in governance and compliance.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience in enterprise architecture, AI/ML engineering, cloud modernization, or analytics.
• 5+ years designing and implementing AI/ML or Gen-AI solutions in enterprise or federal environments.
• Expertise in Generative AI, LLM architectures, RAG frameworks, MLOps, AI governance & operationalization.
• Experience designing event-driven, API-centric data ecosystems and secure DevSecOps pipelines.

Responsibilities

• Lead design of enterprise AI ecosystems and reusable AI services across client applications.
• Architect multimodal AI solutions with text, image, video, and structured data.
• Oversee AI integration into mission systems and data platforms with cloud-native architectures.
• Define governance, security, and compliance for AI across federal environments.
• Mentor AI engineers, data scientists, and architects; drive solution workshops and reviews.

Skills

Generative AI

LLM architectures

RAG frameworks

MLOps

AI operationalization

Computer Vision

NLP

Cloud-native architectures

AWS

GCP

Event-driven architectures

APIs

Data streaming

Microservices

Enterprise integration

DevSecOps pipelines

Tools

AWS

GCP

Job description

Implement Secure Gen-AI Guardrails Addressing
Hallucination mitigation

Unissant, Inc. delivers innovative capabilities to the agencies that keep our nation healthy and safe. We apply our domain expertise, data acumen, and technology know-how to achieve breakthrough results for our clients. Working collaboratively, we advance missions and careers through a focus on honesty, integrity, and dependability. We continuously look for talent, excited to join that effort. To learn more about our exciting organization, please visit us at www.unissant.com. We are seeking a Senior AI Systems Architect to serve as a technical lead and enterprise architect for Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Generative AI (Gen-AI), and advanced analytics initiatives supporting our federal customer. This role is responsible for designing, operationalizing, and scaling secure, mission-focused AI capabilities that enhance customer's AI/ML services, image analysis, anomaly detection, operational intelligence, and decision-support missions. Position Overview: The Senior AI Systems Architect leads the design of enterprise AI ecosystems and reusable AI services within the client's AI Enablement Center, enabling AI-as-a-Service capabilities across multiple applications and operational environments. The role combines enterprise architecture, AI engineering, cloud modernization, cybersecurity, and mission operations expertise to deliver scalable, secure, and governable AI solutions aligned with operational requirements and federal AI governance mandates. This position serves as a trusted technical advisor to leadership, program stakeholders, architects, developers, data scientists, and cybersecurity teams while driving the transition of AI capabilities from research and experimentation into production operational environments. Essential Duties and Responsibilities: Enterprise AI Architecture & Strategy Serve as the lead architect for AI and Gen-AI initiatives supporting operational mission requirements across national security customer domains.
Design and operationalize enterprise AI architectures supporting scalable AI-as-a-Service capabilities across client applications.
Develop reusable AI frameworks, shared services, and reference architectures aligned with customer enterprise standards and governance models.
Architect multimodal AI solutions supporting text, image, video, and structured/unstructured data analysis.
Define enterprise AI integration patterns supporting cloud-native, event-driven, and microservices-based architectures.
AI/ML & Gen-AI Solution Engineering Lead design and deployment of AI/ML and Gen-AI solutions including:
RAG architectures
Agentic AI frameworks
LLM orchestration
Computer Vision
Image analysis and object detection
Anomaly detection
Predictive analytics
NLP and summarization services
Intelligent search and semantic retrieval
Design scalable pipelines for AI model training, inference, monitoring, retraining, and operational management.
Implement Secure Gen-AI Guardrails Addressing
Hallucination mitigation
Prompt injection prevention
Prompt leakage controls
Explainability and traceability
Responsible AI governance
Architect high-throughput AI processing frameworks capable of supporting near real-time mission operations and large-scale analytical workloads.
Mission Systems Integration & Modernization Integrate AI services into operational systems, mission workflows, and enterprise data platforms.
Architect event-driven data ecosystems leveraging Kafka/MSK, APIs, streaming pipelines, and real-time interoperability frameworks.
Support modernization of legacy systems and data platforms into scalable cloud-native AI-enabled architectures.
Design interoperable data frameworks leveraging NIEM, WCO, JSON/REST APIs, and other federal interoperability standards.
Enable AI integration across structured and unstructured mission datasets including operational intelligence, targeting data, image repositories, and external partner feeds.
Cloud, MLOps & DevSecOps Architect secure AI environments leveraging AWS and Google cloud ecosystems including:
Amazon Bedrock
AWS SageMaker
Vertex AI
Databricks
Containerized AI platforms
Implement Infrastructure as Code (IaC), automated provisioning, CI/CD, and MLOps pipelines supporting rapid AI deployment and lifecycle management.
Design AI Operationalization Pipelines With
Automated model deployment
Drift monitoring
Retraining triggers
Model governance
Security automation
Collaborate with DevSecOps and cybersecurity teams to integrate AI solutions into secure enterprise delivery pipelines.
Security, Governance & Compliance Ensure all AI architectures comply with:
DHS security policies
NIST 800-series standards
RMF requirements
Zero Trust principles
Federal AI governance guidelines
Architect secure data access, role-based controls, encryption, audit logging, and AI activity monitoring.
Support ATO processes and system security documentation for AI-enabled solutions.
Establish governance frameworks for AI model validation, testing, explainability, and operational accountability.
Innovation & Research Collaborate with customer, cloud providers, academic institutions, and emerging technology partners to evaluate and operationalize innovative AI capabilities.
Lead technical evaluations, proof-of-concepts, and pilot initiatives for emerging AI technologies.
Research And Operationalize Advanced AI Capabilities Including
Agentic AI
Multimodal AI
Federated AI
Synthetic data generation
Massive parallel AI processing
AI-enabled image intelligence
Support the expansion of CBP's Technology Reference Model (TRM) for AI technologies and tools.
Technical Leadership & Stakeholder Engagement Provide technical leadership and mentorship to AI engineers, data scientists, architects, and development teams.
Lead architecture reviews, technical strategy sessions, and solution design workshops.
Translate operational mission requirements into scalable technical architectures and implementation roadmaps.
Develop technical white papers, executive briefings, architecture diagrams, and implementation strategies for leadership.
Support proposal development, technical volume writing, and customer demonstrations for customer's AI initiatives.
Work Experience and Job Skills: Required: 12+ years of experience in enterprise architecture, AI/ML engineering, cloud modernization, or advanced analytics solutions.
5+ years designing and implementing AI/ML or Gen-AI solutions in enterprise or federal environments.
Strong Expertise In
Generative AI
LLM architectures
RAG frameworks
MLOps
AI operationalization
Computer Vision
NLP
Cloud-native architectures
Experience with AWS and/or Google Cloud AI ecosystems.
Strong Experience Designing
Event-driven architectures
API ecosystems
Data streaming platforms
Microservices architectures
Enterprise integration frameworks
Experience implementing secure AI and DevSecOps pipelines within regulated environments.
Strong understanding of federal cybersecurity and compliance frameworks including NIST RMF and Zero Trust.
Experience Operationalizing AI-as-a-Service Capabilities Across Mission Applications.
Experience designing scalable multimodal AI platforms supporting image intelligence, semantic search, and automated metadata generation.
Experience reducing operational analytical processing times from hours/days to near real-time through the implementation of massively parallel AI architectures.
Experience implementing secure AI governance and operationalization frameworks aligned with customer AI policies and federal security mandates.
Experience enabling reusable enterprise AI services to accelerate adoption of AI across operational domains.
Preferred: Experience supporting National Security or Intelligence Community programs.
Experience With
Image analysis and anomaly detection platforms
Operational