Senior AI Token Specialist with Security Clearance

Cornerstone Defense; Columbia (MD); On-site; USD 215,000 - 235,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental and Vision Plans

Generous PTO Policy

401(k)

HSA and FSA options

Life and Disability Insurance

Tuition Reimbursement and Training

Travel Assistance

Job summary

Cornerstone Defense is seeking a Senior AI Token Specialist to support the US CYBER Command CAIO with expert-level guidance on token economics, AI resource management, and enterprise AI operations. Develop strategies, cost models, requirements, and documentation to optimize AI token usage and inform budgeting and procurement.

The role requires deep technical AI knowledge, strong analytic and planning skills, and the ability to brief senior leadership on risks and opportunities while controlling

Qualifications

• Minimum 12 years of experience with a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field.
• 10 years with a Master's degree, or 16 years with a HS diploma and relevant experience.
• Extensive AI/ML systems engineering, LLM operations, AI resource management.
• Experience supporting U.S. Government/DoD policies and initiatives.
• Ability to develop cost models, budgets, and investment analyses.
• Strong technical writing and stakeholder engagement skills.

Responsibilities

• Develop strategies to manage, allocate, monitor, and optimize AI token usage across mission workloads.
• Analyze LLM architectures, tokenization methods, context windows, pricing models, prompts.
• Evaluate tools, models, APIs, and platforms for capability, cost, latency, scalability.
• Monitor market trends related to LLM pricing, token consumption, and enterprise AI adoption.
• Build cost models, spending forecasts, and financial analyses to inform decisions.
• Brief the CAIO and senior leaders on findings, risks, and opportunities.

Skills

Clearance

TS/SCI w/ Polygraph

AI token economics

LLM operations

Cost modeling

Technical writing

Strategic planning

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS

Master's degree in CS

High School diploma + experience

Job description

Title: Senior AI Token Specialist Location: Columbia, MD Compensation Range: $215 -$235K

• Clearance:
• Active TS/SCI w/ Polygraph needed to apply
• Company Overview: Cornerstone Defense is the Employer of Choice within the Intelligence, Defense, and Space communities of the U.S. Government. Realizing early on that our most prized assets are our employees, we continually focus our attention on improving the overall work/life experience they have supporting the mission. Our Team is pushed every day to use their industry leading knowledge to provide end-to-end solutions to combat our nation's toughest and most secure problems. If you are looking for a place to not only be professionally challenged, but encouraged and supported by a company that cares, don't look any further than Cornerstone Defense.
• Benefits Overview: Cornerstone Defense offers a very comprehensive benefits package including, but not limited to: Medical, Dental and Vision Plans
• Generous PTO Policy
• 401(k)
• HSA and FSA options
• Life and Disability Insurance
• Tuition Reimbursement and Training
• Perks at Work Discount Program
• Referral Program
• Leads Generation Program
• CollegeAmerica 529
• Fitness Reimbursement Program
• Travel Assistance
• Norton Lifelock Benefit Solutions
• Life Planning Financial & Legal Services
• Position Description: Seeking an experienced AI Token Specialist to support the U.S. Cyber Command Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer (CAIO) by providing technical expertise in large language models, generative AI, token economics, AI resource management, and enterprise AI operations. This role will develop strategies, cost models, requirements, technical documentation, and operational guidance to optimize AI token usage and inform budgeting, licensing, procurement, infrastructure, and resource allocation decisions. The ideal candidate combines deep technical understanding of modern AI systems with strong analytical and strategic planning capabilities to help leadership maximize AI effectiveness while managing operational costs and enterprise-scale adoption.
• Core Tasks :
• Develop strategies to manage, allocate, monitor, and optimize AI token usage across mission workloads.
• Analyze LLM architectures, tokenization methods, context windows, input/output pricing models, prompt efficiency, and vector embeddings.
• Evaluate AI tools, models, APIs, and platforms based on capability, cost, latency, scalability, and infrastructure requirements.
• Monitor commercial market trends related to LLM pricing, token consumption, cloud-based APIs, software licensing, and enterprise AI adoption.
• Build cost models, spending forecasts, and financial analyses to support AI software, cloud services, API infrastructure, and investment decisions.
• Analyze, document, and validate technical and acquisition requirements.
• Review white papers, technical proposals, vendor submissions, and financial analyses to support procurement and acquisition decisions.
• Develop technical documentation, white papers, procedures, policies, and command-level guidance.
• Advise leadership on model selection, prompt engineering methodologies, context-window management, token budgeting, and AI resource allocation strategies.
• Brief the CAIO, senior leaders, acquisition personnel, and technical stakeholders on findings, recommendations, risks, and opportunities.
• Qualifications
• Minimum 12 years of experience with a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related technical discipline, 10 years with a Master's degree, or 16 years with a High School diploma and relevant experience.
• Extensive experience in artificial intelligence, machine learning systems engineering, technical architecture, LLM operations, AI resource management, requirements analysis, or acquisition support.
• Minimum 10 years of experience supporting U.S. Government and Department of Defense policies, directives, governance structures, technology acquisition, artificial intelligence initiatives, data ethics, or emerging technologies.
• Experience supporting Department of Defense, Intelligence Community, U.S. Government, cyber mission, or national security organizations.
• Demonstrated expertise in LLM architectures, generative AI technologies, token mechanics, context windows, token pricing structures, tokenization methodologies, vector embeddings, cloud-based AI APIs, and enterprise AI scaling.
• Experience developing cost models, spending forecasts, financial analyses, market assessments, business cases, and investment recommendations.
• Strong technical writing, requirements development, documentation, briefing, presentation, and stakeholder engagement skills.