Senior Defense AI Leader — Agentic ML & Secure Systems

McKinsey & Company; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 243,000 - 249,000; Full time

Job summary

McKinsey & Company seeks a senior leader to shape and deliver agentic AI and machine-learning solutions for defense clients across public and private sectors. You will oversee AI builds, guide secure deployments, and partner with government leaders to drive measurable impact.

You will lead cross-functional teams, align stakeholders, and deliver mission-critical insights while advancing defense-grade AI capabilities and cleared talent development.

Qualifications

• US Citizenship and an active SECRET clearance are required at time of hire.
• Deep experience in the defense sector with data/technology environments (classified and unclassified) and defense ecosystems.
• 7+ years applying data science, advanced analytics, and AI to drive mission or business impact in client-facing settings.
• Experience designing and scaling modern AI solutions, including agentic AI, production-grade ML, and ontologies; fluency with core languages and AI tooling.
• Led multidisciplinary engineering and analytics teams, including cleared and distributed teams across classified environments.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills with government program offices, senior leadership, and industry partners.
• Willingness to travel between 40-80% across client sites.

Responsibilities

• Lead AI implementation engagements from defining aspirations to technical direction and delivery.
• Architect and lead teams delivering agentic AI systems from use case shaping to deployment in secure environments.
• Span AI techniques from traditional ML to generative AI and ensure defense-grade security and human oversight.
• Partner with government program offices, uniformed and civilian leaders, and industry partners to co-create solutions.
• Build scalable, secure AI foundations (data architecture, MLOps, governance, security) for classified and unclassified programs.
• Mentor and develop QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey teams to raise quality, pace, and impact.

Skills

US Citizenship

Security clearance

Defense sector experience

AI/Data analytics

Leadership of teams

Communication with government/industry

Travel willingness

Tools

AWS

Azure

Google Cloud

Job description

McKinsey & Company seeks a senior leader to shape and deliver agentic AI and machine-learning solutions for defense clients across public and private sectors. You will oversee AI builds, guide secure deployments, and partner with government leaders to drive measurable impact.

You will lead cross-functional teams, align stakeholders, and deliver mission-critical insights while advancing defense-grade AI capabilities and cleared talent development.