Senior Defense AI Leader - Agentic ML & Secure Systems

McKinsey & Company; New York (NY); On-site; USD 243,000 - 249,000; Full time

Job summary

McKinsey & Company seeks a senior leader to shape and deliver agentic AI and ML solutions for defense clients across public and private sectors. You will work with client service teams to counsel defense clients, shape AI agendas, and deploy secure, mission-ready AI systems.

This role requires US citizenship with an active SECRET clearance (Top Secret with SCI eligibility preferred) and readiness to travel across major US locations.

Qualifications

• 7+ years applying data science, analytics, and AI to drive measurable mission or business impact in client-facing or senior stakeholder settings.
• Experience designing and scaling modern AI solutions, including agentic AI systems, production-grade ML, and ontologies in secure environments.
• Strong communication and collaboration with government program offices, senior military and civilian leadership, and industry partners.
• Flexible with travel: between 40-80%, including client, government, and secure facility locations.

Responsibilities

• Lead AI implementation engagements, defining aspirations and the required impact, then set technical direction and ensure delivery.
• Architect and lead teams to deliver agentic AI systems from use case shaping to secure build, test, deployment, and adoption.
• Span AI techniques from traditional ML to generative AI, semantic layers, and multi-agent systems with defense-grade security and oversight.
• Collaborate with government program offices, uniformed and civilian leaders, and industry partners to co-create solutions.

Skills

Defense sector experience

AI leadership

Data science & AI

Leadership of multidisciplinary teams

Cloud platforms AWS/GCP/Azure

Communication & collaboration

Travel flexibility

Tools

AWS

Google Cloud

Microsoft Azure

LLM orchestration frameworks

Knowledge graphs

Job description

McKinsey & Company seeks a senior leader to shape and deliver agentic AI and ML solutions for defense clients across public and private sectors. You will work with client service teams to counsel defense clients, shape AI agendas, and deploy secure, mission-ready AI systems.

This role requires US citizenship with an active SECRET clearance (Top Secret with SCI eligibility preferred) and readiness to travel across major US locations.