Senior Machine Learning Engineer

Systemstechnologyresearch; Arlington (VA); On-site; USD 155,000 - 195,000; Full time

Job summary

STR in Arlington, VA is seeking a Senior Machine Learning Engineer to turn cutting-edge AI/ML research into production systems that solve national security problems. You will join a multidisciplinary team of researchers, engineers, and domain experts to bridge the gap between prototype and product.

You will build software with AI/ML at its core, deploying across cloud, on‑prem, desktop, mobile, and edge devices, and collaborate closely with customers to understand mission needs, rapidly

Qualifications

• BS degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Data Science, Mathematics, Physics, or related field.
• 6+ years of professional software engineering and/or machine learning research experience.
• Active Secret security clearance and U.S. citizenship.

Responsibilities

• Translate mission needs into technical requirements with real-world feedback.
• Architect loosely coupled, interpretable systems with scalable APIs.
• Bridge research and production by deploying novel capabilities into live systems.
• Engineer robust backend services, scalable APIs, and optimized data models.
• Develop polished, intuitive user interfaces with UI/UX collaboration.
• Manage CI pipelines and reproducible builds.
• Contribute to full software lifecycle with code reviews and testing.

Skills

Python

NVIDIA GPUs

Docker

Cloud platforms

REST APIs

Relational databases

HTML/CSS/JS

Frontend frameworks (React/Svelte)

Software engineering principles

Testing/Observability

Education

BS degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Data Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Physics, or related field

Tools

Python

NVIDIA GPUs

Docker

Cloud platforms

REST APIs

Relational databases

HTML/CSS/JS

Frontend Frameworks (React/Svelte)

Software Engineering Principles

Testing/Observability

Job description

About the Team

STR’s Intelligence Division researches and develops advanced analytics and machine learning-based solutions to solve challenging problems related to national security. Our team consists of passionate and motivated engineers with advanced degrees in engineering, computer science, mathematics, and data science, who are seeking opportunities to use their deep technical knowledge and creativity to tackle some of the hardest problems that our customers face. Our projects span multiple different data modalities and incorporate advanced algorithms, deep learning, and statistical techniques to uncover patterns in social media, structured and unstructured text, time series, geospatial, and imagery data, and must operate under challenging constraints not typically found in the commercial world. The tools and technologies we develop have real world impact and US Government analysts and operators use them to enable intelligence activities around the globe.

The Role

As a Senior Machine Learning Engineer, you will turn cutting-edge AI/ML research into production systems that solve critical national security problems.

Working as part of a multidisciplinary team of researchers, engineers, and domain experts, you will bridge the gap between prototype and product by hardening solutions, building scalable backend services, and creating polished user interfaces with intuitive workflows. You will build software with AI/ML at its core, ranging from classical statistical methods to frontier language models, deployed across a diverse set of platforms including cloud, on‑prem, desktop, mobile, and edge devices. In addition, you will collaborate closely with customers to understand mission needs, rapidly prototype capabilities, and iterate based on user feedback.

What You’ll Do

• Partner directly with customers, stakeholders, and end users to translate mission needs into technical requirements and iterate based on real-world feedback
• Drive technical excellence by providing leadership and championing software engineering best practices across multidisciplinary teams
• Architect loosely coupled systems prioritizing interpretability, maintainability, and feature growth
• Bridge the gap between research and production by implementing novel capabilities into existing live systems
• Engineer robust backend services, scalable APIs, and optimized database models
• Develop polished, intuitive, and responsive user interfaces in close collaboration with UI/UX designers
• Orchestrate the deployment and maintenance of applications across cloud, desktop, mobile, and edge environments, including air‑gapped systems
• Build and optimize CI pipelines and manage execution runners to maintain code quality and reproducible builds
• Contribute to the full software development lifecycle, including strategic project planning, rigorous code reviews, and comprehensive testing

Who you are

• Active Secret security clearance, for which U.S citizenship is needed by the U.S government
• Enjoys working hard and seeing mission impact
• BS degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Data Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Physics, or a related technical field
• 6+ years of professional software engineering and/or machine learning research experience (or equivalent experience depending on degree)

Soft skills

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to both technical and non‑technical audiences
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively within cross‑functional teams, give and receive constructive feedback, and mentor others
• Comfortable building from partial or ambiguous requirements and iterating quickly based on user feedback and changing mission needs

Technical Skills

• Experience developing, training, and deploying machine/statistical learning models using modern Python‑based frameworks
• Experience running models on NVIDIA GPUs
• Experience containerizing and deploying software using Docker, and on cloud platform
• Experience designing and implementing REST APIs
• Experience designing data models and working with relational databases
• Fluency in Python and its ecosystem
• Proficiency in at least one systems‑level language with manual or low‑level memory management
• Proficiency in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript (experience with a modern frontend framework such as Svelte or React is a plus)
• Solid understanding of software engineering principles, including testing, scalability, observability, maintainability, and performance optimization

Pay Information

Full‑Time Salary Range: $155,000 - $195,000

Equal Opportunity Employer

STRis an equal opportunity employer. We are fully dedicated to hiring the most qualified candidate regardless of race, color, religion, sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation and pregnancy), marital status, national origin, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

Accommodations

If you need a reasonable accommodation for any portion of the employment process, email us at [e-mail] and provide your contact info.

Legal

Pursuant to applicable federal law and regulations, positions at STR require employees to obtain national security clearances and satisfy the requirements for compliance with export control and other applicable laws.