Senior Machine Learning Engineer

Protagonist; Washington; On-site; USD 95,000 - 141,000; Full time

Job summary

Protagonist seeks a Senior Machine Learning Engineer to build production-ready ML systems for mission-critical work. You will own the full ML lifecycle from design to deployment, partnering with engineering, product, and client-facing teams. Stay current on ML advances and scalable software practices while delivering practical solutions.

You will lead NLP pipelines, multi-language processing, and RAG-style features, with a focus on reliable, compliant deployments within GovCloud/ITAR constraints.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in a technical field with required years of experience
• Proven track record deploying production ML systems and deep NLP expertise
• Strong Python, PyTorch, and Hugging Face ecosystem skills

Responsibilities

• Identify high-impact NLP use cases with cross-functional teams
• Build and operate production NLP pipelines for multi-language text
• Develop and maintain ML workflows with Metaflow, Argo, and Kubernetes
• Develop LLM-powered features on AWS Bedrock under GovCloud constraints
• Fine-tune transformer models for domain-specific content and evaluate ML systems

Skills

Python

PyTorch

Hugging Face

NLP

ML

Education

Bachelor’s in CS/ML

Master’s in CS/ML

Tools

AWS GovCloud

Kubernetes

Docker

Terraform

CI/CD

Metaflow

Argo Workflows

MLflow

OpenSearch

Job description

Join Our Talented Team at Protagonist

We fuse rigorous, methodologically sound analysis with our cutting-edge technology platform, Narrative Analytics®. This powerful combination enables us to quantitatively analyze open-source media, deliver strategic recommendations, and craft executive-level communication strategies for clients with missions that matter.

Why Us?

Our team is a vibrant mix of communication specialists, data scientists, and subject matter experts with extensive experience across U.S. Government agencies, non-profit organizations, and Fortune 500 companies. By joining Protagonist, you’ll immerse yourself in a collaborative environment where innovation thrives, and your contributions truly matter.

What We Do

• Innovative Solutions: We co-develop cutting-edge solutions with our clients to address tough communication problems and capitalize on opportunities to make a tangible impact.
• Data-Driven Insights: Our tools and methodologies provide actionable insights that help clients meet their communication objectives and stay ahead of global challenges.
• Applied Expertise: We integrate our solutions within client organizations, leveraging our profound expertise to address critical issues and ensure sustainable success.

Be Part of Something Bigger

At Protagonist, you’ll work on compelling projects that make a real difference. We seek talented individuals eager to contribute to our mission and grow alongside us. If you’re passionate about communication, data analysis, and making an impact, we invite you to explore a career with Protagonist.

Explore Your Future with Us!

Ready to take the next step in your career? Join us at Protagonist and be part of a team that’s making a difference.

Job Description

Protagonist is looking for a Senior Machine Learning Engineer who builds production-ready systems for mission-critical work. You bring strong engineering discipline, systems thinking, and a bias toward scalable, well-architected solutions—owning the full ML lifecycle from design to deployment.

You’rea builder and strategic partner across engineering, product, and client-facing teams, expanding what AI can do at Protagonist. You stay curious and current with advances in ML, infrastructure, and software development.

Responsibilities

• Partner with product, engineering, and data science teams toidentifyhigh-impact NLP use cases and turn business needs into ML solutions that deliver measurable value
• Own production NLP pipelines spanning narrative detection, NER, span classification, stance and characterization analysis, event extraction, deduplication, and knowledge-baseentity linking over multi-language, noisy real-world text
• Design, build, andoperateproduction NLP pipelines,narrative detection, event classification, entity resolution and linking, deduplication — over multi-language, noisy real-world text at scale
• Build andmaintainML workflows inMetafloworchestrated on Argo Workflows and Kubernetes (EKS), including GPU-accelerated training and batch inference
• Develop LLM-powered features on AWS Bedrock: RAG pipelines with vector search on OpenSearch, tool-using agents, and document-analysis workflows — within GovCloud/ITAR constraints
• Fine-tune and deploy transformer models (classification, embeddings, entity linking) for domain-specific and foreign-language content
• Establish ML evaluation frameworks regression testing, hallucination detection, quality metrics and define success criteria with product managers
• Integrate ML services into our Django/PostgreSQL platform and event-driven infrastructure (Kafka, Redis, OpenSearch)
• Lead technical discussions to align cross-functional teams on ML strategy, architecture, and implementation
• Mentor others, share knowledge, and help evolve ML practices—balancing innovation with practical delivery

Requirements

• U.S. person eligible to work on government contracts; active or prior SECRET clearance preferred
• Bachelor’s and 5 years of experience, or master’s degree and 3 years of experience, in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or a related technical field
• Proventrack recordbuilding and deploying production ML systems, with deep NLPexpertise(transformers, LLMs, embedding models)
• Strong Python skills and fluency withPyTorchand the Hugging Face ecosystem
• Hands-on experience with AWS (GovCloud experience a strong plus), Kubernetes, Docker, Terraform, and CI/CD pipelines
• Experience with ML orchestration and experiment tracking (e.g.,Metaflow, Argo Workflows,MLflow, or similar)
• Experience with vector search and document indexing (OpenSearch/Elasticsearch or similar)
• Experience building LLMapplications, RAG, agents, prompt engineering, and evaluation
• Skilled at scaling ML for multi-modal (text, image, video) and domain-specific applications, and working effectively across engineering, product, and business teams

Ideal Candidates

• Experience integrating ML into full-stack products (Django/REST APIs, React frontends) or decision-support tools
• Experienceoperatingin compliance-constrained environments
• Strong communicator and cross-functional collaborator
• Self-starter who thrives in ambiguity and startup-like environments

Join Us

Protagonist is dedicated to fostering a welcoming and innovative environment where everyone’s voice can make a difference.

Protagonist is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Salary Range: $95,000-$141,000 based on education and level of relevant experience.

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.