Senior Mission Engineer — AI-Driven Intelligence Ops

General Atomics Intelligence; Charlottesville (VA); On-site; USD 100,000 - 171,000; Full time

Job summary

GA-Intelligence is seeking a senior Subject Matter Expert / Mission Engineer to embed with operators and customers, turning mission needs into working software rather than slides. You will operate across DoD, the Intelligence Community, and international partners, delivering deployable AI capabilities that fit real workflows.

You will lead design, prototyping, and fielding of C2, PED, COP, and training tools, while mentoring engineers and ensuring solutions ship on time.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 12 years of experience in operational military, intelligence, or defense mission environments.
• Recognized subject matter expert in at least one operational mission area — ISR, RPA / remotely piloted aircraft, PED, C2, or a closely related discipline.
• Demonstrated ability to translate operational need into software requirements, technical scope, and delivered capability, not just documentation.
• Hands-on experience building working tools with modern AI / agentic engineering stacks (e.g., LLM APIs, agent frameworks, MCP, Python)

Responsibilities

• Deploy to customer sites for embeds, observe workflows, capture requirements, and deliver working capability before you leave.
• Serve as GA-Intelligence’s senior mission and technical presence with operators, analysts, and program stakeholders.
• Apply agentic engineering — LLM-based agents, tool use, MCP, APIs, and lightweight applications — to automate workflows.
• Design, prototype, and field custom solutions for C2, PED, COP, training, and mission-software problems, then fold what works back into product roadmaps.
• Translate operator and customer need into clear, actionable requirements for engineering and research teams.
• Work inside accreditation, network, and classification constraints; deploy software and models in customer environments.
• Lead integration, test, and operational validation of mission software and payload-adjacent capability.
• Build training materials, technical documentation, and SOPs to enable adoption.
• Advise U.S. and international partners on scope, timelines, and integration with existing platforms.
• Mentor junior engineers and mission SMEs, raising the technical bar for deployable AI tools.
• Drive adoption — train users and ensure deliverables survive real mission schedules.
• Represent GA-Intelligence to senior government and partner stakeholders and shape investment in deployable agentic capability.

Skills

Agentic engineering stacks

LLM APIs

Python

Translate requirements

Tools

MCP

Job description

GA-Intelligence is seeking a senior Subject Matter Expert / Mission Engineer to embed with operators and customers, turning mission needs into working software rather than slides. You will operate across DoD, the Intelligence Community, and international partners, delivering deployable AI capabilities that fit real workflows.

You will lead design, prototyping, and fielding of C2, PED, COP, and training tools, while mentoring engineers and ensuring solutions ship on time.