Senior ML Engineer

Adelphi Data; McLean (VA); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare coverage

401K with match

Equity

Health reimbursement

Flexible PTO

Competitive compensation

Impactful national security projects

Career growth

Job summary

Adelphi is seeking a Forward Deployed Senior Machine Learning Engineer to deliver end-to-end AI solutions for national security. You will work on the full ML stack, from OS and networking to API layers, embedded with defense and intelligence customers.

This role requires hands-on experience with agent frameworks, LLM tools, and secure deployment practices in high-security environments, including a U.S. government clearance.

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience with agent architectures and LLM stacks for production
• Experience delivering end-to-end ML services in security-sensitive environments
• Proficiency with modern agent frameworks and observability tooling
• Familiarity with MCP or similar LLM integration frameworks
• Ability to reason about AI limitations in high-security contexts

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end delivery of agentic, full-stack systems for defense and intelligence customers
• Build and deploy ML services using LLMs, embeddings, RAG, and agent orchestration in production
• Collaborate with customers to scope problems, sequence delivery, and ship novel AI applications
• Codify repeatable patterns into reusable tools and building blocks

Skills

AI tooling

Agent frameworks

LLM orchestration

Prompt engineering

Security-sensitive development

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

AWS

Job description

About Adelphi

Adelphi's Vision is to build the biggest AI Deployment company for National Security, which requires talent that is extremely good at problem solving, gets excited about National Security challenges, and thrives in software factories. We're executing a Mission that (1) Identifies the core bottlenecks in Warfighting, Intelligence and the Enterprise, (2) Assigns top talent with backgrounds in systems and machine learning engineering, and (3) Finds repeatability in solution development to target similar offices across the DoW/IC. The business has 10x'd in under two years and has built trust with the senior most leaders at the Department of War and Intelligence Community.

About Adelphi

Adelphi's Vision is to build the biggest AI Deployment company for National Security, which requires talent that is extremely good at problem solving, gets excited about National Security challenges, and thrives in software factories. We're executing a Mission that (1) Identifies the core bottlenecks in Warfighting, Intelligence and the Enterprise, (2) Assigns top talent with backgrounds in systems and machine learning engineering, and (3) Finds repeatability in solution development to target similar offices across the DoW/IC. The business has 10x'd in under two years and has built trust with the senior most leaders at the Department of War and Intelligence Community.

About the Role

The Forward Deployed Senior Machine Learning Engineer position requires a mix of software development, LLM Ops, and secdevops practices, resulting in an exciting, fast-paced engineering role. This role requires the ability to provide solutions for the full LLM stack, from the OS, storage, and network up to the API and transport layer. Experience in the defense or intelligence fields is required. You will own end-to-end delivery of agentic, full-stack systems built on top of frontier models, from first prototype to stable production, embedded alongside our defense and intelligence customers.

Location

This role is based in the DC/Metro area - we follow a hybrid work model with three days per week in office or onsite with customers.

Clearance Requirement

An active U.S. Government clearance is required.

Is this you?

• You use AI coding tools (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot) daily and instinctively.
• You prompt-engineer through complex architecture and debug sessions, leverage LLMs across the full development lifecycle, maintain a clear-eyed view of AI limitations in high-security contexts, and stay current with emerging models and tooling.
• Hands-on with modern agent frameworks and SDKs (LangGraph, OpenAI Agents SDK, Claude Agent SDK, AutoGen, or similar) and agent evaluation / observability tooling.
• Familiarity with MCP or similar LLM integration frameworks.
• You have a clear-eyed view of AI limitations. You know when to trust AI-generated output and when to verify.

Expectations

• Own end-to-end delivery of agentic, full-stack systems from first prototype to stable production, embedded alongside defense and intelligence customers.
• Build and deploy ML services leveraging LLMs, embeddings, RAG, and agent orchestration into production environments, including classified and air-gapped ones.
• Work directly with customers to scope problems, sequence delivery, and ship novel AI applications under real-world constraints.
• Codify repeatable patterns into reusable tools and building blocks that help the team ship faster.

Bonus Points

• Proficiency in infrastructure management (Docker, Kubernetes, AWS).
• Expertise in encryption, authentication, Linux systems administration, DevOps, or SRE.
• Production experience launching agentic services and forward-deployed AI applications that drive operational value at the customer site.
• Experience as a forward-deployed engineer or tech-led delivery role, embedded with mission customers, scoping problems, sequencing delivery, and shipping novel agentic applications under tight constraints
• Experience with federated or privacy-preserving data architectures (such as differential privacy and secure enclaves).

Benefits

• Healthcare coverage: 100% employee premium and 50% dependents premium coverage of a platinum-level plan.
• 401K with 2% company match.
• Equity in a seed-stage business.
• $500 monthly Physical and Mental Health reimbursement program.
• Flexible PTO policy.
• Competitive salary and equity compensation.
• Opportunity to work on impactful projects in the national security sector.
• Career growth and leadership opportunities in a dynamic, innovative environment.