Senior ML Engineer & Tech Lead: Mission-Critical AI

dfwHR; Clarksville (MD); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

dfwHR seeks an experienced Machine Learning Engineer to lead the development of advanced AI for defense and intelligence, combining hands‑on ML with technical leadership and Agile project management. The role requires taking AI solutions from concept through deployment, working across teams and stakeholders.

The ideal candidate has 7–10 years in ML and software engineering, strong Python and ML framework skills, and the ability to obtain a Top Secret clearance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, AI, ML, Software Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Applied Mathematics, or related field.
• 7–10 years of experience in machine learning and software engineering with technical team leadership.
• Experience as Scrum Master and/or Product Owner in Agile environments.
• Strong hands-on ML with reinforcement learning, neural networks, deep learning, or computer vision.
• Experience in cybersecurity, adversarial AI, or communications systems is a plus.
• Advanced Python and ML frameworks; knowledge of model training, evaluation, tracking, and ML development practices.
• Familiarity with ML deployment, CI/CD, DevSecOps, containers, and secure software practices.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and lead teams to deliver on timelines.
• Clear communication and leadership; able to interact with government stakeholders and leadership.
• Eligibility to obtain a Top Secret security clearance.

Responsibilities

• Lead daily technical activities of a multidisciplinary team, plan tasks, and manage backlogs and milestones.
• Serve as Scrum Master and/or Product Owner, guiding Agile ceremonies and priorities.
• Develop, train, test, and evaluate ML models using RL, neural nets, deep learning, and CV.
• Build ML pipelines for data prep, training, testing, deployment, and monitoring.
• Integrate ML models into secure software applications, APIs, and operating systems.
• Assess model performance, reliability, security, and real‑world effectiveness.
• Mentor engineers and data scientists to raise standards and best practices.
• Collaborate with government stakeholders to translate requirements into technical solutions.
• Present findings and progress to leadership and external customers.

Skills

Machine Learning

Software Engineering

Technical Leadership

Agile/Scrum

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS / related field

Tools

Python

ML Frameworks

CI/CD

Containerization

ML Ops

Job description

dfwHR seeks an experienced Machine Learning Engineer to lead the development of advanced AI for defense and intelligence, combining hands‑on ML with technical leadership and Agile project management. The role requires taking AI solutions from concept through deployment, working across teams and stakeholders.

The ideal candidate has 7–10 years in ML and software engineering, strong Python and ML framework skills, and the ability to obtain a Top Secret clearance.