Senior ML Engineering Lead, Production AI

Jobtailor; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Jobtailor is seeking a Lead Machine Learning Engineer to steer a high-performing team in Washington, DC. You will architect scalable AI systems, oversee the full data lifecycle from acquisition to inference, and drive performance optimizations.

Expect close collaboration with Product, Customer Success, DevOps, and QA to ensure delivery aligns with customer commitments. The role requires building production-grade AI solutions, mentoring engineers, and guiding the roadmap while communicating ROI

Qualifications

• U.S. Secret Security Clearance required or in process.
• Willing to upgrade to TS/SCI clearance if needed.
• Degree in Computer Science or related field.
• 8+ years of software engineering experience.
• Experience deploying software into production.
• Experience shipping AI/agentic systems and GPU offloading.
• Full-stack development, DevSecOps, and AI systems understanding.
• Proficiency with Docker, Kubernetes, Git and the Python data stack.
• Willing to travel to customer locations as needed.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Machine Learning Engineering team and mentor engineers.
• Architect robust, scalable applications using sound engineering principles.
• Manage the complete data lifecycle from acquisition to inference and postprocessing.
• Improve runtime performance and optimize data access patterns for responsive apps.
• Collaborate with Product, Customer Success, DevOps, and QA to align deliverables with commitments.
• Address issues across Delivery and Platform teams and influence the roadmap.
• Set the technical hiring bar and guide team growth.
• Communicate progress, risks, and ROI, linking AI outputs to revenue and mission impact.

Skills

Machine Learning Leadership

Production Deployment

Python Proficiency

Technical Communication

Collaboration

Mentoring

Full-Stack Development

DevSecOps

AI System Design

Education

Degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

Git

Python Data Stack

Pandas

NumPy

Scikit-learn

PyTorch

Matplotlib

Spark

Job description

Jobtailor is seeking a Lead Machine Learning Engineer to steer a high-performing team in Washington, DC. You will architect scalable AI systems, oversee the full data lifecycle from acquisition to inference, and drive performance optimizations.

Expect close collaboration with Product, Customer Success, DevOps, and QA to ensure delivery aligns with customer commitments. The role requires building production-grade AI solutions, mentoring engineers, and guiding the roadmap while communicating ROI