Software Engineer, AI Systems

Aptima Inc.; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 125,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Aptima Inc. in the United States is seeking a Software Engineer, AI Systems to design, develop, deploy, and sustain AI-enabled software for mission-critical DoD programs in the Dayton OH or Washington, DC area.

You will work full lifecycle from prototyping AI models to production deployment, building scalable services, and integrating AI into robust software architectures with researchers and engineers. You will apply strong AI expertise with software engineering best practices to deliver

Qualifications

• 3-5 years of relevant experience and ability to obtain and maintain a US Government Security Clearance.
• Willingness to travel when necessary
• Demonstrated technical ability and initiative to lead and execute work independently.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, deploy, and maintain AI-enabled software systems that leverage multimodal data sources to classify, assess, and model human performance and operational behaviors.
• Build and integrate AI capabilities—including LLMs, agentic systems, computer vision models, and multimodal analytics—into scalable software applications and services.
• Design and implement backend services, APIs, workflows, and software infrastructure that support production AI applications.
• Collaborate within agile, cross-functional teams to transition research algorithms into operational software systems.
• Develop, test, containerize, deploy, and maintain production-ready applications using modern software engineering and DevSecOps practices.
• Contribute to software architecture, system integration, testing, CI/CD pipelines, and cloud or edge deployment strategies.
• Lead execution of technical tasks, ensuring work is delivered with high quality and on schedule.
• Contribute to technical reports, publications, presentations, proposals, and customer deliverables.
• Support customer engagements through software demonstrations, integration activities, technical discussions, and capability briefings.
• Continue professional development through conferences, technical literature, and emerging technologies in AI and software engineering.
• Present work through professional publications, technical forums, and conferences.

Skills

Python

AI/ML

APIs

Docker

Kubernetes

AWS

Security clearance

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

CI/CD

Job description

Job Type

Full-time

Description

Who We Are

Aptima is a technological leader in the national security industry. Our mission is to drive the future of national security by engineering scalable solutions that fuse technological innovation with human potential to transform how individuals and teams train, develop, and perform in mission-critical environments.

Our culture is rooted in our core values, which have evolved over time and our employees have embraced: Integrity, Ingenuity, Excellence, Respect, Engagement, Teamwork. At our core, Aptima researches, develops, and innovates within an area that engineering firms largely ignore, the human component. To impact the world in meaningful ways, you must bring those innovations to light, and that is precisely what we do.

How You'll Make an Impact

Operating in the Dayton, OH or Washington, D.C area and collaborating closely with Department of War (DoW) research customers, the Software Engineer, AI Systems will design, develop, deploy, and sustain advanced AI-enabled software systems that solve complex, mission-critical problems. You will work across the full lifecycle-from prototyping and fine-tuning AI models to engineering scalable applications and deploying production-ready solutions into operational environments. Whether building large language model applications, computer vision pipelines, multimodal AI systems, or agentic workflows, your work will directly support military readiness and innovation.

In this role, you will bridge AI research and software engineering by transforming cutting-edge algorithms into robust, maintainable, and deployable systems. You will work hands-on with real-world datasets, build backend services and APIs, integrate AI models into software architectures, and collaborate closely with researchers, data scientists, and software engineers to deliver high-quality operational capabilities. By combining strong AI expertise with software engineering best practices, you will help advance the next generation of intelligent systems for defense applications.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, develop, deploy, and maintain AI-enabled software systems that leverage multimodal data sources to classify, assess, and model human performance and operational behaviors.
• Build and integrate AI capabilities-including LLMs, agentic systems, computer vision models, and multimodal analytics-into scalable software applications and services.
• Design and implement backend services, APIs, workflows, and software infrastructure that support production AI applications.
• Collaborate within agile, cross-functional teams to transition research algorithms into operational software systems.
• Develop, test, containerize, deploy, and maintain production-ready applications using modern software engineering and DevSecOps practices.
• Contribute to software architecture, system integration, testing, CI/CD pipelines, and cloud or edge deployment strategies.
• Successfully design and implement scientific and technical components of projects and proposals.
• Lead execution of technical tasks, ensuring work is delivered with high quality and on schedule.
• Contribute to technical reports, publications, presentations, proposals, and customer deliverables.
• Support customer engagements through software demonstrations, integration activities, technical discussions, and capability briefings.
• Continue professional development through conferences, technical literature, and emerging technologies in AI and software engineering.
• Present work through professional publications, technical forums, and conferences.

Requirements

• 3-5 years of relevant experience and ability to obtain and maintain a US Government Security Clearance.
• Willingness to travel when necessary
• Demonstrated technical ability and initiative to lead and execute work independently.
• Understanding across multiple technical domains, with expertise spanning AI/ML and software engineering.
• Ability to apply engineering principles and software development practices to produce high-quality, customer-focused technical solutions.
• Strong software engineering experience, including:
  1. Object-oriented programming (Python preferred; Java, C#, or similar languages a plus).
  2. Software architecture and modular design principles.
  3. API and backend service development.
  4. Version control and collaborative development workflows.
  5. Testing, debugging, and production software practices.
  6. Containerization and deployment technologies (Docker, Kubernetes, CI/CD pipelines).
• Experience building AI/ML systems using frameworks such as:
  1. PyTorch, TensorFlow, Hugging Face, LangChain, or similar tools.
  2. LLMs, NLP, agentic AI workflows, computer vision, or multimodal systems.
  3. Data processing pipelines and model development from large datasets.
• Experience deploying AI models into operational environments, cloud platforms, or edge systems preferred.
• Familiarity with MOSA, MBSE, and Government Reference Architectures, including modular design, defined interfaces, and standards-based integration is preferred
• Familiarity with MLOps, cloud technologies (AWS, Azure, Kubernetes), and scalable deployment architectures is a plus.
• Experience translating research prototypes into maintainable, production-quality systems strongly preferred.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, disability, protected veteran status or any other status protected by applicable national, federal, state or local law.

Salary Description

$125,000 - $140,000