Staff Machine Learning Engineer – Team Lead (Active Secret Clearance)

AItoolnavio; Austin (TX); Hybrid; USD 230,000 - 280,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Base salary 230k–280k per year

Job summary

AItoolnavio is seeking a Staff Machine Learning Engineer – Team Lead (Active Secret Clearance) based in the United States. You will guide advanced AI systems for government applications, balancing hands-on ML with customer collaboration and production deployment.

You will mentor teams, define technical direction, and ensure reliability and trustworthiness of models across environments, with up to 25% travel and hybrid work in Austin, TX.

Qualifications

• Advanced degree in Data Science, Machine Learning, Computer Science, or related field; at least 10 years of experience.
• Proven ability to lead and mentor cross-functional teams across office, remote, and customer-facing environments.
• Experience defining, scoping, planning, and delivering complex production ML/AI solutions.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder-management skills for diverse audiences.
• Strong Python and at least one systems programming language; knowledge of algorithms and cloud development.
• Experience deploying ML models and production analytics; familiar with modern software engineering tools and practices.
• Active Secret security clearance or higher and U.S. citizenship is mandatory.
• Willingness to travel up to 25%.

Responsibilities

• Lead design, development, and delivery of complex production ML/AI solutions from data shaping to end-user deployment.
• Serve as hands-on contributor while guiding engineering teams and customer environments.
• Define project scope, technical plans, and coordinate resources for successful delivery.
• Build, train, evaluate, optimize, and deploy ML models for real-world applications.
• Design architectures, production analytics, and cloud-based solutions.
• Collaborate with customers to translate feedback into technical requirements.
• Communicate complex concepts clearly to engineers, customers, and stakeholders.
• Mentor engineers and promote strong technical practices across distributed teams.
• Travel to customer sites or project environments up to 25%.

Skills

Leadership

Mentoring

Python

Systems programming

Cloud architectures

Communication

Education

Advanced degree in Data Science / ML / CS

Tools

Kubernetes

Kafka

RabbitMQ

NATS

Cloud platforms

Job description

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Staff Machine Learning Engineer - Team Lead (Active Secret Clearance) based in the United States.

Join a mission-driven engineering team developing advanced AI systems for complex, real-world government applications. In this senior technical leadership role, you will combine hands‑on machine learning engineering with customer‑facing collaboration, guiding solutions from initial design and data preparation through deployment and delivery. You will tackle challenging technical problems, shape production‑ready systems, and help ensure AI models remain reliable, effective, and trustworthy beyond testing environments. Working closely with engineers, customers, and cross‑functional teams, you will provide technical direction, mentor colleagues, and translate complex requirements into practical outcomes. The role offers a remote or hybrid working arrangement based out of Austin, Texas, with opportunities to engage directly with customers and contribute to impactful projects.

Accountabilities:

• Lead the design, development, and delivery of complex, production‑level machine learning and AI solutions, from data shaping and analytics to end‑user implementation.

• Serve as a hands‑on technical contributor while providing leadership and guidance across engineering teams and customer environments.

• Define project scope, establish technical plans, coordinate resources, and drive execution through successful delivery.

• Build, train, evaluate, optimize, and deploy machine learning models for real‑world applications.

• Design and implement algorithms, data structures, production analytics, and software architectures using appropriate engineering patterns and cloud technologies.

• Collaborate directly with customers to understand their challenges, translate feedback into technical requirements, and shape future solutions.

• Communicate technical concepts clearly and professionally to engineering teams, customers, and other stakeholders.

• Mentor and support engineers, fostering strong technical practices and effective collaboration across distributed teams.

• Travel to customer locations or project environments as required, with travel of up to 25%.

Requirements:

• Advanced degree in Data Science, Machine Learning, Computer Science, or a related discipline, along with at least 10 years of relevant professional experience.

• Demonstrated ability to lead, manage, and mentor cross‑functional engineering teams across office‑based, remote, and customer‑facing environments.

• Proven experience defining, scoping, planning, and executing complex technical solutions in production environments.

• Excellent communication and stakeholder‑management skills, including the ability to explain sophisticated technical topics clearly.

• Broad proficiency in programming languages used in machine learning, with strong expertise in Python and at least one systems programming language.

• Strong knowledge of algorithms, data structures, production analytics, software design patterns, and cloud‑based development.

• Extensive experience building, training, evaluating, and/or optimizing the deployment of machine learning models.

• Proficiency with modern software engineering tools, workflows, and development practices.

• Active Secret security clearance or higher and U.S. citizenship are mandatory.

• Willingness and ability to travel up to 25% of the time.

Additional experience that would be valuable:

• Kubernetes (K8s) and horizontally scaled architectures.

• Messaging and streaming technologies such as NATS, Kafka, or RabbitMQ.

• Development of AI agents and agentic workflows.

• Working with complex and varied data types.

• Delivering technology solutions in secure government environments.

Benefits:

• Base salary: $230,000–$280,000 per year.

• Equity grants and cash bonuses as part of the total compensation package.

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance.

• Voluntary life, long‑term disability, accident, and hospital indemnity insurance.

• Health Savings Account (HSA) and Flexible Spending Account (FSA) options, including dependent care FSA.

• 401(k) retirement plan.

• Unlimited paid time off (PTO).

• Paid parental leave.

• Remote or hybrid working arrangements, with the hybrid option based in Austin, Texas.