Software Data Engineer (AI/ML, LLMs, RAG), Intelligence Community Mission Program, Fort Meade, MD at BizFirst LLC in Howard, Maryland, United States

Job description

• Software Data Engineer (AI/ML, LLMs, RAG), Intelligence Community Mission Program, Fort Meade, MD
• Job Title: Software Data Engineer, Level 3 (AI/ML, LLMs, RAG)
• Openings: 1
• Security Clearance: Active TS/SCI with Full Scope Polygraph (FSP) required.
• Work Type: Onsite at Fort George G. Meade, MD, in a secure government facility
• Job Type: Full-time
• Benefits: Our client provides full benefits.
• Program Name: Enterprise engineering program for SIGINT mission systems, covering cloud infrastructure, AI/ML software, and data dissemination process modernization
• Agency name: Intelligence Community (IC) customer, Fort George G. Meade, MD
• Start Date: Immediate, upon offer acceptance and clearance transfer
• What will you do
• Build AI-driven software that makes mission teams faster and more effective. You will design, develop, and deploy scalable AI/ML models and tools tailored to the customer's operational needs, including retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) solutions and large language models (LLMs) that you design, fine-tune, and deploy. You will develop and enhance software systems based on AI-related requirements, analyze data structures and data objects, and apply prompt engineering to get reliable results. This role suits a software engineer who has delivered real LLM and RAG work and wants to apply it to mission problems.

Responsibilities

• Develop, maintain, and enhance complex software systems based on AI-related requirements.
• Build software solutions that use AI to automate work and improve efficiency for mission users.
• Design, develop, and deploy scalable AI/ML models and tools tailored to the customer's operational needs.
• Build retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) solutions.
• Design, fine-tune, and deploy large language models (LLMs).
• Apply prompt engineering techniques to improve the quality and consistency of model output.
• Analyze data structures and data objects to support model and application design.
• Script and automate workflows on Linux using Bash, shell, or Python.

Requirements

• Active TS/SCI clearance with Full Scope Polygraph.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or Prompt Engineering and five (5) years of software engineering experience. Nine (9) years of software engineering experience may substitute for the degree.
• Experience developing software for AI-driven automation and efficiency gains.
• Experience designing, developing, and deploying scalable AI/ML models and tools.
• Experience with retrieval-augmented generation (RAG).
• Experience designing, fine-tuning, and deploying large language models (LLMs).
• Prompt engineering skills.
• Experience with open-source AI/ML frameworks and platforms, such as PyTorch or Hugging Face.
• Ability to analyze data structures and data objects.
• Proficiency with the Linux/Unix command line and scripting (Bash, shell, and/or Python).
• Ability to work onsite at Fort Meade, MD.
• Experience with vector databases and embedding pipelines.
• Experience deploying models in on-premises or air-gapped environments.
• Experience working with Intelligence Community or DoD mission data.

Skills

Required

• Software engineering
• AI-driven automation
• Scalable AI/ML models and tools
• Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)
• Large language models (LLMs)
• Prompt engineering

Preferred

• Vector databases
• Embedding pipelines

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage for the employee and family, 100% employer-paid (HMO HSA Silver plan), plus a Health Savings Account
• Five weeks (200 hours) of paid leave per year
• Eleven (11) paid federal holidays per year
• 401k with an employer contribution equal to 10% of salary
• Reimbursement for approved training, up to three days (24 hours) per year, including books and related conference or class travel
• Reimbursement of professional fees, such as IEEE membership and licenses
• Short-term and long-term disability insurance
• Term life insurance equal to annual salary, up to $100K
• Referral matching bonus program