Principal AI Engineer, Special Programs

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and optimize integrations between frontier AI models and government systems, platforms, and data environments.
• Develop custom SDKs, APIs, developer tools, and documentation for government and enterprise developers.
• Partner with agency stakeholders to understand requirements, prototype solutions, and iterate based on real-world feedback.
• Ship production-grade code and features focused on speed, simplicity, and measurable impact.
• Collaborate with product, research, infrastructure, and legal/governance teams on safe, transparent, and useful AI capabilities.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science or another STEM discipline, or at least 2 years of professional software-development experience in lieu of a degree.
• At least 6 years of hands-on software engineering experience building scalable systems, APIs, or AI/ML applications.
• Strong Python proficiency; experience with other programming languages is a plus.
• Experience with large language models, generative AI, or agentic systems is preferred.
• Experience with government or public-sector technology environments, regulated industries, AI safety, governance, red-teaming, responsible AI deployment, cloud platforms, containerization, API orchestration, policy-adjacent technical work, civic tech, public-interest technology, or open-source AI projects is preferred.
• Ability to translate ambiguous stakeholder needs into concrete technical solutions and communicate complex concepts to nontechnical partners.
• Must be willing to work extended hours and weekends as needed.
• Must successfully obtain and maintain a Top Secret security clearance.
• Must meet applicable ITAR eligibility requirements or be eligible to obtain required U.S. Department of State authorizations.

Benefits

• Base salary of $220,000–$350,000 per year, with potential stock, stock options, long-term cash awards, and discretionary bonuses.
• Comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage; 401(k); disability and life insurance; paid parental leave; employee discounts; and other perks.
• Approximately 3 weeks of paid vacation, 10 or more paid holidays per year, and paid sick leave under company policy.
• The role may require 20% travel to government sites and extended hours or weekends as needed.