Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning Data Engineer

About the position MAG Aerospace is staffing for a Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning Data Engineer. This position will l ead the development of intelligent systems that transform multi-modal sensor data into actionable intelligence for tactical operations. You'll leverage COTS, FOSS/OSS, and custom development to build or integrate everything from edge computer vision to conversational AI assistants, while managing the data pipelines that feed these systems in the most challenging environments. While you'll have a core expertise in either data engineering or model development, you have a passion for mastering the full stack of AI systems. US Citizens Only Former US Defense Contractor / US Gov / US Military Experience Only This is a Hybrid Position - Remote mainly - but as well on call to come into a MAG office when requested We are seeking candidates who live in proximity to our corporate HQ in Fairfax, VA primarily but will entertain persons living near our satellite offices in: Aberdeen, MD - Titusville, FL - Newport News, VA - Carthage NC

Responsibilities

• Develop and optimize data-centric AI solutions such as computer vision pipelines for object detection, tracking, and classification
• Implement advanced AI capabilities including RAG systems, agentic workflows, and fine-tuned LLMs
• Design and deploy edge-optimized models using TensorRT, ONNX, and quantization techniques
• Build data engineering pipelines for ETL, feature engineering, and model training
• Create analytics dashboards and business intelligence solutions for operational insights
• Implement multi-modal sensor fusion algorithms (visual, thermal, acoustic, RF)
• Design and maintain data lakes, warehouses, and real-time streaming architectures
• Develop conversational AI interfaces using open-source LLMs (Llama, Mistral, etc.)
• Establish and enforce data quality standards, validation checks, and governance procedures throughout the data lifecycle
• Develop and implement robust testing and validation strategies for AI/ML models, including performance under degraded data conditions, adversarial testing, and operational scenarios
• Optimize AI workloads for embedded platforms (Jetson, Intel Neural Compute Stick)
• Implement hardware acceleration using CUDA and TensorRT
• Profile and optimize memory/power consumption for edge devices
• Support embedded systems team with AI-specific hardware integration
• Design distributed inference systems for degraded network conditions

Requirements

• 5+ years’ experience in machine learning, AI, and data engineering
• Strong proficiency in Python and ML frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow, JAX)
• Experience with modern AI paradigms (transformers, diffusion models, neural ODEs)
• Hands-on experience with LLM deployment and optimization (vLLM, TGI, llama.cpp)
• Proficiency with data engineering tools (Apache Spark, Airflow, dbt, etc.)
• Experience with both SQL and NoSQL databases at scale
• Knowledge of vector databases and embedding systems (Pinecone, Weaviate, pgvector)
• Experience with computer vision libraries (OpenCV, PIL) and video processing
• Understanding of MLOps practices and model lifecycle management
• Must be eligible for Secret security clearance
• Must be a US citizen
• Former US Defense Contractor / US Gov / US Military Experience Only

Nice-to-haves

• Experience with military/defense AI applications
• Knowledge of agentic AI frameworks (LangChain, AutoGPT, CrewAI)
• Familiarity with federated learning and edge-cloud hybrid architectures
• Experience with business intelligence tools (Tableau, PowerBI, Grafana)
• Knowledge of time-series analysis and anomaly detection
• Experience with knowledge graphs and semantic reasoning
• Understanding of explainable AI and model interpretability
• Experience with MLOps platforms and tools (e.g., MLflow, Kubeflow, Weights & Biases)
• Published research or patents in relevant areas

Benefits

• Work on meaningful problems that directly impact national security
• Small, elite team where your contributions matter immediately
• Access to cutting-edge hardware and technologies
• Rapid prototyping environment - see your ideas deployed in weeks
• Direct interaction with end users and field deployments
• Professional development and conference attendance support
• Flexible work arrangements with occasional field exercises
• Opportunity to shape the future of tactical edge computing

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