Forward Deployed Senior Machine Learning / Applied AI Engineer – 25% travel across D.C. and areas across East Coast – Competitive Salary + Equity

Forward Deployed Senior Machine Learning / Applied AI Engineer – 25% travel across D.C. and areas across East Coast – Competitive Salary + Equity + Opportunity to work with an Ambitious, Rapidly-Growing Start-Up

This young, early-stage start-up challenger are currently looking for a hands-on, customer-facing Forward Deployed Senior Machine Learning / Applied AI Engineer to join their small team and help drive the business forwards.

This could be an excellent opportunity for an experienced Software Engineer with good Machine Learning experience, and a natural propensity for customer-facing work to take that next step into an exciting position with a very well-run and ambitious organisation in an innovative, exciting space.

This young and agile company are building cutting-edge AI platforms and utilizing Applied AI to drive their software engineering principles. They are in a unique space where there is an opportunity for them to gain significant market share very quickly.

About the Company:

Seed-stage company, $7M seed round closed last year

Business has moved past pure architecture and now needs execution and ownership

• ~10 employees currently

• Scaling to ~15 employees over next 2 months

• 5–6 active customer contracts already live

This is early-stage.

Candidates joining now will meaningfully shape:

• Product architecture

• Engineering culture

• Customer delivery

• Technical direction

About the Forward Deployed Senior Machine Learning / Applied AI Engineer Vacancy:

The Forward Deployed Senior Machine Learning Engineer role demands a blend of Software Development, LLM Ops, and DevSecOps methodologies, leading to a stimulating, dynamic engineering position.

This position necessitates the capability to deliver solutions across the entire LLM stack, spanning from the operating system, storage, and networking to the API and transport layer.

You will be responsible for the complete delivery of agentic, full-stack systems developed on leading-edge models, transitioning from initial prototype to reliable production, integrated with their clients.

You Will:

• Take full responsibility for the complete delivery of autonomous, full-stack systems from initial prototype through to stable production, working closely with clients.

• Develop and implement ML services utilizing LLMs, embeddings, RAG, and agent orchestration in production settings, encompassing classified and air-gapped environments.

• Collaborate closely with clients to define issues, plan delivery timelines, and deploy innovative AI solutions within practical limitations.

• Transform consistent patterns into reusable tools and foundational elements that enable the team to deliver more quickly.

Ideal Requirements for the Forward Deployed Senior Machine Learning / Applied AI Engineer Vacancy:

Location: This position is situated in D.C. and nearby regions; remote applicants will be accepted with an expectation of 25% travel.

Applicants must be eligible to get and maintain and upgrade Secret Clearance as the role requires.

They are a team of Native-AI Engineers.

We anticipate that all engineers will utilize LLMs and AI tools as fundamental elements in the design, construction, deployment, and management of agentic systems that transform frontier model capabilities into mission results.

• You utilize AI coding tools (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot) every day

• You design prompts within intricate architectures and debugging phases, utilize LLMs throughout the entire development process, recognize AI constraints in high-security environments, and keep up with new models and tools

• Experienced with contemporary agent frameworks and SDKs (LangGraph, OpenAI Agents SDK, Claude Agent SDK, AutoGen, or equivalent) as well as agent assessment and monitoring tools

• Knowledge of MCP or comparable LLM integration systems

• You possess a realistic understanding of AI constraints. You understand when to rely on AI-produced results and when to verify

Nice-to-Have:

• Expertise in managing infrastructure (Docker, Kubernetes, AWS)

• Proficiency in encryption, authentication, Linux systems management, DevOps, or SRE

• Hands-on experience in launching proactive services and forward-deployed AI solutions that generate operational benefits at the client location

• Background as a forward-deployed engineer or tech-focused delivery position, integrated with mission clients, defining issues, organizing delivery, and producing innovative agentic applications within strict limits

• Familiarity with federated or privacy-focused data infrastructures (including differential privacy and secure enclaves)

Apply to the Role:

Roles like these are snapped up very quickly, so act now if you do not want to miss out!