Software Engineer III

THOR Solutions is actively seeking a Software Engineer III with a focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to support a contract developing an AI tool to automate the comparison process for U.S. Navy engineering drawings or "Damage Control Plates" in San Diego, CA. The software engineer will be part of a team building two components of this tool: an OpenCV-based image processing pipeline that ingests two versions of the DC plates and identifies differences, and a local language model roughly in the class of Mistral 7B that takes output from the first component and generates draft comparison reports.

This position is a short-term position, anticipated to be approximately 5 months of full time effort.

Typical Responsibilities:

• Design, develop, and integrate a computer vision pipeline capable of ingesting, aligning, and automatically detecting differences between two versions of an engineering drawing.
• Develop and deploy a locally hosted language model to interpret comparison output and generate structured, human-readable draft reports for engineer review.
• Build and maintain a secure, engineer-facing web interface that allows users to review AI-generated findings, annotate results, and approve or correct comparison reports.
• Implement drawing ingestion and normalization routines supporting multiple file formats including PDF, TIFF, CGM, DXF, and JPEG.
• Ensure all software components are deployable on existing on-premise hardware with no cloud infrastructure dependency.
• Produce and maintain technical documentation including design documents, API references, and user guides.

Location: Partially or fully onsite at THOR's San Diego, CA office.

Travel: Up to 10% travel anticipated to Virginia Beach, VA and NSWCPD in Philadelphia, PA.

Typical Physical Activity: Desk/computer work in an office environment. May involve: repetitive motion.

Typical Pay Range: The anticipated pay range for this position in the identified location(s) is $60.00 - 65.00/hour. Actual compensation offered will be based upon individual factors including education, qualifications, and experience.

Existing SECRET Security Clearance Required: This position requires an existing active or interim Secret security clearance prior to hire. Only U.S. citizens are eligible for a security clearance; therefore, only current U.S. citizens will be considered for this position.

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in a quantitative field of study such as engineering or mathematics (e.g., software engineering, computer engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, information technology, or information systems) from an accredited institution.
  • In lieu of a relevant degree, other qualifications such as additional years of highly-relevant experience and/or professional certifications may be considered.
• At least ten (10) years of professional experience in software engineering, including recent experience with AI/ML concepts and development. Experience should include:
  • Applying programming concepts in a professional or academic setting.
  • Applying modern software development methodologies (e.g. agile, DevOps/DevSecOps) in a professional or academic setting.
  • Deploying and optimizing large language models for CPU-based inference in resource-constrained environments.
  • Familiarity with DoD or Navy IT environments, network security requirements, or working with government-managed infrastructure.
• Proficiency with common productivity software including the Microsoft Office suite.
• Excellent communication skills.

Additional Preferred Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Agile Developer certification or Certified Scrum Developer certification.
• Cybersecurity certification such as CompTIA Security+ or similar.