Senior AI Platform Engineer

Job Description

Strategic ACI is seeking a Senior AI Platform Engineer to design, build, deploy, and operate production AI capabilities for NGA on a new Digital Ecosystem program. As a member of the Platform/Cloud team, this individual will develop the reusable services, integrations, agent harnesses, and operational practices that enable large language models (LLMs) and AI agents across the customer's broader Digital Ecosystem. You will help develop an enterprise architecture digital twin, connecting UAF and SysML models with real-time and near-real-time operational data. These capabilities will enable AI-assisted analysis, data-driven insights, and visualizations of enterprise capabilities, dependencies, risks, and mission impacts.

The role combines architecture with direct implementation, including writing code, integrating models and tools, building deployment pipelines, evaluating AI performance, and troubleshooting production systems. Working alongside platform engineering, cybersecurity, enterprise architecture, and mission teams, this individual will turn emerging AI technologies into secure, reliable capabilities that support customer workflows.

Salary will be commensurate within the advertised range, based on applicable qualifications.

Responsibilities:

• AI Platform Development: Design and implement reusable AI services, APIs, components, and reference architectures that support multiple applications and mission workflows across the Digital Ecosystem.
• LLM Integration and Engineering: Build LLM-enabled capabilities using model APIs, retrieval-augmented generation, prompt and context engineering, structured outputs, and inference services. Evaluate hosted, self-hosted, and open-weight models against security, performance, deployment, and cost requirements.
• Agent Harnesses and Workflows: Develop agent harnesses that manage model interactions, context, state, memory, tool access, workflow execution, and error handling. Implement bounded autonomy, human approval, execution limits, and recovery mechanisms for agents interacting with enterprise systems.
• Production Deployment and Operations: Build automated testing and deployment pipelines for AI services and agent workflows. Implement versioning, configuration management, monitoring, rollback, incident troubleshooting, and continuous improvement. Address reliability, latency, resource consumption, and operational cost.
• AI Evaluation and Observability: Develop representative evaluation datasets and automated tests for accuracy, groundedness, task completion, safety, and tool-use behavior. Instrument AI services to trace model interactions and agent actions, support troubleshooting, and detect performance degradation.
• AI Governance and Cybersecurity: Implement controls for approved models and tools, identity, least-privilege access, secrets management, sensitive data handling, audit logging, and third-party dependencies. Address prompt injection, data leakage, insecure tool execution, and AI supply chain risks in coordination with cybersecurity and governance teams.
• Enterprise Architecture Digital Twin: Work with enterprise architects and digital engineering teams to build a digital twin that connects UAF and SysML models with enterprise applications, infrastructure, services, and operational information. Support an evolving view of enterprise capabilities, dependencies, and conditions.
• Real-Time Model Integration: Build interfaces and event-driven integrations that associate real-time and near-real-time feeds with UAF and SysML model elements. Apply AI to correlate information, identify changes and inconsistencies, and propose validated model updates while preserving provenance, configuration control, and human oversight.
• AI-Enabled Insights and Visualizations: Combine architecture models and operational data to identify patterns, anomalies, dependencies, risks, and potential mission impacts. Develop AI-enabled dashboards, visualizations, natural language interfaces, and analytical services that make findings traceable to supporting information.
• Data and Knowledge Integration: Partner with data engineers and data owners to connect AI services with approved structured and unstructured sources. Implement retrieval, indexing, metadata, provenance, and access-aware information delivery within established data governance practices.
• Digital Ecosystem Integration: Connect AI services with Digital Engineering, MBSE, modeling, simulation and analysis, software development, and mission workflows through governed APIs and tool interfaces.
• Technical Collaboration: Contribute code, design reviews, documentation, demonstrations, and delivery estimates. Work with customer stakeholders and multidisciplinary teams to prioritize use cases, resolve technical issues, and transition prototypes into supported production capabilities.

Qualifications:

Required:

• Active TS clearance, with SCI eligibility and the ability to pass a CI polygraph within 30 days.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Data Science, or a related field, or additional relevant experience in lieu of a degree.
• 10+ years of combined relevant technical experience in software engineering, AI, data, cloud, or platform engineering. Including at least 5 years developing, integrating or applying AI or machine learning capabilities.
• Demonstrated hands-on experience building, deploying, and supporting production AI-enabled applications or services.
• Experience developing LLM-enabled applications using model APIs, retrieval-augmented generation, prompt and context engineering, or related techniques.
• Experience implementing agent-based workflows or AI application harnesses, including orchestration, tool integration, context management, and controls over agent actions.
• Strong proficiency with Python, APIs, version control, automated testing, and modern software engineering practices.
• Experience with containers, Kubernetes, CI/CD pipelines, and deployment automation.
• Experience implementing repeatable AI evaluations and monitoring application or model behavior in production.
• Understanding of AI cybersecurity and governance practices, including sensitive data protection, prompt injection defenses, least-privilege access, auditability, and human oversight.
• Experience integrating applications with enterprise systems, data sources, or operational feeds through secure APIs or event-driven interfaces.
• Ability to translate customer and mission needs into technical designs and working software.
• Ability to troubleshoot issues across AI applications, integrations, and supporting platform services.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills and the ability to collaborate with data, platform, cybersecurity, architecture, and mission teams.
• Strong analytical, written, and verbal communication skills, with the ability to work across mission and technical stakeholder groups.

Desired:

• Experience operating self-hosted or open-weight LLMs, including inference optimization, GPU resource management, and capacity planning.
• Experience implementing LLMOps or MLOps practices, including model and prompt versioning, automated evaluation, deployment gates, monitoring, and rollback.
• Experience developing enterprise architecture digital twins or other model-driven decision-support capabilities.
• Familiarity with UAF, SysML v1 or v2, and integration of architecture models with external data, APIs, or analytical tools.
• Experience applying AI to correlate operational information with model elements, detect changes, or support controlled model maintenance.
• Experience building AI-enabled dashboards, visualizations, natural language query interfaces, or analytical applications.
• Experience with vector search, knowledge graphs, semantic models, or access-controlled enterprise retrieval.
• Experience with infrastructure as code, identity federation, secrets management, distributed tracing, and observability platforms.
• Experience conducting AI security testing, red teaming, or threat modeling for LLM applications and agent workflows.
• Experience supporting Intelligence Community, defense, or other regulated mission environments.
• Experience deploying AI capabilities in government cloud, restricted-network, disconnected, or edge environments.
• Familiarity with Digital Engineering, MBSE, Digital Twins, or modeling, simulation and analysis workflows.
• Experience supporting security accreditation, controlled data handling, and evidence-based compliance.
• Experience transitioning prototypes or research capabilities into sustained production operations.

About Strategic Alliance Consulting, Inc



Strategic Alliance Consulting Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer.



It has been and will continue to be a fundamental policy of Strategic ACI not to discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, gender, gender identity, pregnancy, marital status, partnership status, domestic violence victim status, sexual orientation, age, national origin, alienage or citizenship status, veteran or military status, disability, medical condition, genetic information, caregiver status, unemployment status or any other characteristic prohibited by federal, state and/or local laws.



This policy applies to all aspects of employment, including hiring, promotion, demotion, compensation, training, working conditions, transfer, job assignments, benefits, layoff, and termination. Applicants can learn more about the company's status as an equal opportunity employer by viewing the federal EEO is the Law poster.



Why choose a career with Strategic ACI?



Strategic Alliance Consulting, Inc. believes that our greatest asset is our employees. Our goal is not to meet our staff's expectations, but to exceed them. Competitive salaries, work-life balance, industry leading benefits packages, and family first values are at the core of Strategic ACI's culture.



We're proud the be selected as a 2020 Best Places to Work in the Greater Washington Area by the Washington Business Journal (WBJ), as well as being 1 of 19 Virginia based companies to be awarded the prestigious HIRE Vets Gold Medallion by the Department of Labor for our commitment to veteran hiring, retention, and professional development.



Your Strategic ACI Total Rewards Compensation Package includes:

• Competitive salary


• 100% benefits paid (Includes; health, dental, and vision plan premiums) for all full time employees and their families


• 401k with 5% match vested at day one!


• Profit sharing commensurate with company growth


• PTO - 3 weeks and 3 days per year


• 11 Company Paid Holidays (aligned with Federal Government)


• Long term/Short term disability


• 1.5x salary life insurance


• $100 per month cell phone allowance


• $6000 cash in lieu of benefits per year if employee is insured elsewhere


• Tuition reimbursement of up to $5,250 per year for college or professional certifications


• Casual dress code, company lunches, flexible schedules, employee phone plan discounts