Forward Deployed AI Engineer
Defense Unicorns4 months ago
Remote, United StatesMid Level
Base Salary
$149k - $201k/yr
Responsibilities
- Embed with strategic customers as a technical partner from problem discovery through solution implementation and adoption.
- Architect, build, deploy, and operate agentic generative AI systems, including APIs, ETL pipelines, integration layers, retrieval-augmented generation, and context engineering.
- Deploy software across cloud, on-premises, tactical edge, and air-gapped environments.
- Prototype and deploy systems using Unicorn Delivery Service products and patterns, and bring field insights back for product improvement.
- Scope, sequence, and lead solution delivery by defining roadmaps, priorities, trade-offs, and cross-team execution.
- Create reusable tools, internal frameworks, and playbooks for faster, safer, and repeatable mission deployments.
- Serve as the technical face to customer leadership, building trust, managing expectations, and supporting successful scale and mission adoption.
Requirements
- U.S. citizenship is required because the employer is a U.S. government contractor.
- Clearance eligibility is required, and an active security clearance is preferred.
- At least 3 years of engineering or technical deployment experience, ideally in backend or full-stack engineering and customer-facing, government, or high-assurance environments.
- Strong backend engineering skills with production-grade Python or TypeScript and familiarity with services, APIs, data pipelines, integrations, and backend frameworks.
- Familiarity with LLMs or generative AI systems, including Context Engineering and the relationship between model behavior, product or mission experience, and system architecture.
- Ability to define scope, sequence work, make speed-quality-scope trade-offs, remove blockers, and deliver in ambiguous, dynamic environments.
- Strong communication skills for translating technical details to non-technical stakeholders and building customer and internal relationships.
- Understanding of information retrieval, including keyword and vector search, document parsing and chunking, reranking, and SQL/NoSQL search engines, is preferred.
- Experience deploying applications on Kubernetes in air-gapped or secure environments is preferred.
- Experience developing, executing, and maintaining LLM evaluations is preferred.
- Experience with open-source LLM or SLM models, including inference frameworks, structured output, fine-tuning, and model architecture reconfiguration, is preferred.
Benefits
- Remote position in the USA with travel to client sites as needed and flexibility based on personal preference.
- Medical, dental, and vision coverage with premiums 100% company-paid, plus a health reimbursement account.
- Life and disability insurance.
- 401(k) retirement plan, company stock options, and a home office budget.
- Flexible Time Off, federal holidays, one week for Thanksgiving, two weeks for Christmas and New Year's, and paid parental leave.
- Reimbursement for approved training and subscriptions, plus conference travel, lodging, and fees.
Tech Stack
Categories
About Defense Unicorns
Defense Unicorns specializes in platform technologies that enable rapid and reliable delivery of capabilities across a wide range of mission and technology areas. We support open architecture platforms for secure mission systems that provide optionality for the end user, promote scalability, and allow for continuous identification and integration of new products and services while avoiding vendor lock. Our open approach creates partnership opportunities across the software ecosystem. Our people are innovators, software engineers, and veterans with decades of experience delivering technology programs across DoW and the broader federal market. Let's drive change together. Get in touch at hello@defenseunicorns.com