AI Engineer - Entry to Expert Level (Maryland)

Full Job Description

As a newly hired AI Engineer you may, depending on the skill-sets currently in demand, be assigned to a mission office, or alternatively enrolled in the three-year Data Science Development Program (DSDP) in which you will both broaden and specialize your AI Engineering skills by taking courses and touring with a variety of mission offices (each for several months).

In either case you will work with NSA experts in AI Engineering, related technical domains, and specialized subject areas.

ENTRY (U) Note that different degree fields have different requirements as described below.

(U) For degrees in Computer Science or Engineering, entry is with an Associate's degree plus 2 years of relevant experience, or a Bachelor's degree and no experience, or a Master's degree and no experience.

(U) For degrees in Information Systems, Information Technology, Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, Applied Statistics, Operations Research, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, or Physical or Biological Sciences, entry is with an Associate's degree plus 3 years of relevant experience, or a Bachelor's degree and 1 year of relevant experience.

(U) Relevant experience must be in one or more of the following: implementing production scale AI/ML (Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning) solutions, distributed model training, distributed AI/ML systems, AI/ML performance monitoring, platform engineering, cloud engineering, developing deep learning models, neural networks, sustaining/maintaining AI/ML models, implementing AI/ML algorithms, AI/ML model development and deployment, DevOps, MLOps, cloud infrastructure management, software engineering, automated testing, or containerization.

FULL PERFORMANCE (U) Note that different degree fields have different requirements as described below.

(U) For degrees in Computer Science or Engineering, entry is with an Associate's degree plus 5 years of relevant experience, or a Bachelor's degree plus 3 years of relevant experience, or a Master's degree plus 1 year of relevant experience, or a Doctoral degree and no experience.

(U) For degrees in Information Systems, Information Technology, Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, Applied Statistics, Operations Research, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, or Physical or Biological Sciences, entry is with an Associate's degree plus 5 years of relevant experience, or a Bachelor's degree plus 3 years of relevant experience, or a Master's degree plus 1 year of relevant experience, or a Doctoral degree and 1 year of relevant experience.

(U) Relevant experience must be in one or more of the following: implementing production scale AI/ML solutions, distributed model training, distributed AI/ML systems, AI/ML performance monitoring, platform engineering, cloud engineering, developing deep learning models, sustaining/maintaining AI/ML models, implementing AI/ML algorithms, AI/ML model development and deployment, DevOps, MLOps, cloud infrastructure management, software engineering, automated testing, or containerization.

SENIOR (U) Entry is with an Associate's degree plus 8 years of relevant experience, or a Bachelor's degree plus 6 years of relevant experience, or a Master's degree plus 4 years of relevant experience, or a Doctoral degree plus 2 years of relevant experience.

(U) Degree must be in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, Information Technology, Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, Applied Statistics, Operations Research, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, or Physical or Biological Sciences.

(U) Relevant experience must be in two or more of the following: implementing production scale AI/ML solutions, distributed model training, distributed AI/ML systems, AI/ML performance monitoring, platform engineering, cloud engineering, developing deep learning models, sustaining/maintaining AI/ML models, implementing AI/ML algorithms, AI/ML model development and deployment, DevOps, MLOps, cloud infrastructure management, software engineering, automated testing, or containerization.

EXPERT (U) Entry is with an Associate's degree plus 11 years of relevant experience, or a Bachelor's degree plus 9 years of relevant experience, or a Master's degree plus 7 years of relevant experience, or a Doctoral degree plus 5 years of relevant experience.

(U) Degree must be in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, Information Technology, Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, Applied Statistics, Operations Research, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, or Physical or Biological Sciences.

(U) Relevant experience must be in three or more of the following: implementing production scale AI/ML solutions, distributed model training, distributed AI/ML systems, AI/ML performance monitoring, platform engineering, cloud engineering, developing deep learning models, sustaining/maintaining AI/ML models, implementing AI/ML algorithms, AI/ML model development and deployment, DevOps, MLOps, cloud infrastructure management, software engineering, automated testing, or containerization.

Additionally, you must have experience in serving as an AI Project Team Leader/model owner. Major Duties:

At NSA, AI Engineering is a specialized discipline that intersects data science, software engineering, data engineering, and systems engineering, focusing specifically on the unique challenges of building, deploying, and maintaining artificial intelligence (AI) systems at scale.

AI Engineers combine expertise from each of these domains to address the entire AI lifecycle, including infrastructure management, efficient model training, production deployment, performance monitoring, and continuous optimization.

As an AI Engineer, you will help design and implement mission-critical AI systems that keep NSA at the cutting edge of intelligence collection, processing, and reporting.

Responsibilities include: - Lead or contribute to cross-functional teams to develop and operationalize AI solutions that help solve our most challenging problems.

- Apply modern engineering techniques to design, develop, deploy, and maintain end-to-end AI workflows spanning model training, inference, and performance monitoring.

- Adapt and integrate diverse AI model architectures including computer vision systems, natural language processors, audio processors, large language models (LLMs), and multi-modal frameworks to address complex mission-critical challenges.

- Monitor and maintain AI products through systematic identification of performance degradation and computational inefficiency and address these challenges through regular retuning and fine-tuning to ensure continued alignment with evolving mission needs and organizational goals.

- Maintain knowledge of current AI research and adapt emerging techniques to intelligence applications.

- Test and evaluate Al solutions against mission requirements and produce actionable recommendations.