Demo

Staff AI/ML Engineer

VT Group (VTG)
Chantilly, VA Full Time
POSTED ON 6/28/2026
AVAILABLE BEFORE 7/26/2026
Overview

VTG is seeking a highly experienced and innovative Staff AI/ML Engineer to lead the design, development, evaluation, and deployment of advanced artificial intelligence solutions in support of mission-critical and enterprise initiatives. This position is located in northern Virginia. The ideal candidate is both technically exceptional and customer-facing — capable of advising senior leadership, engaging directly with government and commercial stakeholders, and serving as a trusted authority on emerging AI technologies and best practices. This individual must have hands-on experience building and operationalizing AI system and possess a strong understanding of modern AI governance, responsible AI principles, and evaluation methodologies.

What will you do?

Architect, Design, And Implement Advanced AI/ML Solutions, Including

  • Autonomous and semi-autonomous workflows
  • AI orchestration frameworks
  • Predictive analytics and traditional ML models

Lead The End-to-end AI Lifecycle, Including

  • Data ingestion and preparation
  • Model development and fine-tuning
  • AI testing and evaluation
  • Model deployment and monitoring
  • Operational sustainment and optimization

Develop And Mature AI Evaluation And Testing Methodologies, Including

  • Traditional ML evaluation metrics
  • Red teaming and adversarial testing
  • Bias and fairness assessments
  • Performance and reliability testing
  • Human-in-the-loop evaluation strategies

Establish And Implement AI Governance Frameworks, Including

  • Responsible AI practices
  • Security and compliance controls
  • Model transparency and explainability
  • Risk management
  • Data governance standards
  • Collaborate across engineering, cybersecurity, cloud, data, and product teams to deliver integrated AI solutions

Do you have what it takes?

Required Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Software Engineering, Mathematics, or related technical field
  • 5 years of experience in artificial intelligence, machine learning, software engineering, data engineering, or related technical disciplines
  • Statistical modeling and AI evaluation methodologies
  • Experience with AI testing, validation, benchmarking, and evaluation frameworks for both traditional ML and generative AI systems
  • Experience implementing practical MLOps pipelines and AI operationalization frameworks
  • Strong programming experience with: Python, Jupyter Notebooks or equivalent notebook environments
  • Experience with big data and distributed processing technologies such as: Apache Spark, Databricks (preferred)
  • Experience with one or more major cloud platforms: Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
  • Familiarity with: Containerization and orchestration technologies CI/CD pipelines for AI deployments
  • Strong communication and presentation skills with demonstrated customer-facing experience
  • Ability to translate complex technical concepts into actionable business and mission solutions

Preferred Qualifications

  • Master’s degree or PhD
  • Experience supporting Federal Government, DoD, Intelligence Community, or highly regulated environments
  • Experience implementing secure AI architectures in classified or sensitive environments
  • Expertise in modern AI/ML architectures, including agentic AI systems, large language models (LLMs), autonomous workflows, AI evaluation frameworks, and production-grade machine learning operations (MLOps)
  • Design scalable MLOps and AIOps pipelines to support secure and repeatable deployment of AI capabilities in enterprise and cloud environments
  • Demonstrated experience architecting and deploying enterprise-scale AI/ML solutions in production environments
  • Hands-on experience building and operationalizing:Agentic AI systems LLM-powered applications; AI orchestration frameworks; Autonomous decision-support systems
  • Familiarity with AI security, adversarial AI, and zero trust principles
  • Experience with GPU infrastructure, model optimization, and scalable inference architectures
  • Familiarity with: Vector databases; AI orchestration frameworks (LangChain, Semantic Kernel, CrewAI, AutoGen, etc.)
  • Serve as a senior technical advisor to customers, executives, and program leadership on AI strategy, architecture, modernization, and emerging capabilities
  • Lead technical discussions, architecture reviews, demonstrations, and customer briefings with confidence and authority
  • Stay current with emerging AI research, industry trends, open-source technologies, and commercial AI platforms; continuously assess applicability to organizational and customer needs
  • Published research, conference presentations, patents, or contributions to the AI community preferred
  • Active participation in AI research communities, industry working groups, or open-source AI initiatives
  • Mentor engineers, data scientists, and software developers on AI best practices, architectures, and implementation strategies

Clearance Requirement

  • Active Secret security clearance required, or ability to obtain and maintain a Secret clearance.

Desired Characteristics

  • Strategic thinker with strong technical depth and hands-on engineering capability
  • Passion for continuous learning and staying ahead of rapidly evolving AI technologies
  • Comfortable operating in ambiguous and fast-paced technical environments
  • Strong leadership, collaboration, and mentoring abilities
  • Customer-focused with executive presence and consultative communication skills

Technologies & Tools

Experience With Several Of The Following Is Desired

  • Python
  • Jupyter Notebook
  • Apache Spark
  • Databricks
  • TensorFlow
  • PyTorch
  • Hugging Face
  • LangChain
  • Semantic Kernel
  • CrewAI
  • AutoGen
  • Kubernetes
  • Docker
  • Azure AI Services
  • AWS SageMaker
  • Google Vertex AI
  • Vector databases
  • MLflow
  • GitLab/GitHub CI/CD pipelines

Work Environment

This role may support hybrid, on-site, or customer-location work environments depending on program requirements. Occasional travel may be required for customer engagement, technical workshops, or industry events.

Salary.com Estimation for Staff AI/ML Engineer in Chantilly, VA
$127,627 to $164,142
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