Hybrid | Member of Technical Staff, Forward Deployed (US Gov) — $40–$60/hour

We are sharing a full-time opportunity for an experienced technical engineer with strong expertise in Python, LLM systems, agentic AI, data pipelines, distributed systems, and production infrastructure to build and deploy mission-critical AI systems supporting U.S. Government environments.

This role spans applied AI research, engineering, infrastructure, and forward-deployed implementation. The successful candidate will work directly with government partners to translate operational requirements into secure, reliable AI systems, taking ownership from early discovery and architecture through production deployment, security, reliability, and iteration.

Key Responsibilities

Forward-Deployed AI Engineering

• Build and deploy applied AI systems supporting high-impact U.S. Government missions
• Work directly with government partners in forward-deployed environments
• Translate mission requirements and operational constraints into practical technical systems
• Take projects from prototype and experimentation through production deployment
• Maintain strong technical and operational ownership in ambiguous partner-facing environments

LLM & Agentic Systems

• Design and integrate production-grade LLM applications
• Build multi-agent systems and tool-using AI agents
• Develop retrieval-augmented generation workflows
• Implement human-in-the-loop autonomy where appropriate
• Turn mission data, models, and tools into reliable operational AI capabilities

Data & ML Infrastructure

• Build and maintain large-scale data curation pipelines
• Develop evaluation infrastructure supporting model training and improvement
• Create systems for model inference, experimentation, evaluation, and deployment
• Support scalable data and ML workflows across frontier AI platforms
• Maintain reliable infrastructure throughout changing mission and model requirements

Systems Engineering & Deployment

• Own systems across discovery, architecture, implementation, deployment, and iteration
• Design for reliability, security, and operational resilience
• Work effectively across distributed and mission-critical technical environments
• Diagnose system failures and improve performance across the production lifecycle
• Apply strong engineering judgement to infrastructure and deployment trade-offs

Mission-Critical Technical Ownership

• Operate independently in high-security and high-reliability environments
• Collaborate with technical, operational, and government stakeholders
• Maintain ownership of systems beyond initial implementation
• Adapt rapidly as mission requirements, partner needs, and technical constraints evolve
• Balance development speed with security, reliability, and operational effectiveness

Ideal Profile

• Strong Python engineering skills with demonstrated end-to-end technical ownership
• Experience building production applications using LLMs
• Hands-on experience creating agentic or multi-agent AI systems
• Experience building or maintaining data pipelines or machine-learning infrastructure
• Familiarity with distributed systems and production deployment
• Exposure to reinforcement-learning workflows or simulation environments is valuable
• Comfortable operating in high-security, high-reliability, or mission-critical environments
• Strong ability to work independently in ambiguous, partner-facing situations
• Active U.S. security clearance is highly advantageous
• Candidates eligible and willing to obtain a U.S. security clearance may also be considered
• Experience supporting U.S. Government, defence, intelligence, or national-security missions is preferred
• Experience at a startup, defence organisation, government-focused technology company, or comparable fast-moving environment is beneficial

Engagement Details

• Full-time engagement
• Hybrid — Washington, D.C.
• Compensation: $40–$60/hour
• Role involves forward-deployed work with U.S. Government partners
• Work will span applied AI, LLM systems, agentic workflows, data pipelines, infrastructure, and production deployment
• Security, reliability, and operational ownership are central to the role
• Active security clearance or eligibility and willingness to obtain one is preferred
• Role responsibilities may span both research-oriented experimentation and production systems
• Technical priorities may evolve based on mission requirements and partner needs

About the Platform

This opportunity is available through 24-MAG LLC. We connect experienced professionals with remote consulting opportunities across technical, evaluation, and project-based workstreams.

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