[Hiring] AI/ML Engineer IV @Kentro

Role Description

Kentro is hiring an AI/ML Engineer IV to serve as lead AI/ML engineer on the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Accelerated Transformation of Legacy Applications and Systems (ATLAS) program — one of the largest civilian IT modernization efforts in the federal government. In this role, you will:

• Define the AI engineering strategy and shared AI platform architecture for the program.
• Bring mastery of AI/ML technologies, MLOps, and responsible AI practice.
• Lead AI initiatives across the portfolio and establish shared AI engineering capabilities.
• Drive innovation from pilot through production and provide technical leadership for AI transformation.
• Ensure every model put into production is explainable, monitored, documented, and defensible under federal AI policy.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Machine Learning, Statistics, Mathematics, or a related technical discipline.
• 8–10 years of progressive software engineering and AI/ML experience, including demonstrated technical leadership on production ML systems.
• Proven record delivering machine learning systems into production and operating them over time.
• Expert proficiency in Python and the modern ML stack (PyTorch or TensorFlow, scikit-learn, pandas, and related tooling).
• Deep MLOps/LLMOps experience: training and deployment pipelines, model and prompt versioning, experiment tracking, automated evaluation, and production monitoring.
• Hands-on experience with large language models in production.
• Cloud ML platform expertise (AWS SageMaker/Bedrock, Azure ML/OpenAI Service, or GCP Vertex AI).
• Strong data engineering foundation: pipelines, feature engineering at scale, and working with imperfect data from legacy sources.
• Demonstrated judgment in selecting among classical ML, generative AI, and agentic approaches.
• Demonstrated application of responsible AI practice in a regulated or high-consequence setting.
• Solid software engineering fundamentals: version control, testing, code review, and CI/CD discipline applied to ML code.
• Ability to set standards other teams adopt and to communicate AI capability and limitation credibly.

Requirements

• Define and lead the AI/ML engineering strategy for the portfolio.
• Architect the shared AI engineering platform.
• Establish end-to-end MLOps practice.
• Lead AI-assisted modernization initiatives.
• Design and deliver production AI capabilities for modernized systems.
• Implement technical controls for responsible AI practice.
• Engineer AI systems to satisfy applicable federal obligations.
• Define model evaluation standards and monitoring regime for production models.
• Define AI workload requirements for the data engineering interface.
• Recommend which class of AI fits each use case.
• Lead technical evaluation and recommendations for build-versus-buy and model selection decisions.
• Drive innovation by identifying emerging AI capability.
• Provide technical leadership, design review, and code review to AI/ML engineers and data scientists.
• Advise program leadership and FAA stakeholders on AI feasibility, risk, and realistic expectations.

Benefits

• Competitive benefits package including paid time off, healthcare benefits, and supplemental benefits.
• 401k including an employer match.
• Education reimbursement for certifications, degrees, or professional development.
• Flexibility for professional growth and networking.
• Activities for team bonding and community engagement.