[Hiring] Forward Deployed AI Engineer @Defense Unicorns
Forward Deployed AI Engineer @Defense Unicorns
Artificial Intelligence
Salary usd 148,750 - 2..
Remote Location
πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ USA Only
Employment Type full-time
Posted 3d ago

[Hiring] Forward Deployed AI Engineer @Defense Unicorns

3d ago - Defense Unicorns is hiring a remote Forward Deployed AI Engineer. πŸ’Έ Salary: usd 148,750 - 201,250 per year πŸ“Location: USA

Role Description

In this role you will join a team building the backbone of modern defense software delivery β€” helping ensure warfighters can deploy the latest capabilities rapidly, securely, and reliably.

  • Embed with strategic customers as a technical partner, working from problem discovery to solution implementation and customer adoption.
  • Architect, build, deploy, and operate agentic Generative AI systems: APIs, data processing ETL pipelines, integration layers, Retrieval Augmented Generation, and context engineering.
  • Work in cloud, on-prem, and edge/air-gapped environments to ensure software can run where the mission demands.
  • Prototype and deploy systems leveraging the core products and design patterns of the Unicorn Delivery Service (UDS); bring back insights from the field for continuous product improvement.
  • Scope, sequence, and lead delivery of solutions: define living roadmaps, set priorities, trade off speed vs quality vs scope, work across internal teams and customer stakeholders to drive clarity and remove blockers early.
  • Codify reusable patterns for mission environments: build tools, internal frameworks, playbooks so future deployments are faster, safer, and repeatable.
  • Act as the technical face to customer leadership: communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders, build trust, manage expectations, and ensure successful scale and mission adoption. This is a customer-facing role.
  • Ability and interest to travel up as needed to client sites, but flexible based on personal preferences.

Qualifications

  • 3+ years of engineering or technical deployment experience (backend or full-stack), ideally in customer-facing or government environments (DoD, intelligence, public sector) or analogous high-assurance contexts.
  • Strong backend engineering skills: production-grade code in Python or TypeScript; deep familiarity with designing services, APIs, data pipelines, integrations, and backend frameworks.
  • Familiarity with LLMs or generative AI systems β€” be able to explain the fundamentals of Context Engineering and understand how model behavior connects to product/mission experience, and how AI capabilities integrate into larger system architectures.
  • Strong ability to work in ambiguity: define scope, sequence work, make trade-offs between speed, quality, and scope; remove blockers; deliver under pressure in dynamic mission-driven settings.
  • Excellent communication skills: able to translate complex technical details into clear messaging for non-technical stakeholders; work cross-functionally; build relationships with customers and internal teams.
  • Mission-oriented mindset. Have an understanding that our work is supporting the defense and freedom of the nation.

Requirements

  • Experience with deploying applications on Kubernetes inside of air-gapped or secure environments.
  • Experience with Information Retrieval fundamentals including knowledge of keyword and vector based search, document parsing and chunking, document reranking, and SQL/NoSQL search engines.
  • Experience with developing, executing, and maintaining LLM evaluations.
  • Experience with open source LLM or SLM models (Llama3, Mixtral, Gemma, Phi) including inference frameworks, structured output, fine-tuning, and model architecture reconfiguration.

Benefits

  • Health:
    • Medical/Dental/Vision
    • Premiums are 100% Company Paid
    • Health Reimbursement Account
    • Life Insurance
    • Disability Insurance
  • Financial:
    • 401k Retirement Plan
    • Company Stock Options
    • Home Office Budget
  • Leave:
    • Flexible Time Off (FTO) plus all Federal Holidays, one week for Thanksgiving, and two weeks for Christmas and New Year’s
    • Paid Parental Leave
  • Learning:
    • Reimbursement for approved trainings/subscriptions
    • Conferences (travel, lodging, and fees)
Before You Apply
️
πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ Be aware of the location restriction for this remote position: USA Only
β€Ό Beware of scams! When applying for jobs, you should NEVER have to pay anything. Learn more.
Forward Deployed AI Engineer @Defense Unicorns
Artificial Intelligence
Salary usd 148,750 - 2..
Remote Location
πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ USA Only
Employment Type full-time
Posted 3d ago
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️
πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ Be aware of the location restriction for this remote position: USA Only
β€Ό Beware of scams! When applying for jobs, you should NEVER have to pay anything. Learn more.
Apply for this position
Did not apply βœ“
Applied βœ“
Sent Follow-Up βœ“
Interview Scheduled βœ“
Interview Completed βœ“
Offer Accepted βœ“
Offer Declined βœ“
Application Denied βœ“
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