AI/ML Engineer

Everforth ECS is seeking a AI/ML Engineer  to work in an onsite capacity with primary duty located at the Pentagon in Arlington, VA. Note: This role is contingent upon additional funding. 

Everforth ECS Federal has an immediate opening for a Technical Lead supporting the PSP2 Agentic Network program for a Department of Defense customer at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia

• The Technical Lead serves as the senior hands-on technical authority for the PSP2 Agentic Network. The role designs, prototypes, deploys, and sustains secure agentic AI, data, and platform capabilities across classified and unclassified environments, with a primary focus on JWICS-hosted mission services and approved information-sharing paths.
• The Technical Lead evaluates and improves hosting architectures, including the existing JWICS-hosting option and cloud landing-zone alternatives, to improve reliability, support responsiveness, model inference availability, access management, auditability, and lifecycle control. The role is responsible for turning approved technical approaches into deployable, observable, and supportable systems.
• The position engineers an unclassified platform for storing and sharing releasable information with allies and partners and develops technically feasible patterns for moving approved data into JWICS through authorized cross-domain solutions. The Technical Lead defines the security, interface, data-governance, and operational constraints required for each implementation.
• The Technical Lead is based at the Pentagon and supports technical integration, testing, deployment, troubleshooting, and sustainment activities at Combatant Commands and other Government-directed locations. Routine domestic and international travel is required.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage, supervise, and lead the technical architecture for the PSP2 Agentic Network, including agent orchestration, model inference, data access, APIs, platform services, network boundaries, observability, and secure deployment patterns.
• Assess the technical suitability, performance, resilience, support model, and operational constraints of available JWICS hosting options and document recommended architecture patterns and implementation tradeoffs.
• Deploy and operate LLM inference and agentic AI services, including model-serving endpoints, prompt and policy controls, retrieval and tool-use integrations, scaling, performance tuning, monitoring, and failure recovery.
• Implement a dedicated unclassified platform for controlled storage, discovery, access, and sharing of releasable data with approved allies and partners.
• Analyze data flows between unclassified and JWICS environments; define data preparation, labeling, format, security, release, and interface requirements for movement through authorized cross-domain solutions.
• Develop technical designs, integration specifications, and proof-of-concept implementations for approved cross-domain data-transfer patterns without bypassing established security, release, or authorization processes.
• Implement application and platform observability, including health checks, logging, metrics, tracing, alerting, performance analysis, incident diagnostics, and operational dashboards.
• Perform technical hardening, integration testing, performance testing, security validation, and operational-readiness verification before release to users.
• Troubleshoot complex issues involving environment configuration, software dependencies, network connectivity, identity and access controls, interfaces, containerization, data pipelines, model inference, and deployment processes.
• Produce and maintain architecture diagrams, interface-control documentation, configuration baselines, runbooks, troubleshooting procedures, deployment instructions, and technical decision records.
• Evaluate architectural alternatives and clearly articulate technical tradeoffs involving security, reliability, performance, scalability, interoperability, maintainability, and cost.
• Provide technical evidence, configuration information, and architecture artifacts required to support cybersecurity, accreditation, and Authorization to Operate activities.
• Review technical implementations, establish engineering standards, and provide technical direction to developers and engineers working on the PSP2 Agentic Network.
• Provide on-site and remote technical support during integration, deployment, initial operational use, and stabilization periods.

Salary is commensurate with skillset, qualifications, experience, and educational background.

Salary Range: $125,000-145,000

General Description of Benefits

• U.S. Citizen.
• Current DoD Top Secret clearance with eligibility for access to Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI), with the ability to obtain and maintain required facility, system, enclave, and JWICS access.
• Active AWS Cloud and Security+ Certifications.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Software Engineering, Systems Engineering, Cybersecurity, or a related technical field is required. A master's degree is preferred.
• 5+ years of relevant professional experience supporting technical integration, deployment, test, fielding, or sustainment activities.
• Ability to work onsite at the Pentagon in Arlington, VA.
• Ability to attend meetings and program events in Fairfax, VA.
• Ability to travel <50% throughout the lifespan of the Program to CONUS/OCONUS customer sites and government installations.
• Demonstrated professional experience integrating, deploying, troubleshooting, or sustaining software, data, analytics, AI-enabled, or mission-platform capabilities within DoD, Intelligence Community, or other classified Government environments.
• Familiarity with the Maven Smart System and comparable CDAO, DoD, or Intelligence Community mission platforms.
• Experience integrating third-party software, data sources, models, agents, interfaces, or operational tools into an existing Government platform.
• Experience supporting technical integration and deployment across multiple security enclaves, including NIPR, SIPR, JWICS, or comparable classified environments.
• Experience troubleshooting complex technical issues involving environment configuration, software dependencies, network connectivity, access controls, interfaces, containerized applications, platform services, and deployment processes.
• Experience coordinating technical-readiness activities involving network or enclave access, credentials, user and service accounts, Government-furnished equipment and information, platform dependencies, and security or accreditation actions.
• Ability to identify and isolate the source of technical problems, distinguish Contractor-controlled issues from Government dependencies, recommend corrective actions, and document escalation rationale.
• Ability to operate within time-sensitive issue-resolution requirements and manage multiple technical blockers, dependencies, and deployment priorities simultaneously.
• Experience supporting software or platform hardening, integration testing, user acceptance testing, operational-readiness assessments, demonstrations, pilots, or fielding events.
• Understanding of technical and operational considerations associated with cross-domain deployment, classified data handling, system interfaces, access controls, and approved information-transfer paths.
• Ability to assess architectural, cybersecurity, sustainment, reliability, performance, and scalability implications of proposed technical approaches.
• Ability to analyze and document technically feasible data flows from unclassified environments to JWICS while preserving required security, release, and authorization controls.
• Experience documenting technical risks, dependencies, environment configurations, test results, defects, corrective actions, deployment status, and sustainment requirements.
• Ability to translate complex technical findings into clear operational impacts, decision points, and recommended actions for engineering teams, Government leads, and non-technical stakeholders.
• Proven ability to coordinate effectively across Government organizations, operational commands, engineering teams, vendors, network and security personnel, platform owners, and data owners.
• Strong written, verbal, briefing, and technical-documentation skills, including the ability to prepare issue summaries, readiness assessments, decision-support materials, technical procedures, and senior-leader briefings.
• Strong analytical, organizational, troubleshooting, risk-management, and stakeholder-coordination skills.
• Ability to work independently in a classified, multi-vendor, Government-led development environment with evolving priorities, compressed timelines, and mission-critical requirements.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications, collaboration platforms, issue-tracking tools, technical documentation repositories, and standard Government staff-coordination tools.
• Ability and willingness to perform routine domestic and international travel in support of site assessments, integration, testing, demonstrations, deployments, and initial operational use.
• Strong problem-solving and decision-making capabilities, with a proven ability to weigh the relative costs and benefits of potential actions and identify the most appropriate solution.
• Highly developed interpersonal and oral/written communication skills, with the ability to effectively and professionally interact with a diverse set of stakeholders (from peers to end-users to executive management).