Junior AI Engineer

Overview

JST is seeking an AI Engineer to help build a new AI-powered product from the ground up. The Engineer will use advanced AI development harnesses to move from product ideas to working software across the full stack, including cloud infrastructure, application services, data workflows, user interfaces, operational tooling, and software support.

This role is designed for a recent graduate of a technical master's or doctoral program who has strong engineering fundamentals and wants broad product ownership. You will work directly with the Head of AI Engineering, learning how to make sound architecture and product decisions while shipping useful, secure, and maintainable capabilities. You do not need to arrive as an expert in every layer of the stack.

This is a full-time remote, project-based position. You will report to the Head of AI Engineering and collaborate closely with product leaders, domain experts, designers, and other engineers through a distributed working environment. Joint Strategic Technologies's environment rewards practical experimentation, careful reasoning, and the willingness to work across conventional role boundaries. The team will expect you to use AI tools aggressively where they improve speed or quality, and to verify the result with the same care you would apply to code written by hand. JST offers a complete benefits package, a collaborative work environment, and strong company culture. Veterans and military spouses are encouraged to apply.

AI Engineer Responsibilities

• Use advanced AI coding and engineering harnesses to turn product requirements, prototypes, and technical designs into tested production software.
• Build complete product capabilities across cloud infrastructure, backend services, APIs, data pipelines, web applications, and user-facing experiences.
• Design agentic systems that can plan work, use tools, coordinate workflows, retain appropriate context, and automate repeatable product and operational tasks.
• Implement the controls that make AI systems dependable, including human approval points, permissions, evaluations, observability, failure handling, and cost and latency measurement.
• Work with product leaders and domain experts to understand real workflows, identify the smallest useful release, and refine the product from user feedback.
• Own vertical slices of the product from design through deployment and support, with guidance and review from the Head of AI Engineering.
• Evaluate models, prompting approaches, retrieval patterns, and tool-use designs against practical measures of quality, safety, speed, and cost.
• Write clear tests, technical documentation, runbooks, and support notes so that the product can be operated and improved by the broader team.
• Investigate software issues, improve reliability, and turn recurring support needs into better product behavior or safe automation.

What We Are Looking For

• A recently completed or soon-to-be-completed master's or doctoral degree in computer science, artificial intelligence, machine learning, software engineering, data science, robotics, human-computer interaction, or a closely related technical field.
• Strong programming fundamentals and practical experience in at least one modern language. Python, TypeScript, or JavaScript experience is especially relevant.
• A working understanding of APIs, databases, version control, testing, debugging, and the core concepts behind cloud or distributed applications.
• Evidence that you can take an ambiguous problem, break it into manageable steps, and finish a working project. Academic, research, startup, open-source, and professional projects all count.
• Clear written and verbal communication, intellectual curiosity, and comfort asking questions when requirements or evidence are incomplete.
• Good product judgment: you consider the user's workflow, usability, reliability, and support needs alongside the technical implementation.

Preferred Experience

• Two to three years of relevant industry experience. This is preferred rather than required; candidates with less experience and an unusually strong record of building and shipping will be considered.
• Exposure to product development through an engineering, research, design, startup, internship, co-op, or customer-facing project. A previous product-management title is not required.
• Hands-on work with large language models, retrieval-augmented generation, agent frameworks, tool calling, AI evaluations, or AI-assisted software-development workflows.
• Experience with a major cloud platform, infrastructure as code, serverless systems, containers, CI/CD, or production monitoring.
• Experience building modern web interfaces or collaborating on UX, design systems, accessibility, and user research.
• Interest in privacy, security, responsible AI, and the demands of enterprise or government software.

What Success Looks Like

• You ship useful product increments that work across the interface, application, data, and cloud layers.
• Your agentic automations save measurable time while preserving clear permissions, human oversight, and reliable failure paths.
• You use AI engineering tools with discipline, validating generated work through tests, review, and direct evidence.
• You learn the product and its users quickly, communicate tradeoffs clearly, and take on larger technical decisions as your judgment grows.
• You improve the product after release by following operational signals and support feedback back to their root causes.

Required Clearances and Screenings

• MUST be able to successfully pass a drug and background check

About Joint Strategic Technologies (JST)

No objective is beyond reach! Joint Strategic Technologies (JST) enables successful mission outcomes from the back office to the battlefield. Our team includes leading experts from military, government and the private sector, all working together to help federal customers make a difference. Our goal is to Elevate the Impact that our employees have on our customers and treat every employee as a valued member of our team. JST empowers employees to make decisions and take-action, thus improving overall organizational growth and employee development.

Culture isn't something you talk about. It's something you do. JST is committed to creating a positive environment 'that reaches beyond work and careers' to support every employee's professional and personal objectives.  JST values the well-being of every employee and encourages healthy lifestyles, family activities and community involvement.

JST is a proud equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without attention to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status. JST will not tolerate discrimination or harassment.