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# Senior AI Engineer

- **Company:** Aperio Global, Llc
- **Location:** Fort Meade, MD, United States
- **Experience:** Expert
- **Salary:** $127,000.0 - $200,000.0
- **Contract:** Permanent contract
- **Skills:** Agile Methodology, Artificial Intelligence, Systems Engineering, Confluence, JIRA, Audit Trail, Automation of Tests, Profiling, Continuous Integration, Information Engineering, Python (Programming Language), Meta-Data Management, Retrieval-Augmented Generation, Large Language Models, Git, OpenAI Codex
- **Published:** October 30, 2026
- **Apply:** https://startup.jobs/ai-engineer-ts-sci-with-polygraph-is-required-aperio-global-10625686

## About the Role

* Bachelor's degree plus 5 years (SWE2) or 8 years (SWE3) of relevant experience, or equivalent
 * Proficiency in Python, LLM integration, and data engineering
 * Experience with static analyzers and RAG frameworks
 * Experience with both relational and vector databases
 * Familiarity with Agile methodologies, Git, Jira, and Confluence
 * Active TS/SCI + Polygraph

Nice to Have:

 * Familiarity with Rust
 * Experience with Claude Code or OpenAI Codex
 * CI/CD pipeline design and maintenance
 * Hands-on experience deploying AI tools within classified or air-gapped environments
 * Performance profiling and scalability optimization in networked AI systems

## Description

Aperio Global is seeking an AI Engineers across multiple experience levels to support our AI & Emerging Technologies (AI&ET) mission. Engineers at all levels will work closely with mission stakeholders to capture requirements, aid in structured planning, and improve the certification process by introducing AI/ML tooling.

You will use AI/ML to develop tools and techniques - including fine-tuning Large Language Models (LLMs) - that assist in enhanced vulnerability identification and mitigation capabilities. This role sits at the intersection of applied AI research and national security, deploying cutting-edge tooling within classified secure enclaves.

Mission Focus:

 * Design, develop, and maintain LLM orchestration frameworks that coordinate static analyzers, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems, and automated testing pipelines
 * Develop and optimize data preprocessing pipelines to ingest, clean, transform, and vectorize product documentation, source code, and test results for LLM consumption
 * Design and implement database solutions to support RAG architectures, artifact storage, audit trails, and metadata management

Technical Proficiency:

 * Collaborate with systems engineers to architect and deploy networked AI tools within secure enclaves
 * Conduct performance profiling, optimization, and scalability analysis of mission systems
 * Support security assessments and Authority to Operate (ATO) processes
 * Collaborate closely with technical leadership on system design decisions and roadmap planning, The AI & Emerging Technologies (AI&ET) team is at the forefront of applying artificial intelligence to national security challenges. Our engineers work in a fast-paced, collaborative environment on problems that directly impact mission outcomes. We value intellectual curiosity, technical depth, and a commitment to responsible AI development.