Senior AI/ML Engineer

Peraton is seeking a highly skilled Senior AI/ML Engineer to lead the design, development, and deployment of advanced AI/ML solutions that accelerate automation and operational efficiency. This role requires deep expertise in large language models (LLMs), generative AI, and agentic workflows to architect secure, scalable, and high-impact solutions in mission-focused environments.

The ideal candidate brings hands-on technical depth, strong architectural judgment, and the ability to translate complex AI capabilities into practical business outcomes.

What You Will Do

• Lead the design and implementation of generative AI solutions, including rapid prototypes and production pilots.
• Architect and deploy agent-based LLM workflows with structured outputs, multi-agent orchestration, tool integration, and validation mechanisms.
• Perform end-to-end data engineering and analysis (exploratory, predictive, statistical) using Python, R, and SQL; develop dashboards and visualizations to communicate insights.
• Apply modern software engineering practices (Git, CI/CD, DevSecOps) to transition AI models from development to secure production environments.
• Translate mission and business requirements into scalable technical designs; effectively communicate AI concepts to non-technical stakeholders.
• Integrate AI-driven automation with enterprise systems, APIs, and databases.
• Develop reusable frameworks, best practices, and toolkits to enable enterprise-wide AI adoption.
• Ensure compliance with data security, privacy, and ethical AI standards; implement guardrails, monitoring, and responsible AI controls.
• Mentor engineers and data scientists; contribute to documentation, knowledge sharing, and AI governance practices.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree with 12+ years of experience, Master’s with 10+ years, or PhD with 7+ years in Computer Science, Engineering, Physics, Mathematics, or related STEM discipline
• US Citizenship required; must have the ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust clearance.
• Demonstrated experience building, deploying, and optimizing AI/ML solutions in production environments.
• Hands-on experience designing agentic AI architectures and autonomous workflows.
• Strong programming proficiency in Python; experience with C/C++ or JavaScript is a plus.
• Experience integrating and consuming APIs from state-of-the-art LLM providers.
• Demonstrated expertise in prompt engineering, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), model fine-tuning, and evaluation techniques.
• Familiarity with modern development environments and tool chains (e.g., Visual Studio Code, Git-based workflows).

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with ML frameworks such as TensorFlow or PyTorch.
• Experience with advanced data science techniques using R.
• Familiarity with agent development frameworks and emerging interoperability standards such as Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol (MCP).
• Experience leveraging AI coding assistants (e.g., GitHub Copilot, Microsoft Copilot, Claude Code capabilities) to accelerate development workflows.
• Experience working with platforms such as Azure OpenAI, GPT models, Claude, or Gemini.
• Relevant certifications (AWS Machine Learning Specialty, Azure AI Engineer Associate, Google Professional ML Engineer, DeepLearning.AI certifications).