Applied AI Tech Lead - ACG / AEA in Springfield, Virginia at Connected Logistics

Contingent Contract Award

6 month opportunity

Remote

Springfield, VA

Connected Logistics is seeking Applied AI Tech Lead to be the technical authority over AI/ML architecture, integration, and governance within a controlled DevSecOps environment. The AI Tech Lead will own design and implementation of retrieval-augmented generation(RAG), model lifecycle management, and secure integration of AI capabilities into enterprise workflows and pipelines.

Key Responsibilities:

• Architect end-to-end AI/ML solutions, including RAG pipelines, embedding strategies, vector indexing, and inference workflows.
• Define and implement model lifecycle controls: versioning, evaluation, audit logging, traceability, and rollback.
• Design secure integration patterns across AWS, Azure, Salesforce, and Azure DevOps.
• Establish governance aligned to RMF constraints, including PII/CUI handling, prompt control, and usage auditing.
• Define model evaluation frameworks (precision/recall, relevance scoring, latency, SLA adherence).
• Implement monitoring for model performance, drift detection, and data quality degradation.
• Oversee CI/CD integration for model deployment, retraining, and rollback.
• Lead root-cause analysis and triage automation architecture (classification, similarity search, SLA prediction).
• Review and enforce coding standards for ML pipelines, APIs, and data flows.
• Mentor engineers and direct technical execution across data, model, and integration layers.

• Minimum 10 years’ experience in AI/ML engineering, data science, or distributed systems development.
• Master’s degree required (no exceptions) in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or related field.
• Must have an Active Public Trust clearance or higher.
• Must have been issued a CAC by another government client in the last 24 months.
• Deep experience with RAG architectures (embeddings, vector DBs, retrieval optimization).
• Strong Python proficiency and experience building production ML services and APIs.
• Experience with ML frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow, scikit-learn) and LLM integration patterns.
• Hands-on experience with cloud-native architectures (AWS and/or Azure)
• Experience integrating AI components into CI/CD pipelines (build, test, deploy).
• Experience working in regulated or secured environments with audit and compliance requirements.

Must have Skill Sets (Technical + Methodologies)

RAG Architecture (hands-on experience)

• Embeddings (OpenAI, HF, or similar)
• Vector databases (Pinecone, OpenSearch, FAISS, or equivalent)
• Retrieval tuning (top-k, re-ranking, grounding strategies)

LLM Integration Patterns

• Prompt engineering with versioning/control
• Context window optimization
• Guardrails and response validation

Model Lifecycle Management

• Model versioning and registry concepts
• Evaluation frameworks (precision/recall, relevance scoring)
• Drift detection and performance monitoring

Cloud-Native Architecture (must be hands-on)

• AWS (Lambda, S3, Bedrock/SageMaker) and/or Azure (ML, Functions, Storage)
• Secure service-to-service integration patterns
• API-first design

DevSecOps Integration

• CI/CD pipelines (Azure DevOps, Git-based workflows)
• Automated testing for ML systems
• Deployment strategies (blue/green, rollback)

Data + ML Pipeline Integration

• End-to-end flow: ingestion to transformation to embedding to retrieval to inference.
• Handling structured + unstructured data in production systems.

Security & Governance Implementation

• PII/CUI handling-in pipelines
• Audit logging and traceability design
• Access control patterns for ML systems

System Design for Enterprise Workflows

• Event-driven and microservices architecture
• Integration into existing systems (e.g., Salesforce, ticketing systems)
• High - availability / low - latency design

Total Rewards Statement

We believe in fairness and clarity throughout our hiring process. The anticipated salary range for this position is $160,000.00 to $170,000.00 USD. This is a good-faith range based on factors such as your experience, geographic location, and any applicable contractual requirements, and may vary slightly.

Beyond salary, we provide a robust benefits package and encourage ongoing professional development, because your growth and well-being matter to us. We’re excited to support you in building a rewarding career with us!

Connected Logistics respects the need for confidentiality for all applicants.

Connected Logistics offers an excellent benefits package that includes health, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance, a great 401(k) package, and generous Paid Time Off.

EOE/Disability/Veterans