Principal Agentic AI Full Stack Software Engineer

Description

The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of a larger IT firm and delivers agile IT and intelligence solutions, combining small-team flexibility with global scale.

The role sits on the AI team in Crystal City, VA, and covers the design, deployment and upkeep of an AI analytics stack: analytic frontends, production APIs, interfaces between AI workflow components, and the data layer.

You will be a core member of the AI team, prototyping and delivering data analytics capabilities and turning emerging AI and machine learning concepts into dependable, user-focused software that supports mission outcomes.

The work supports the largest government agency in the nation, advancing its mission to keep the country safe and secure.

The team is hiring at the principal level.

Responsibilities

• Write clean, maintainable and efficient Python that follows accepted best practices and coding standards.
• Lead the technical design and build of AI-enabled web apps and analytics in Streamlit, React or similar tools.
• Connect AI and large language model features into applications and workflows, using prompting, tool calling, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and related patterns.
• Design and build APIs, including FastAPI services, so systems can talk to each other reliably.
• Build and maintain interfaces that make complex AI, data and analytics features easy for end users to work with.
• Set up and maintain CI/CD pipelines and container-based deployments, for example with Docker, so builds are repeatable and releases are dependable.
• Work with PostgreSQL and MySQL databases, keeping data accurate, fast and efficient.
• Maintain version control in Git to support teamwork and code management.
• Work with cross-functional teams to define, design, build, test and ship new features.
• Take part in every stage of the software lifecycle, from concept and design through testing, deployment and ongoing support.

Requirements

• Strong Python skills, with clean, maintainable and efficient code.
• Experience building AI-enabled web apps, analytics dashboards or user workflows with Streamlit or similar tools.
• Solid knowledge of web technologies, containers, RESTful APIs and user interface development.
• Experience designing and maintaining scalable backends with Python frameworks.
• Familiarity with relational databases such as PostgreSQL and MySQL.
• Proficiency with Docker. Kubernetes experience is a plus.
• Proficiency with Git and collaborative development workflows.
• Hands-on full stack development experience and a firm grasp of the software development lifecycle.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• 8+ years of related experience.
• Current TS/SCI clearance, with an active or obtainable CI polygraph required.
• US citizenship required. Only US citizens are eligible, due to US Government contract requirements.
• Optional: Experience developing modern front-end applications with React.
• Optional: Hands-on experience designing or building LLM-powered agentic workflows that use tool calling, structured outputs, task planning and multi-step execution.
• Optional: Familiarity with component-based UI development, state management and reusable front-end patterns.
• Optional: Experience connecting React frontends to RESTful APIs or Python backend services.
• Optional: Experience supporting AI, machine learning, data analytics or mission-focused software.
• Optional: Familiarity with cloud-native development, DevSecOps or secure software delivery environments.
• Optional: Experience building reliable AI workflows with validation, error handling, retries, logging and fallback strategies.
• Optional: Understanding of MLOps, including model registry and versioning, reproducible environments and CI/CD for ML-enabled systems.

Conditions

Onsite in Arlington, VA (Crystal City), with optional travel within the continental US, about 10-25% of the time.

Full-time, scheduled at 40 hours per week.

Salary is likely to fall between $142,800 and $193,200, based on experience, location and possibly contract terms. It is not a guarantee and may fall outside this range.

Identity verification using biometrics and AI is part of hiring, and you must be on camera for virtual interviews.

The company is an equal opportunity employer that welcomes individuals with disabilities and protected veterans.

Benefits

• Medical plans, some with Health Savings Accounts, plus dental and vision plans.
• 401(k) with pre-tax and post-tax contributions up to IRS limits and a company match.
• Full flex work weeks where possible, and paid time off for vacation, sick and personal days, holidays, parental, military, bereavement and jury duty leave.
• Short and long-term disability, life, accidental death and dismemberment, personal accident, critical illness and business travel accident insurance, provided or available.
• An AI-powered career tool for planning next steps and learning, plus an internal mobility team.
• Competitive pay and a military-friendly workplace with an award-winning culture of innovation.