Principal AI Engineer Software

Description

The company's Systems Engineering Integration & Test (SEIT) department needs a Principal AI Software Engineer to support the development, integration and deployment of advanced AI-enabled software.

You will work on-site at Spectrum Center in San Diego, in a fast-moving team alongside physicists, design engineers and superconducting foundry engineers who turn the company's technologies into working hardware and systems.

The role is based on-site, and no relocation assistance is available. A Secret clearance is required, but it is not needed to start. Travel is 10% of the time.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, integrate and maintain AI-enabled software products and supporting systems in both cloud and local or on-premises environments.
• Turn mission, customer and business needs into technical solutions that are secure, scalable and easy to maintain.
• Spot gaps in systems, workflows or architecture, and build improvements on your own that raise performance, reliability, security or efficiency.
• Harden full-stack solutions, covering infrastructure, platforms, applications, data flows and development pipelines.
• Assess, adapt and use open-source technologies safely to speed delivery without lowering engineering or security standards.
• Work across software, cyber, networking, DevOps and systems engineering to deliver end-to-end solutions.
• Run technical trade studies, solution analyses and architecture reviews to support sound engineering decisions.
• Share technical approaches, risks, status and results with leadership, stakeholders and teams across the organization.
• Bring in new research, tools and practices when they deliver measurable value.
• Mentor engineers, help grow the team's technical skills, and push execution toward program and business goals.
• Influence technical direction and present to senior leadership.

Requirements

• A bachelor's degree in computer science, software engineering or a related STEM field with 5 years of relevant experience, or 3 years with a master's degree, or 1 year with a PhD.
• Current DoD 8570 IAT Level II certification (Security+) or higher.
• You must be a US citizen.
• A current, active DoD Secret clearance.
• Experience building or deploying AI/ML applications for practical or operational use.
• Experience building or integrating AI/ML applications into operational or production environments.
• Experience securing end-to-end systems, including infrastructure, applications, data, interfaces and deployment pipelines.
• Experience leading technical work across several engineering disciplines and guiding teams through implementation.
• Experience recognising when AI is the wrong tool and proposing a better engineering option.
• Experience explaining technical concepts and program information to a wide range of audiences.
• Working knowledge of cyber security, networking, DevOps, systems engineering or platform engineering.
• Experience evaluating and adopting open-source frameworks, models or tools in a secure, supportable way.
• Familiarity with modern delivery practices such as CI/CD, containerization, automation and infrastructure or platform operations.
• A record of delivering measurable business or mission value through cost savings, productivity gains, force multiplication or new capabilities.
• Experience mentoring engineers and supporting technical development within a team.
• Experience influencing technical direction, presenting to senior leadership and working across organizations.
• Optional: experience assessing AI/ML approaches against data quality, data volume, compute limits, security requirements and deployment constraints.
• Optional: experience with GPU optimization, distributed inference or deployment in constrained compute environments.
• Optional: experience integrating AI into larger end-to-end systems.
• Optional: experience integrating AI into secure or regulated environments.

Conditions

Full-time on-site role at Spectrum Center, San Diego.

Travel is required for 10% of the time.

Base salary range is $137,800.00 to $206,800.00. Final pay depends on scope, responsibilities, experience, education, skills and current market conditions.

The application window is estimated at 20 days from the posting date, but it may close earlier or later depending on business needs and candidate availability.

The company is an equal-opportunity employer.

Benefits

• Possible eligibility for overtime, shift differential and a discretionary bonus, which rewards individual contributions and shares company results.
• Vice President and Director roles may be eligible for Long Term Incentives.
• Health insurance, life and disability insurance, a savings plan, company-paid holidays and paid time off for vacation or personal business.