Senior Platform Engineer (FedD239)
About this role
Defense Unicorns requires a senior platform engineer to solve the complex challenge of transitioning AI concepts and prototypes into secure, reliable, and repeatable agentic capabilities within government environments. This role bridges the gap between emerging artificial intelligence and practical operations by embedding directly with a government team and its technology partners to build an AI-powered engineering ecosystem.
The chosen engineer will design, integrate, and operationalize multi-agent workflows while balancing the capabilities and limitations of modern machine learning systems. Day-to-day responsibilities involve working across large language models, agent frameworks, enterprise data, APIs, and developer tooling to turn concepts into mission-relevant workflows. Ideal candidates possess a hands-on engineering background combined with the ability to prototype rapidly, evaluate performance rigorously, and collaborate effectively with platform engineers and commercial partners in secure settings.
What you will do
- Design and build integrated AI agents and multi-agent workflows using modern large language models and agent frameworks.
- Develop agent capabilities that securely interact with enterprise applications, APIs, data sources, and developer tools.
- Implement evaluation and testing frameworks to measure agent accuracy, reliability, safety, latency, cost, and task completion.
- Collaborate with platform engineers to operationalize AI workloads within Kubernetes and OpenShift environments.
- Troubleshoot technical issues across models, agent frameworks, APIs, networking, identity, and infrastructure.
- Establish reusable patterns for agent deployment, configuration, observability, evaluation, and lifecycle management.
What you need
- Possess an active TS/SCI clearance.
- Demonstrate hands-on experience building applications or systems using large language models and generative AI.
- Show proven experience in designing and implementing AI agents or agentic workflows.
- Bring strong programming proficiency in Python or another modern programming language.
- Have experience integrating AI systems with APIs, enterprise applications, databases, and external tools.
- Understand software engineering fundamentals including testing, version control, APIs, debugging, and system design.
Nice to have
- Experience with MCP (Model Context Protocol) and tool-based agent architectures.
- Familiarity with Red Hat OpenShift AI or Kubernetes-based AI platforms.
- Experience deploying AI systems in Secret or TS/SCI environments.
- Familiarity with UDS, Zarf, Pepr, Iron Bank, or similar secure software delivery technologies.
Skills and tech stack
Questions candidates ask
What is the remote policy and location for this job?
The position is listed as Remote - USA. Full compensation ranges are established using national benchmarking data and apply across all geographic locations within the United States.
What is the salary range for this role?
The salary range for this position is $148,750 to $201,250 USD. Full compensation packages are based on candidate experience.
What clearance level is required?
Candidates must hold an active TS/SCI clearance. This is required for embedding with the government team and operating within secure enterprise environments.
The application is on the official Defense Unicorns careers page.
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