Senior Applied AI Engineer
Location: Columbia, MD
Clearance Required: TS/SCI with Fullscope Polygraph
Kryptauri, a driving force for allied defense information superiority, is building an elite team to innovate AI capabilities with national security implications. We're currently seeking a Senior Applied AI Engineer to help redefine how AI is used in cyber operations. You'll be embedded with mission teams, building resilient, production-grade AI systems that operate under real-world pressure. If you've ever shipped AI to production and lived to tell the tale, we want to hear from you. Experience and Degree Requirements
12 years of software engineering experience.
Bachelor's degree in a technical discipline (or 4 additional years of experience in lieu of a degree).
What You'll Do
Design and deploy scalable, fault-tolerant AI systems for cyber operations.
Build orchestration frameworks that coordinate multiple AI models and tools.
Develop robust model control plane (MCP) server infrastructure.
Create advanced prompt engineering strategies tailored to complex operational scenarios.
Build resilient API layers that handle model failures and edge cases gracefully.
Rapidly prototype new capabilities while maintaining production-quality standards.
Mentor junior engineers and contribute to a high-performance engineering culture.
Lead architectural decisions that balance innovation with operational reliability.
Drive technical discussions on AI capabilities, limitations, and strategic use cases.
Deliver proof-of-concepts that demonstrate breakthrough capabilities.
What You Bring
12+ years of software engineering experience, with deep expertise in Python.
Proven experience deploying AI-powered applications in production environments.
Strong knowledge of modern AI architectures (agents, RAG, chains, function calling).
Hands-on experience integrating multiple AI services and managing failure modes.
Experience with MCP servers or similar model-serving infrastructure.
Advanced prompt engineering skills with real-world results.
Expertise in building distributed systems and managing asynchronous workflows.
Deep understanding of AI model behavior, limitations, and provider ecosystems.
Excellent debugging skills, especially for non-deterministic AI behavior.
A track record of solving novel technical problems without existing playbooks.
Extra Boost
Experience applying AI to cybersecurity or intelligence missions.
Contributions to open-source AI frameworks or tools.
Experience fine-tuning models for specialized domains.
Background in developer tools or platform engineering.
Knowledge of adversarial AI and AI system security.
Published research or conference talks on applied AI.
Leadership in ambiguous, high-impact technical initiatives.
Active engagement in the AI engineering community.