AI Lead Engineer

AI Lead Engineer

Charleston, SC

Position Overview

We are seeking an AI Lead Engineer who combines strong hands-on technical ability with emerging leadership and product instincts. This role is ideal for someone who has worked in a startup or fast-paced environment, understands how AI systems move from prototype to real-world deployment, and is ready to grow into a team leadership position.

You will initially operate as a primary contributor, designing models, building training pipelines, and delivering AI-driven features, while helping shape the technical direction of our AI efforts. As products mature, you will take on increasing responsibility for mentoring junior engineers and building a small, high-performing team.

Key Responsibilities

Hands-On AI Development

• Design, build, and train machine learning and deep learning models (CNNs, transformers, RL, etc.)
• Develop scalable training pipelines and data processing workflows
• Work across the stack: data ingestion, model development, evaluation, and deployment
• Build and maintain AI systems (backend and, where applicable, user-facing interfaces)

Applied Product Development

• Translate AI capabilities into deployable features aligned with business needs
• Balance model performance with real-world constraints (latency, cost, reliability)
• Collaborate with stakeholders to prioritize features and iterate quickly
• Contribute to system architecture decisions as products evolve

Emerging Technical Leadership

• Provide guidance and informal mentorship to junior engineers
• Help establish coding standards, experimentation practices, and development workflows
• Participate in hiring as the team grows
• Gradually take ownership of technical direction for AI initiatives

R&D and Innovation

• Explore and prototype new approaches, including novel neural network architectures
• Apply advanced statistical inference and predictive modeling techniques
• Support exploration of emerging domains such as remote sensing, autonomy, or SBIRS-like systems
• Stay current with advancements in deep learning and applied AI

Collaboration & Execution

• Work within an Agile framework, contributing to sprint planning and regular updates
• Collaborate cross-functionally to support company growth through AI capabilities
• Maintain clear documentation of models, systems, and experiments

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Mathematical Sciences, Data Analytics, or related field

• US Citizen with ability to obtain Secret Security Clearance

• 3-7 years of experience in AI/ML development (industry or applied research)

• Strong programming skills in Python (C++ / Rust / JavaScript a plus)

• Experience with deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow

• Solid foundation in:

• Machine learning and deep learning (CNNs, RNNs, transformers)

• Statistical inference (Frequentist and Bayesian methods)

• Data processing and normalization techniques

• Experience building and training models on real-world datasets (not just academic exercises)

• Familiarity with version control systems (e.g., Azure DevOps, Git)

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in a startup or fast-paced product environment

• Exposure to deploying models into production environments

• Familiarity with MLOps concepts (model versioning, monitoring, pipelines)

• Experience with image processing (OpenCV, Pillow) and structured/unstructured data

• Knowledge of:

• Advanced mathematics (e.g., tensor calculus, graph theory)

• Data storage systems (relational and non-relational databases)

• Interest or experience in defense, remote sensing, or space-based systems

What We're Looking For

• Someone who enjoys both building and leading
• Comfortable with ambiguity and wearing multiple hats
• Able to connect technical decisions to business outcomes
• Motivated by growth into a future leadership role

Growth Path

This role is designed to evolve into a formal leadership position. As our AI capabilities and product portfolio expand, you will have the opportunity to:

• Build and lead a small AI team
• Own major technical initiatives end-to-end
• Contribute to product and R&D strategy