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Applied AI Engineer

  • Columbia, MD

Applied AI Engineer

An active TS//SCI clearance with polygraph is required for this role



👋🏼 Hey!

Bitwise is a leading provider of mission-focused intelligence solutions that advance national security for the Intelligence Community and Department of Defense. We're a small and growing company, so you can expect to hop in on the ground floor with us and be a consequential member of the team. You'll be more than a contract performer for us — you'll also be asked for ideas to improve our company and improve your career, and you'll contribute to our team culture. We value growth and community above almost all else, so we gather regularly for game nights, happy hours, tech talks, and plenty more. We think you'll like it here!

Remember, Bitwise is not a cult. 🖖🏼

🎯 What We Look For

Bitwise hires talented engineers who are driven by purpose and who value a culture of technical excellence, growth, and overall wellness. We deliver new and innovative intelligence solutions to our customers at the very forefront of our country's national security missions. And we do it every single day. Our work matters, and so will you.

We ask that every new hire be able to:

  • Contribute meaningful thought leadership — if not right away, over time
  • Interact with our customers and earn their confidence in your abilities
  • Be detailed, even if that means taking a little more time to get it right
  • Contribute their ideas and ideals to improve all aspects of our company
  • Allow us to invest in their education so we both grow together
  • Know and live our core values every single day

💡 About this Role

You'll lead forward-deployed engagements with operations customers, working directly with operators and analysts to identify where AI can save the most time and deliver solutions from prototype to production. As a senior Applied AI Engineer, you'll architect and build agentic systems in Python that connect large language models, enterprise AI platforms, and operational tools to mission data sources. You'll design guardrails for autonomous agents—including scoped permissions, human approval gates, and audit logging—so agents can act safely on operational systems. You'll build evaluation suites with mission users to measure accuracy, reliability, and failure modes, and use those results to decide when capabilities are ready to field.

You'll evaluate new models, frameworks, and AI design patterns for fit against mission problems and brief findings and tradeoffs to technical and government leadership. You'll use AI coding agents in your daily development work and help define team standards for reviewing, testing, and validating AI-generated code. You'll mentor engineers through design reviews, code reviews, and pairing, and lead technical design discussions for your project area. Throughout, you'll communicate progress, risks, and tradeoffs to project leads and government stakeholders, shaping how AI is fielded across operations and growing into project leadership.

📋 Requirements

  • 12+ years of relevant experience with a B.S. in a technical discipline, or 16+ years of relevant experience without a degree
  • Extensive professional software engineering experience with advanced Python proficiency, including production services, APIs, and data pipelines that users depend on
  • Experience building LLM applications or agentic systems that use tool/function calling, structured outputs, context management, and multi-step workflows
  • Experience working directly with end users or mission customers to turn ambiguous operational problems into delivered software
  • Experience designing tests, evaluations, or validation layers for AI or other non-deterministic systems
  • Experience using AI coding assistants or agents (e.g., Claude Code, Codex, Copilot) for code generation, refactoring, and debugging, with the review discipline to own and explain everything they produce
  • Technical leadership experience, such as serving as tech lead, leading design decisions, or mentoring engineers
  • Experience with Git, CI/CD pipelines (GitLab preferred), Docker/Kubernetes, and Atlassian tools (Jira, Confluence)
  • Strong written and verbal communication with technical and non-technical audiences

🌟 Preferred Skills

  • Experience with Model Context Protocol (MCP), Skills, subagents, or multi-agent orchestration frameworks such as PydanticAI or LangGraph
  • Experience securing LLM applications against prompt injection, data leakage, and over-permissioned tool access
  • Experience with retrieval systems (RAG, vector databases, Elasticsearch)
  • Experience building spec-driven or autonomous development pipelines with AI coding agents
  • Prior forward-deployed or embedded customer-facing engineering experience
  • Experience with production CNO capabilities and operations, or knowledge of end-to-end SIGINT collection and analysis systems

🏝️ Benefits at Bitwise

  • Top salaries because we're top performers
  • Pick your PTO — Everyone values time and money differently, so we give you the flexibility to choose between 3 and 5 weeks of PTO with a corresponding adjustment to your pay. Your choice, your balance.
  • All 11 federal holidays, paid!
  • Up to 2 snow days, paid!
  • We'll quadruple (4x!) the first 6% you contribute to your 401(k), giving you up to a 24% company match. Contributing less than 6%? Unclaimed matches come right back to you as extra income, giving you a guaranteed 24% that goes to your retirement, to your paycheck, or both. C'mon now! 🚀
  • 100% employer-paid medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurances. That's a lot. Already covered on health insurance? No problem — we'll trade you this benefit for a boost to your salary instead.
  • $5,250 annual education assistance for training, certifications, tuition, and even student loan repayments.
  • Spot bonuses for obtained certifications, customer recognition, and just about anything else that makes us go "Hot damn!". We hope to say that many times about you. 🔥

💰 Salary Range

$282,000 – $332,000

This range includes our flex income and depends upon your annual work hours.

Salary is determined on an individual basis following the interview process and considering various factors such as years of experience, skills, education, and certifications.

🛎️ What to Expect After Applying

You'll get an email from us right away to acknowledge your application. After that, we'll:

  • Send over additional company materials for you to review
  • Schedule a video call to talk about you, our company, and your place in it
  • Craft a delightful offer package for you and record a video walkthrough
  • Work closely with you through onboarding. We'll keep it joyful and easy.

ℹ️ Disclaimers

Bitwise is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected status. All employment decisions are based on qualifications, merit, and business needs.

Compensation for this position, including all compensation options, will be determined on an individual basis following the interview process.

If you require accommodations at any stage of the application or interview process, please reach out to us.