Lead AI Engineer (Agentic AI)
Pittsburgh (onsite)
$230,000 + 30% bonus + benefits
A fast-scaling AI company in the national security space is hiring a Lead AI Engineer to help evolve a production AI agent from a knowledge-retrieval assistant into a truly agentic system that can run workflows, use tools, and proactively support real customer operations.
This is a hands-on technical leadership role on a small, high-ownership team. You’ll be building real systems used by real customers, not prototypes.
What you’ll work on
- Lead day-to-day technical execution for an AI agent platform (LLM + tools + workflows)
- Build agent behaviors that are proactive, reactive, and workflow-driven
- Ship production-grade features that integrate deeply into a customer-facing application
- Partner closely with engineers in-person to solve ambiguous problems quickly
What they’re looking for
- Strong software engineering fundamentals with proven ownership
- Experience building and shipping production systems (AI/ML exposure is a plus, not a requirement)
- Comfort working with modern LLM tooling and agent frameworks
- A builder mindset: curiosity, speed, and ability to take projects from 0→1
Requirements (non-negotiable)
- US Citizen
- Must hold or be willing to obtain security clearance
- 100% onsite in Pittsburgh, PA (some travel to DC may be required)
Interview process
- Recruiter screen
- Hiring manager deep dive
- Take-home project using real data
- Onsite final loop (technical + values + leadership expectations)
Compensation
Includes bonus + equity (details shared during process).
