Senior AI/ML Engineer

The posting, as Pdwcareers wrote it

Performance Drone Works (PDW) is building the next generation of tactical robotic systems used across defense, national security, and public safety missions. We are building a new center of engineering excellence to design our new category of tactical robotic systems and the industrial capacity to deliver them, bringing decisive airpower into the hands of every operator. We are not here to make promises; we are here to deliver real systems with real capabilities for real missions.

You will join a team of operators, engineers, and builders who solve hard problems with humility and focus. We design and produce multi-mission aerial systems that operators trust to perform in real-world conditions, reliably, repeatedly, and at scale. Our approach is grounded in operator-centered design, rapid iteration from field use, and U.S.-based manufacturing. We operate by a clear set of values: Mission First, Aim Farther, Own It, Win Together. This is how we build advantage and how we help protect our service members, our communities, and our country.

Now, we’re entering a new phase of growth and are looking for a Senior AI/ML Engineer to serve as PDW's senior technical leader for enterprise AI—helping define our AI strategy, architecture, and technical roadmap while remaining hands-on in building and scaling the capabilities that put that vision into production.

What You’ll Do

• Serve as PDW's senior technical authority for enterprise AI/ML, partnering with technology leadership to shape the AI strategy, architecture, technical roadmap, engineering standards, and investment priorities—and taking hands-on ownership of turning that direction into working capabilities.
• Design and implement AI orchestration and control capabilities including model routing, authentication and authorization, policy enforcement, observability, usage tracking, cost management, and auditability.
• Build production retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) solutions, including ingestion pipelines, chunking, embeddings, vector search, retrieval, reranking, and generation across structured and unstructured enterprise data.
• Develop AI agents and agentic workflows that securely interact with enterprise applications, APIs, data sources, and business processes while respecting underlying identity and authorization boundaries.
• Partner with Engineering, Manufacturing, IT, Cybersecurity, and business teams to identify high-value AI opportunities, rapidly prototype solutions, evaluate technical feasibility, and transition successful concepts into production.
• Develop repeatable model evaluation and benchmarking frameworks to compare models and architectures based on quality, accuracy, latency, reliability, security, and cost using PDW-specific workloads.
• Design, build, and operate production AI/ML applications, APIs, data pipelines, evaluation frameworks, and supporting infrastructure using modern software engineering, CI/CD, and MLOps practices.
• Evaluate and optimize AI work

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climb, and move about regularly throughout the day and lift / carry up to 25 pounds. Must have manual dexterity to operate standard office and computer equipment. Must be physically capable of occasionally assisting with the setup, movement, and installation of computer, networking, development, or GPU computing equipment.

Work Environment
This is a hybrid position with regular on-site presence and typically operates in a standard office environment and within PDW facilities that house engineering and manufacturing operations. This role requires the use of standard office and computing equipment and close cross-departmental collaboration with both independent and team-based responsibilities. Occasional travel between PDW sites, partner locations, industry events, or other business locations may be required. Standard work hours are PDW's core business hours, with availability outside those hours as needed for significant production AI platform incidents or operational priorities.

Benefits
PDW values our team, and we offer a compensation package reflective of your experience and capabilities. Benefits include:

• Comprehensive BCBS medical, dental, and vision coverage; 80% sponsored by the company.
• Safe Harbor 401(K) with company match.
• Paid Parental Leave.
• On-site gym at our Huntsville, AL and Denver, CO locations.
• Employer provided life insurance.
• Robust Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
• A work environment that encourages teamwork and innovation.
• Competitive salary, generous paid time off (PTO), and flexible leave options.

EEO Statement
PDW is an equal opportunity employer that upholds all federal and state non-discrimination laws. We ensure a fair and unbiased evaluation for employment for all qualified candidates regardless of race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, marital status, medical condition, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.