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Lead AI Engineer / Cedar Rapids, IA / Contract / R&D Team

Motion Recruitment Partners, LLCCedar Rapids, IA🇺🇸United States

Why this role stands out

Step into a pivotal role leading AI innovation for a global aerospace leader, where you'll architect and deploy cutting-edge enterprise AI solutions while mentoring a talented engineering team. This opportunity is perfect for a hands-on technical leader passionate about solving complex challenges and driving the future of AI in a highly respected industry. You will have the chance to significantly impact critical systems and grow your expertise in a challenging yet rewarding environment.

Quick overview

SeniorityMid Senior
Work modeOn Site
LocationCedar Rapids, IA, United States
RoboticsAgileComputer VisionC++GoLLMPython

Job description

A global leader in aerospace and defense technology is hiring for a Contract Lead AI Engineer in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The company is developing advanced avionics, communications, and mission critical systems used across commercial and military aviation. They're known for innovation, long product lifecycles, and solving highly complex technical challenges where reliability and certification requirements are critical.
In this role, you will lead a small team of approximately 4-7 engineers within a larger organization of roughly 50-60 technical professionals. They're looking for a mentor and technical leader who can guide engineers while remaining deeply involved in architecture, experimentation, development, and deployment. You'd be focused on designing, building, and scaling enterprise AI solutions. The role requires someone who understands AI beyond simple API integrations and has experience evaluating models, optimizing prompts and token usage, building production-grade workflows, and making technical decisions around AI architecture.
Required Skills & Experience
  • Experience mentoring or leading teams of 4-7
  • Python FS Engineering experience LLMs, prompt engineering, RAG token optimization, and AI architecture
  • Experience building and deploying production AI systems
  • Builder mentality with a desire to stay hands-on technically
Desired Skills & Experience
  • Go/Golang experience
  • C/C++
  • LangChain, LangGraph, or similar AI frameworks
  • Agentic workflow development
  • Enterprise AI deployment experience
  • Computer vision experience
  • Aerospace, defense, robotics, or highly regulated industry experience
  • Technical leadership within agile software development teams
What You Will Be Doing
Tech Breakdown
  • 40% AI Engineering & LLM Development
  • 30% Python Software Engineering
  • 15% Architecture & Technical Leadership
  • 10% Agentic Workflows & Automation
  • 5% Documentation & Testing
Daily Responsibilities
  • 60% Hands-On Development
  • 20% Management & Mentorship
The Offer
  • 5 days on-site in Cedar Rapids, Iowa
  • Competitive pay depending on experience
Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the US on a full-time basis now and in the future.

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