AI Engineer (Python/LLM/Data Parsing) - 50% telework with Security Clearance

If you've shipped real AI systems, not just demos, and you want to build them on hardware you can actually touch, keep reading. Linchpin Software is a small, growing company, and we're hiring AI Engineers in Chantilly, VA (50% telework). You'll build production AI that runs entirely on-prem: locally hosted models on GPU servers, in air-gapped and cross-domain environments, with no calls out to a public API. The work is hands-on engineering: parsing messy documents and data, extracting and resolving entities, building retrieval pipelines, and turning model output into structured, traceable results that analysts can trust. We'll be honest: this is a new and growing body of work, so you'll help decide how it gets built. Here's what we care about, and we hire for it:

• Be helpful. Answer the question, share what you know, and leave things better than you found them.
• Take care of the customer. Our customers have hard missions. We listen, follow through, and make their day easier.
• Be a good teammate. Review the code, jump in on the tough bug, cover for each other, and celebrate the wins together. We also build software differently. Our engineers use AI-assisted development tools (Claude Code, Codex, GitLab Duo) every day to design, code, test, and debug faster.

What You'll Do

• Build production AI/ML and GenAI pipelines, models, and microservices in Python
• Build LLM applications: embeddings, vector databases, retrieval, agentic workflows, and tool calling
• Engineer complex data parsing and ingestion for diverse structured and unstructured data
• Implement named entity recognition, entity extraction, and entity resolution
• Deliver multi-step retrieval and structured output with deep source citation
• Train, evaluate, and serve models (PyTorch, TensorFlow, scikit-learn) with MLOps and CI/CD
• Deploy on Kubernetes and locally hosted GPU servers, and tune for accuracy, latency, and cost Required:
• Active Top Secret, TS/SCI, or Intel Agency clearance
• Bachelor's degree
• 10+ years of engineering experience with substantial hands-on AI/ML work
• Advanced Python, with strong algorithms, data structures, and distributed systems fundamentals
• Hands-on experience deploying production GenAI/LLM systems, embeddings, and vector databases
• PyTorch, TensorFlow, or scikit-learn
• MLOps tooling (MLflow or similar), containers, and Kubernetes
• Background in NLP, computer vision, or a related AI field
• Clear communication and a genuine willingness to help customers and teammates Preferred:
• Self-hosting open models on GPUs (vLLM, Ollama, Hugging Face, or similar)
• Document parsing and extraction at scale
• Vector and graph databases (LanceDB, pgvector, Neo4j, or similar)
• FastAPI, PostgreSQL, Temporal.io
• Geospatial, temporal, or computer vision AI
• Air-gapped, multi-enclave, or cross-domain environments
• AI governance and secure development practices The Honest Details:
• Location: Chantilly, VA, 50% telework. You'll be on site about half the time, and we mean it.
• Pay: $130,000 - $230,000, based on experience and what you bring.
• Clearance: active Top Secret, TS/SCI, or Intel Agency clearance required. We can't sponsor one for this role.

What You'll Gain

• Real, production AI engineering on a mission that matters
• A chance to shape a new program area from the ground up
• A small team where your work is seen and your opinion counts
• Competitive compensation and benefits If you like building AI systems that actually work in the real world, apply. A real person on our team reads every application.