Role overview
Company OverviewPantheon Data (a Kenific Holding company) is a private, small business based in the Washington, DC, area. Pantheon Data was founded in 2011, initially providing acquisition and supply chain management services to the US Coast Guard. Our service offerings have grown in the past ten years, including infrastructure resiliency, contact center operations, information technology, software engineering, program management, strategic communications, engineering, and cybersecurity. We have also grown our customer base to include commercial clients. The company has used this experience to expand our service offerings to other agencies within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of Defense (DoD), and other Federal Civilian Agencies.Position OverviewWe are seeking a Principal AI/ML Engineer to serve as a technical leader and architect for advanced Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) and Generative AI solutions. This role goes beyond hands-on model development and focuses on setting technical vision, establishing best practices, and leading the design of scalable, production-grade AI systems. The ideal candidate is a recognized expert in Optical Character Recognition (OCR), Natural Language Processing (NLP), Large Language Models (LLMs), and deep learning, with proven experience integrating these capabilities into end-to-end enterprise solutions that process and extract value from large volumes of unstructured data.As a Principal Engineer, you will drive innovation, guide architecture decisions, mentor engineering teams, and work closely with product, leadership, and customers to translate complex business challenges into robust AI/ML solutions.ResponsibilitiesTechnical Leadership & Strategy
Define and drive the technical vision and roadmap for AI/ML and IDP capabilities across products and programs.
Establish architectural standards, design patterns, and best practices for scalable, secure, and maintainable AI systems.
Evaluate emerging technologies, research advancements, and tooling in Generative AI, LLMs, OCR, and NLP, and recommend adoption where appropriate.
Serve as the senior technical authority for AI/ML design decisions and solution trade-offs.
Solution Architecture & Development
Architect end-to-end Intelligent Document Processing solutions combining OCR, NLP, LLMs, and other deep learning models.
Design and oversee implementation of production-grade ML systems, including data pipelines, model training workflows, evaluation frameworks, and inference services.
Lead the development of reusable AI/ML frameworks, services, and accelerators that can be leveraged across multiple projects.
Ensure solutions meet requirements for performance, scalability, reliability, and security.
Generative AI & Advanced Modeling
Guide the use of LLMs and other generative models for document understanding, information extraction, summarization, classification, and question answering.
Define best practices for prompt engineering, fine-tuning, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and model evaluation.
Oversee experimentation and model benchmarking to continuously improve solution accuracy and efficiency.
Data & MLOps Integration
Collaborate with data engineering teams to design robust data ingestion, labeling, and feature engineering pipelines.
Define and implement MLOps best practices, including versioning, model governance, monitoring, and automated deployment.
Ensure responsible AI practices, including model explainability, bias mitigation, and auditability where applicable.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
Partner with product managers, customers, and business stakeholders to translate high-level requirements into technical AI/ML solution designs.
Communicate complex AI/ML concepts clearly to non-technical audiences, including executives and clients.
Work closely with engineering leaders to align AI/ML initiatives with overall platform architecture.
Mentorship & Team Development
Mentor and guide senior and junior engineers, fostering technical growth and engineering excellence.
Lead technical design reviews, code reviews, and architecture discussions.
Promote a culture of innovation, knowledge sharing, and continuous learning within the engineering organization.
What we're looking for
Key Attributes
Strategic thinker with the ability to balance long-term vision and near-term delivery.
Strong sense of ownership and accountability for technical outcomes.
Passion for solving complex problems with AI and delivering real-world impact.
Collaborative leader who elevates team performance and drives engineering excellence.
Clearance RequirementsU.S. Citizenship with the ability to obtain and maintain a DoD Secret clearance.Work Location: Fairfax, Virginia
Our company prioritizes the benefits of flexibility and collaboration, whether that happens in person or remotely.
If the position is remote or hybrid, you may periodically work from a Pantheon Data office location or client site.
If this position is assigned to a Pantheon Data office location or client site, you'll work with colleagues and clients in person, as needed for specific client requirements.
Benefits OverviewWe are always looking for good people! Pantheon Data is committed to providing its employees with competitive salaries and benefits in order to increase employee satisfaction and productivity. In addition to our benefits, we also offer SmartBenefits through the Washington Metro Area Transportation Authority, where you specify an amount of your pre-tax wages be paid directly to your SmarTrip account. In some cases, tuition assistance may be available for continuing education expenses and certifications related to their position. Additional details may be found at https://pantheon-data.com/careers/Pantheon Data Important InformationAll qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, local, or international law.As part of the application process, you are expected to be on camera during interviews and assessments. We reserve the right to take your picture to verify your identity and prevent fraud.If you require reasonable accommodation in completing this application, interviewing, completing any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participating in the employee selection process, please direct your inquiries to our Talent Team at [email protected] or by phone (571) 363-4020.This company uses E-Verify to confirm each employee's work authorization. For more information, click here E-Verify Participation Poster
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Seniority level
Mid-Senior level
Employment type
Full-time
Job function
Engineering and Information Technology
Industries
Data Infrastructure and Analytics