{"id":1629041,"url":"https://alion.io/job/arka-staff-aiml-engineer-large-language-model-tssci-s","title":"Staff AI/ML Engineer (Large Language Model) (TS/SCI) {S}","company":{"id":2226679,"name":"Arka","domain":"arka.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/arka-com","size_band":"501-1000","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"UltiPro","truth_index":{"grade":"D","score":40,"open_postings":69,"ghost_share":1,"stale_share":0,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":null,"computed_at":"2026-10-24T06:02:35Z"}},"role":"AI/ML","role_family":"AI/ML","seniority":"staff","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Aurora, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":150000,"max":200000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":200000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":8,"visa_sponsorship":true,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"AI Agents","optional":false},{"name":"AWS","optional":false},{"name":"AWS Bedrock","optional":false},{"name":"Bitbucket","optional":false},{"name":"Chain-of-Thought","optional":false},{"name":"DSPy","optional":false},{"name":"Fine-tuning","optional":false},{"name":"GitLab","optional":false},{"name":"LangChain","optional":false},{"name":"LLaMA-Factory","optional":false},{"name":"llama.cpp","optional":false},{"name":"LLM","optional":false},{"name":"Machine Learning","optional":false},{"name":"Multimodal AI","optional":false},{"name":"NumPy","optional":false},{"name":"OpenAI","optional":false},{"name":"Pandas","optional":false},{"name":"PEFT","optional":false},{"name":"pgvector","optional":false},{"name":"Polars","optional":false},{"name":"Prompt Engineering","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"RAG","optional":false},{"name":"Scikit-learn","optional":false},{"name":"Semantic Search","optional":false},{"name":"TGI","optional":false},{"name":"Weaviate","optional":false},{"name":"Amazon Aurora","optional":true},{"name":"Amazon EC2","optional":true},{"name":"Amazon S3","optional":true},{"name":"Arize Phoenix","optional":true},{"name":"AWS Lambda","optional":true},{"name":"BERT","optional":true},{"name":"C#","optional":true},{"name":"C++","optional":true},{"name":"Computer Vision","optional":true},{"name":"CUDA","optional":true},{"name":"Docker","optional":true},{"name":"Gymnasium","optional":true},{"name":"Hugging Face","optional":true},{"name":"Java","optional":true},{"name":"Kubernetes","optional":true},{"name":"Langfuse","optional":true},{"name":"Linux","optional":true},{"name":"MLFlow","optional":true},{"name":"NLP","optional":true},{"name":"Numba","optional":true},{"name":"Podman","optional":true},{"name":"PostgreSQL","optional":true},{"name":"PyTorch","optional":true},{"name":"Rancher","optional":true},{"name":"Reinforcement Learning","optional":true},{"name":"RLlib","optional":true},{"name":"Rust","optional":true},{"name":"Stable-Baselines3","optional":true},{"name":"Transformers","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-02-26T21:35:10Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-02-26","last_verified_at":"2026-10-24T17:47:51Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":239,"trust":{"level":"ghost","repost_count":0,"flags":["stale","company_stale"],"days_open":239},"description":"ARKA Group L.P. (“ARKA”) is an advanced technologies company serving the U.S. military, intelligence community, and commercial space industry delivering next-generation solutions to support the national security space enterprise. Built on more than six decades of excellence, ARKA brings modern approaches and a culture of innovation to the challenges of today.\nJoin the ARKA team to learn how Beyond Begins Here. Discover your next career opportunity now!\nPosition Overview:\nThe Staff AI/ML Engineer (LLMs) will lead the development of Agentic AI capabilities and other LLM based capabilities for a multitude of mission management applications.\nWe offer generous relocation benefits for eligible candidates.\nIn support of work/life balance, many positions are available for a flexible schedule within the pay period. Ask us about the opportunity for flex scheduling if that’s of interest to you.\nResponsibilities:\nLead and mentor a multidisciplined team consisting of developers and researchers to implement machine learning algorithms to solve a broad set of challenges for our various customers\nLead and mentor a multidisciplinary team delivering advanced AI/ML solutions\nApply LLMs to complex domain-specific problems and operational workflows\nAdapt and fine-tune foundation models for specialized use cases\nDesign and implement retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems and semantic search architectures\nBuild production-grade LLM applications and agentic systems\nDeploy scalable AI solutions across cloud, on-prem, and hybrid environments\nAnalyze large, multi-modal datasets to extract meaningful features and actionable insights\nTranslate emerging research into applied, mission-relevant capabilities\nCommunicate technical strategy, status, and risks to internal and external leadership\nRequired Qualifications:\nB.S. in machine learning, computer science, mathematics, or related fields\n8+ years of experience, preferably in software development or as a data scientist with 2+ years of building LLM applications using some of the following:Fine-tuning foundational models\nSteering Techniques (e.g Sparse auto encoders, representation tuning)\nBuilding adapters to use foundational models (e.g. PEFT, llama factory)\nPrompt engineering techniques / Inference time techniques (e.g. chain of thought, tree of thoughts, etc.)\nUsing Retrieval Augmented Generation techniques to populate and query vector databases (e.g. Weaviate, pinecone, pgvector)\nUsing LLM Frameworks (e.g. LangChain, DSPy, Microsoft Agent Framework)\nUsing AI APIs ( e.g AWS Bedrock, OpenAI)\nUsing LLM deployment frameworks (eg llama.cpp, vllm, tgi)\nDeveloping UIs with ReAct\n\nExperience leading an interdisciplinary team of researchers and software developers and working with a program manager to define project scope and schedule to ensure we meet project milestones as defined by our customers\nExperience with Python and data science / machine learning libraries (e.g. NumPy, Pandas, Polars, scikit-learn, etc.)\nExperience contributing on a team using version control (e.g. git, GitLab, Bitbucket)\nActive TS/SCI U.S. Government Security Clearance\nPreferred Qualifications:\nM.S. or PhD in machine learning, computer science, mathematics, or related fields\nExperience leading an interdisciplinary team of researchers and software developers\nExperience with any of the following:Large Language Models and experience identifying ways to incorporate them into new domains and applications\nApplying Transformer-based architectures to domains in other areas outside of Natural Language Processing (NLP) such as computer vision\nNatural Language Processing algorithms such as BERT\nReinforcement learning and familiarity with Gymnasium Gym, OpenEnv, TorchRL, RLlib, and Stable Baselines\nApplying clustering algorithms and/or deep neural networks to real life problems\nImplementing tracking and pattern-of-life algorithms\nExperience with GenAI Ops techniques (e.g. LLM-as-a-judge) and frameworks (e.g. LangFuse, MLFlow, Arize Phoenix)\nExperience with Machine Learning libraries and frameworks such as HuggingFace and LangChain\nExperience with Linux\nExperience with CUDA and Python libraries such as CuPy, Numba, CuSignal, CuDF, etc.\nFamiliarity with using AWS cloud computing resources such as EC2, S3, Lambda, etc.\nExperience with any of the following additional languages: Java, C++, Rust, Go, and/or C#\nExperience in application deployment, virtualization, and containerization (e.g. Podman, Docker, Kubernetes, Rancher)\n\nExperience shaping and writing proposals\nAdjudicated Counter Intelligence or Full Scope Polygraph\nPay Range: $150,000 - $200,000\nYour actual level and base salary will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: job-related knowledge and skills, education, and experience.\nThe application window will close in 60 days for this position.\nLocation:Aurora, CO\nBeing situated at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, Aurora provides opportunities to enjoy all the beautiful nature that Colorado has to offer, while also being a 20-minute drive from downtown Denver and 15-minutes to the Denver International Airport.\nWhat We Offer:\nComprehensive medical/vision/dental insurance packages\nCompany contributions to qualified HSA accounts\n401k retirement plan with industry leading company contributions\n3 weeks of vacation accrual per year plus time off for sick leave and unscheduled life events\n13 paid holidays\nUpfront tuition assistance for approved degree programs\nAnnual bonus program based on company and employee performance\nCompany paid life insurance, AD&D, Short-Term and Long-Term disability insurance\n4 weeks paid Parental Leave\nEmployee assistance program (EAP)\nEHS/Environmental Requirements:\nThis job operates in a professional office environment. While performing the duties of this job, the employee routinely is required to use hands to keyboard, communicate, listen to, and interpret instructions and remain stationary for extended periods of the time. This would require the ability to move around the campus and occasionally move/lift items weighing up to 25 lbs. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the job.\nApplicants are invited to apply for a reasonable accommodation to perform the essential duties of the job. To apply, send a request to  or contact 203-797-5000 and press 2 for Human Resources.\nITC & Security Clearance Requirements:\nThis position requires an active TS/SCI U.S. Government Security Clearance.\nVisa Restrictions:\nNo visa sponsorship is available for this position.\nPre-employment Screenings:\nEmployment with any ARKA companies in the U.S. is contingent upon satisfactory completion of several pre-employment requirements to include a credit check, background check, and drug screen.","description_format":"text","description_chars":6849,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":8,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":true},"security_clearance":true,"languages":[]},"benefits":["401k plan","Dental insurance","Flexible schedule","Life insurance","Parental leave","Retirement plans"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":true,"industries":["Consumer Goods","Transportation & Logistics"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-01T21:16:18Z"}],"visa":[{"country":"US","licensed_sponsor":true,"evidence":"green card filings: 1","filings_12m":0,"filings_prev_12m":4,"green_card_filings_12m":1,"median_offered_wage_usd":82500,"route":null,"cap_exempt":false,"checked_at":"2026-10-15T11:24:14+00:00","sources":["US Department of Labor: LCA disclosure data (H-1B, H-1B1, E-3)","US Department of Labor: PERM disclosure data (green cards)"],"filings_for_role_12m":0}],"liveness":{"score":8,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":1,"p_active":0.3,"p_room":0.28,"age_days":239,"expected_fill_days":43,"reasons":["conf:0","stale_co","ghost","win:tail","crowd:"],"computed_at":"2026-10-24T06:02:35Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":200000,"is_top_pay":false},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/arka-staff-aiml-engineer-large-language-model-tssci-s","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/arka-staff-aiml-engineer-large-language-model-tssci-s.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-24T20:17:11Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":29614,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-25T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":2226679},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=2226679"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Farka-staff-aiml-engineer-large-language-model-tssci-s"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Farka-staff-aiml-engineer-large-language-model-tssci-s"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Farka-staff-aiml-engineer-large-language-model-tssci-s"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/arka-staff-aiml-engineer-large-language-model-tssci-s\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Farka-staff-aiml-engineer-large-language-model-tssci-s"}]}