{"id":3777460,"url":"https://alion.io/job/quantum-sky-chief-scientist-aiml","title":"Chief Scientist, AI/ML","company":{"id":3854380,"name":"Quantum Sky","domain":"quantumsky.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/quantum-sky","size_band":"5000+","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"iCIMS","truth_index":{"grade":"A","score":100,"open_postings":3,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":9,"computed_at":"2026-11-08T05:47:12Z"}},"role":"Science & Research","role_family":"Science & Research","seniority":"head","employment_type":null,"work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Reston, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":225000,"max":275000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":275000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"AI Agents","optional":false},{"name":"Computer Vision","optional":false},{"name":"Edge AI","optional":false},{"name":"Fine-tuning","optional":false},{"name":"LLM Evaluation","optional":false},{"name":"LLM Guardrails","optional":false},{"name":"Multi-Agent Systems","optional":false},{"name":"Sensor Fusion","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-11-04T23:45:12Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-11-04","last_verified_at":"2026-11-08T13:35:06Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":3,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":3},"description":"Description\nQuantum Sky is hiring a Chief Scientist, AI/ML. You set the AI/ML technical bar for Project 137, and every team builds on your models, methods, and infrastructure. Reports to the Chief AI Officer. Onsite at the Project 137 lab preferred; remote with regular travel considered.\nProject 137 is Quantum Sky's applied-research and IP engine. It is a small, cleared, elite team that builds the differentiated technology our business units take to DoW, IC, and Federal Civilian missions. It runs four pillars: Quantum, Cyber, Decision Advantage (AI applications), and Digital Platforms & Infrastructure. This role sits across all four.\nThe mission is to make Quantum Sky's AI better than anything a program office can buy off the shelf. Frontier models are a commodity. The advantage lives in what we build around them: models tuned on scarce and classified mission data, computer vision that finds the target, agents a program executive can trust and accredit, and the harness and hardware that run it all on-prem and at the edge. You set that bar, you lead the people who hold it, and you are the name customers and recruits recognize.\nThree things you will own:\nThe model layer. Project 137's shared AI/ML stack: model selection and routing across frontier and open-weight models, fine-tuning on mission data, retrieval, and inference at IL5/IL6 and the tactical edge. Every pillar consumes it.\nThe harness. The AI/MLOps and agent harness that takes a model or agent from experiment to cleared production: pipelines, evaluation, deployment, monitoring, and governance, running on our own on-prem compute.\nMission evals. The test-and-evaluation framework that proves a model or agent works on a real mission task, fails safely, and holds up under adversarial pressure. It is our answer to \"how do you know it works?\"\nWhat you own and drive:\nYou lead a core team of 2-3 senior scientists and engineers. You also hold technical authority over the AI/ML engineers embedded in each pillar: you set the methods, the stack, and the hiring bar, and the pillars execute on them.\nThe AI/ML vision. Define and socialize Project 137's AI/ML roadmap across all four pillars. Decide where we lead, where we follow, and where we stop spending.\nLLMs on mission data. Fine-tune, distill, and serve models on scarce, sensitive, and classified data. Own retrieval, model routing, and inference optimization from the cloud to disconnected and SWaP-constrained environments.\nComputer vision and ATR. Lead automatic target recognition and sensor exploitation: detection, classification, and tracking across EO/IR, SAR, RF, and emerging sensor modalities, and fusion into a decision-grade picture with our Decision Advantage team.\nAgentic AI and evals. Architect multi-agent systems that do real mission work, with the guardrails, auditability, and evaluation that make them accreditable. Build the mission eval harness every pillar uses before anything ships.\nAI/MLOps and the harness. Own the path from notebook to cleared production: training and eval pipelines, model registry, deployment, monitoring, drift detection, and rollback. Make it repeatable so pillars ship without reinventing it.\nOn-prem compute. Shape and run the AI hardware in our lab: GPU clusters, scheduling, storage, and networking, plus air-gapped and classified deployment patterns. Decide what runs on-prem, what runs in government cloud, and what runs at the edge.\nIP that Quantum Sky keeps. Quantum Sky retains IP by default. You decide what we build, partner for, or buy, and you shape the wrappers we build around frontier and open-weight models.\nThe technical face of AI/ML. Brief program-of-record owners and CIO/CTO/CDAO offices across DoW, IC, and FedCiv. Speak at conferences, publish, and represent Quantum Sky in the AI/ML community. Support technical diligence on AI/ML M&A targets.\nThe bench. Recruit, develop, and keep AI/ML talent across Project 137. You are a reason strong people join.\nWhat success looks like:\nWe measure this role on fielded capability, pillar velocity, and IP that Quantum Sky keeps.\nQualifications\nRequired:\nThe track record. 12+ years in AI/ML, including 5+ years leading AI/ML teams. You have fielded AI systems in production that people depend on, not only prototypes and papers.\nLLMs in production. Hands-on fine-tuning, retrieval, evaluation, and inference optimization of large language models on domain-specific data.\nComputer vision. Shipped computer vision or ATR systems: detection, classification, tracking, or sensor fusion on real-world imagery or signals.\nAgentic systems. Recent hands-on work building multi-agent systems, with the evaluation and guardrails that make them trustworthy. You know the difference between an agent demo and an agent you would put in front of a mission.\nAI/MLOps and harness development. Built the pipelines, eval harnesses, and model lifecycle tooling that take models and agents from experiment to production, including monitoring, drift detection, and rollback.\nOn-prem hardware. Designed, stood up, or operated on-prem AI compute: GPU clusters, high-speed interconnect, workload scheduling, and storage, ideally in air-gapped or classified settings.\nMission context. Delivered AI/ML to DoW, IC, or Federal Civilian customers, or in another regulated, high-consequence environment. Comfortable with accreditation, IL5/IL6, and Responsible AI requirements.\nDesired:\nResearch pedigree. PhD in computer science, electrical engineering, statistics, or a related field. Peer-reviewed publications at top venues, patents, or widely used open-source work.\nA recognized voice. Conference talks, public writing, or community leadership that people in AI/ML know you for.\nActive TS/SCI.\nEdge AI. Fielded models in disconnected, intermittent, or SWaP-constrained environments.\nAdversarial ML. Hands-on experience red-teaming models and agents, or defending them against attack.\nQuantum-curious. Interest in where quantum and quantum-inspired methods may help AI/ML, and the judgment to tell a real result from hype.\nClearance:\nActive Secret or TS/SCI preferred; strong candidates may be sponsored.\nAbout Quantum Sky\nCompensation:\nCompensation is unique to each candidate and relative to the skills and experience they bring to the position. The salary range for this position is typically between $225,000-$275,000. This does not guarantee a specific salary as compensation is based upon multiple factors such as education, experience, certifications, and other requirements, and may fall outside of the above-stated range.\nBenefits:\nHighlights of our benefits include Health/Dental/Vision, 401(k) match, Paid Time Off, STD/LTD/Life Insurance, Referral Bonuses, professional development reimbursement, and parental leave.\nThe world the mission operates in is going post-quantum, contested, and machine-speed. Quantum Sky engineers the advantage across cyber, networks, software, and quantum because the mission demands dominance, not parity. We don't follow the map. We draw it.\nAt Quantum Sky, we believe that success starts with our people. We foster a collaborative, innovative, and mission-driven environment where every team member plays a critical role in shaping the future of technology. Are you ready to join #TeamQuantumSky?\nQuantum Sky Engineering LLC is an Equal Opportunity Employer; all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, [sexual orientation, gender identity,] national origin, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any characteristic protected by applicable law.","description_format":"text","description_chars":7593,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":5,"team_size_min":2,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"phd","optional":false},"security_clearance":true,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Life insurance","Parental leave","Professional development"],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Information Security","Engineering Services"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-11-04T23:45:12Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":85,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.903,"p_room":0.945,"age_days":3,"expected_fill_days":9,"reasons":["conf:0","velocity","win:mid"],"computed_at":"2026-11-08T05:47:12Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":275000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/quantum-sky-chief-scientist-aiml","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/quantum-sky-chief-scientist-aiml.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-08T16:50:17Z","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":35413,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-09T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.1,"usd":0.01,"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":3854380},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=3854380"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fquantum-sky-chief-scientist-aiml"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":2,"usd":0.2},"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%2Fquantum-sky-chief-scientist-aiml"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.1,"usd":0.01},"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%2Fquantum-sky-chief-scientist-aiml"},{"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/quantum-sky-chief-scientist-aiml\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fquantum-sky-chief-scientist-aiml"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":3777460}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"quantumsky.com","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":3777460},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. 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