Senior AI Engineer – Agentic Platform Lead
Senior AI Engineer – Agentic Platform Lead
Locations: Los Angeles, CA | Washington, D.C. | Seattle, WA
Salary Range: $165,000 – $250,000 USD
EVONA is partnering with a leading defense, national security, and space technology company to hire a Senior AI Engineer – Agentic Platform Lead.
This organization builds mission-critical systems that operate at the intersection of advanced AI, complex hardware, and real-world constraints. Their work directly supports national security, space infrastructure, and next-generation aerospace systems.
This is a senior, hands-on technical leadership role for an engineer who thrives in ambiguity, moves fast, and uses AI as leverage to eliminate friction in complex engineering workflows.
The Role
Our client is seeking a Senior AI Engineer – Agentic Platform Lead to serve as a senior technical leader within a specialized Agentic Computational Engineering (ACE) team.
You will architect and build a multi-agent AI platform that enables autonomous agents to design complex hardware systems end-to-end. You will own the technical roadmap for this platform, lead a small high-caliber team, and work closely with domain experts across propulsion, electronics, and manufacturing.
This role is ideal for a builder who is excited about turning cutting-edge AI research into real, deployable industrial capability.
What You’ll Build
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A scalable agentic AI platform supporting autonomous hardware design
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Distributed orchestration systems coordinating large numbers of AI agents
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Secure execution environments where agents run code, simulations, and analyses
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Memory, retrieval, and provenance systems (RAG, vector databases, decision logs)
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High-performance, observable systems operating at scale
Key Responsibilities
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Architect and own the full-stack agentic AI platform, including orchestration, runtimes, and services
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Design distributed systems (orchestrator–worker, swarms, event-driven architectures) for agent coordination
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Build secure execution layers integrating internal tools, simulations, and data sources
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Implement memory, context, and decision-tracking systems for agent reasoning and traceability
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Profile and optimize performance for latency, reliability, and observability
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Lead and mentor a small team of engineers and technical contributors
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Partner with engineering domain experts to translate real workflows into scalable agentic capabilities
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Influence long-term technical strategy for agentic AI across the organization
Required Qualifications
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Master’s + 5 years, or PhD + 3 years in Computer Science, Physics, Mathematics, or equivalent experience
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5+ years building production-grade backend or distributed systems in mission-critical environments
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Strong experience with Python, Go, or Rust and modern microservice architectures
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Hands-on experience with LLM-based systems and agent frameworks (e.g., LangGraph, AutoGen, or custom runtimes)
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Demonstrated AI-first workflow, using LLMs and agents to materially accelerate development
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Proven technical leadership in fast-moving, ambiguous environments
Preferred Qualifications
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Background in Mechanical, Aerospace, Electrical Engineering, Physics, or Applied Mathematics
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Experience integrating AI agents with engineering tools (CAD/CAE, simulation, manufacturing platforms)
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Experience with observability stacks (logging, tracing, metrics)
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Experience building safety-critical or mission-critical platforms
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Open-source contributions or personal projects demonstrating deep system-building expertise
Compensation & Benefits
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Competitive base salary: $165,000 – $250,000 USD
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Annual bonus potential
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Comprehensive health, retirement, and wellness benefits
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Paid time off