Agile Defense · 17 hours ago
Senior Agentic AI Technical Lead
McLean, VA
Full-time
Onsite
Senior Level, Lead/Staff
10+ years expAgile Defense is committed to bringing adaptive innovation to support national missions through advanced technologies. They are seeking a Senior Technical Lead to oversee a high-impact Agentic AI Prototype program, translating mission outcomes into secure, production-ready AI capabilities in DoD IL5+ environments.
Information ServicesInformation TechnologySoftware
No H1B
Security Clearance RequiredU.S. Citizen Only
Responsibilities
Translate mission outcomes and prioritized product backlog items into technical architecture, delivery plans, and sprint goals
Serve as the essential senior engineer/architect and primary technical authority for agentic AI solutions, from prompt engineering to complex multi-agent workflows with tool use and logical branching
Own end-to-end system design across secure cloud environments (Azure IL5, Google GovCloud), model inference services (Vertex AI, AWS Bedrock), and frontier AI SDKs (Gemini Enterprise, Anthropic for Gov, Grok Enterprise)
Lead development and integration of secure APIs, data pipelines (structured/unstructured), RAG/embeddings, and metadata catalog/platform (MCP) capabilities
Ensure all solutions are architected to be ATO-ready—meeting technical, administrative, and security controls required for production authorization
Act as the single accountable interface to the Government Product Owner for technical, delivery, and performance matters
Work with Scrum Master to develop and deliver the Technical Management Plan (TMP) covering agile process, sprint cadence, staffing, and security adherence
Lead agile ceremonies (sprint planning, reviews, retrospectives), maintain velocity, and drive acceptance against fixed-price milestones
Direct up to five agile Implementation Teams (including one internal team and up to four subcontractor teams), ensuring technical proficiency, security credentialing, and consistent reporting on performance, cost, and schedule
Manage the mandatory 90-day trial period for each team, demonstrate mission utility, and recommend remediation or replacement options; support Government off-ramp decisions and backfill planning
Ensure development occurs exclusively in designated secure environments, leveraging CSP-native services and compliant model inference
Implement DevSecOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, observability, and security controls aligned to DoD SRG IL5, FedRAMP High, and RMF principles
Drive ATO-ready deliverables, documentation, and security artifacts; coordinate with the Government Product Owner for final approval of ATO-readiness
Partner closely with the Government Product Owner to clarify mission needs, define acceptance criteria, and conduct live demonstrations and SME-led red teaming
Provide clear, concise status reporting on performance, cost, and schedule; proactively identify risks and mitigation strategies
Coordinate inclusion and communication with subcontractor teams, maintaining privity with the Agreement Holder and ensuring compliance with OTA terms
Execute a strategy to engage non-traditional defense contractors, small businesses, and university teams; maximize their significant participation to meet OTA statutory requirements
Track and report non-Federal contributions and the percentage of work performed by small business and non-traditional entities in support of cost-share structure and funding caps
Align team deliverables to Government-prioritized backlog items and measurable mission outcomes; maintain disciplined milestone acceptance and payment processes
Qualification
Required
10+ years of software engineering experience, with 5+ years in technical leadership roles delivering production AI systems in secure or regulated environments
Proven track record designing, building, and fielding agentic AI systems, including: Agent frameworks (LangChain, LangGraph) and multi-agent orchestration, Advanced prompt engineering, system prompts, and agent persona libraries, Tool use/function calling, logical branching, and state management
Strong cloud expertise in IL5+ environments: Azure IL5 and/or Google GovCloud; Kubernetes/containers; serverless; VNET/governance; Key Vault/Secrets; identity and access control, Model inference platforms: Google Vertex AI, AWS Bedrock; SDK integration with Gemini Enterprise, Anthropic for Gov, and Grok Enterprise
Data engineering and integration: Designing secure API integrations and data ingestion pipelines (ETL/ELT) for structured/unstructured sources, Experience with RAG pipelines, embeddings, and vector databases (e.g., pgvector, Pinecone, Weaviate), Building or integrating metadata catalogs/platforms (MCP) and search APIs (e.g., DataHub, OpenMetadata, Custom MCP)
DevSecOps and compliance: Implementing CI/CD, automated testing, observability, and secure software supply chain (SBOM, signing), Familiarity with DoD SRG IL5, FedRAMP High, RMF, and ATO-ready standards; experience preparing ATO packages and security documentation
Agile delivery: Leading multiple agile teams in short, outcome-focused sprints; driving acceptance of fixed-price milestones and demonstrable prototypes
Programming and tooling: Expert-level Python and TypeScript/JavaScript; REST/gRPC; OpenAPI; microservices; eventing/queues (Kafka/SQS); relational and NoSQL databases, Strong hands-on ability to produce high-quality code, conduct code reviews, and mentor senior engineers
Communication and leadership: Exceptional ability to partner with Government stakeholders, synthesize mission needs, and present technical solutions and demos, Experience managing non-traditional subcontractors, small businesses, or academic teams and coordinating multi-party delivery
Active Secret clearance required (TS/SCI eligible preferred)
U.S. Citizenship required
Ability to work within DoD IL5+ environments (e.g., Azure IL5, Google GovCloud), including support for expedited credentialing/facility clearance processes
Preferred
Prior experience delivering AI capabilities for DoD or IC missions within IL5/IL6 enclaves
Hands-on experience with Azure OpenAI Service in Gov environments; Anthropic Gov offerings and enterprise agentic development platforms
Background in cybersecurity engineering or cloud security architecture; experience with Zero Trust patterns in DoD environments
Experience with red teaming, model evaluation, and AI safety testing for mission-critical workflows
Company
Agile Defense
Agile Defense is an information technology company located in Reston. It is a sub-organization of Agile-BOT.
1001-5000 employees
Funding
Current Stage
Late StageTotal Funding
unknown2022-11-16Acquired
Leadership Team
Rick Wagner
Chief Executive Officer
B
Bill Luebke
Chief Financial Officer
Recent News
2025-12-18
Company data provided by crunchbase