Job Description

AI/ML Engineer

General Information

Requisition #

Locations USA-Washington DC

Posting Date 05/26/2026

Security Clearance Required - TS/SCI with Polygraph

Remote Type N/A

Time Type Full time

& Requirements

Elder Research Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of MANTECH international Corporation seeks a motivated, career and customer-oriented AI/ML Engineer.

Elder Research has multiple positions available for talented AI/ML engineers with experience in any of the following:

• Implement and maintain RAG pipelines, including document processing, embedding generation, retrieval configuration, and prompt assembly.
• Integrate LLMs into applications using available APIs and frameworks.
• Develop and maintain REST API interactions to support data retrieval and system integration.
• Design or refine Postgres schemas to improve data organization and query performance.

Minimum Qualifications:

Education and Experience:

• Doctorate + 6 years of experience
• Masters + 7 years of experience
• Bachelor’s degree + 8 years of experience

Job Specifications/Requirements:

• Demonstrated ability to conduct independent technical research, evaluate emerging
  
  AI/ML approaches, and apply advanced analytical problem-solving comparable to PhD-
  
  level research environments.
• Ability to rapidly learn and apply new AI/ML methodologies, tools, and frameworks in
  
  support of evolving mission requirements.
• Experience developing AI/ML applications focused on Retrieval-Augmented Generation
  
  (RAG), semantic retrieval, LLM integration, or related AI workflows.
• Strong proficiency in Python and modern AI/ML libraries, frameworks, and API
  
  integrations.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Advanced research experience in machine learning, deep learning, natural language
  
  processing, generative AI, reinforcement learning, computer vision, or related disciplines.
• Experience publishing research, contributing to open-source AI/ML initiatives, or leading
  
  experimental and prototype development efforts.
• Familiarity with model evaluation frameworks, fine-tuning workflows, inference
  
  optimization, and AI observability/monitoring tools.
• Experience with vector databases, AWS/cloud environments, Docker, and containerized
  
  AI/ML development workflows.
• Experience designing and integrating REST APIs and scalable data architectures.

Clearance Requirements:

• Current TS/SCI w/ Polygraph
• Must be a US Citizen

The projected compensation range for this position is $144,768 - $187,450. There are differentiating factors that can impact a final salary/hourly rate, including, but not limited to, Contract Wage Determination, relevant work experience, skills and competencies that align to the specified role, geographic location (For Remote Opportunities), education and certifications as well as Federal Government Contract Labor categories. In addition, MANTECH invests in its employees beyond just compensation. MANTECH’s benefits offerings include, dependent upon position, Health Insurance, Life Insurance, Paid Time Off, Holiday Pay, short-term and long-term Disability, Retirement and Savings, Learning and Development opportunities, wellness programs as well as other optional benefit elections.

About Elder Research, Inc - People Centered. Data Driven

Elder Research considers all qualified applicants for employment without regard to disability or veteran status or any other status protected under any federal, state, or local law or regulation.

If you need a reasonable accommodation to apply for a position with Elder Research, please email us at careers@elderresearch.com and provide your name and contact information.