AI/ML Data Engineer

Description

Precise Software Solutions Inc. is seeking an AI/ML Data Engineer to design and govern the data foundation behind secure AI-enabled applications for the U.S. Government. You will own AI-ready datasets, from ingestion and quality controls through privacy protection, lineage, and retrieval-quality measurement, so that every AI output can be traced back to trusted source data.

Location: Washington, DC metro area (hybrid) 3 days a week on site in DC 

Citizenship: U.S. citizen or green card holder/EAD 

Background Investigation: Eligible for public trust clearance- Government background investigation required  

Key Responsibilities:

• Design and maintain data ingestion, transformation, and processing pipelines (ETL/ELT) for AI training, evaluation, retrieval, and operations, including support for data migration and cleansing.
• Curate, validate, and version datasets, and maintain dataset inventories, metadata, lineage, provenance, and ingestion logs.
• Implement automated data-quality checks for duplication, schema changes, completeness, and freshness, and maintain dataset quality scorecards and drift reports.
• Design data models, vector stores, and embedding schemas for Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) knowledge bases, and re-index content when sources change.
• Measure retrieval and model quality against established baselines using metrics such as precision/recall, MRR, NDCG, and context relevance.
• Prepare data-related deliverables, including AI model cards, ML and AI pipeline documentation, RAG/AI Pipeline Evaluation Reports, data dictionaries and embedding schema documentation, and responses to Government data calls.
• Build secure structured-data access for AI applications (e.g., natural-language-to-SQL with query validation and role-based authorization), and support dashboards and operational analytics.
• Monitor data and ML pipelines, troubleshoot failures, and support root-cause analysis, while keeping all data in FedRAMP-authorized cloud regions with FIPS-validated encryption.
• Support Responsible AI practices by preparing representative evaluation datasets, testing AI outputs for bias, accuracy, and hallucination, and documenting results to meet federal AI governance requirements.
• Secure the AI data path, from source datasets and embeddings to prompts and logs, and support AI risk testing such as data poisoning.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Information Systems, or a related field and 5+ years of relevant experience. Equivalent experience may substitute for the degree.
• 5+ years of hands-on data engineering or database development experience, including data modeling, SQL, and ETL/ELT pipeline development.
• Strong proficiency in Python and experience with data processing frameworks (e.g., pandas, Spark) and workflow orchestration tools (e.g., Airflow).
• 1+ year of experience preparing data for Generative AI or machine learning, such as embeddings, vector databases, RAG knowledge bases, or training and evaluation datasets.
• Experience implementing data quality, lineage, metadata management, and data governance controls.
• Experience protecting sensitive data (PII), including masking, minimization, and access controls.
• Experience with a major cloud data platform (AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud), Git, and CI/CD tools.
• Must be a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident (green card holder).
• Must reside in the Washington, DC metropolitan area and be able to work on-site at Government offices.
• Must be able to obtain and maintain a Public Trust background investigation.

Preferred Qualifications  

• Master's degree in a related field and 7+ years of data engineering experience, including support of federal agency programs.
• Experience evaluating retrieval quality and building RAG pipelines with vector stores (e.g., pgvector, OpenSearch).
• Experience with MLOps tooling, including model and dataset versioning, feature stores, or model registries.
• Generative AI, LLM security, or data certification (e.g., Databricks Generative AI Engineer, Snowflake SnowPro, AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud).
• An active Public Trust or prior federal background investigation.

ABOUT US

Precise Software Solutions, Inc. is a mission-focused technology services company delivering secure digital platforms, infrastructure, and operational IT services to government organizations. A CMMI Level 3–appraised company, Precise partners with agency technology leaders and solution providers to design, build, operate, and modernize enterprise IT solutions that support critical public missions combining agility, innovation, and performance to deliver measurable results. 

Precise specializes in cloud and hybrid infrastructure, platform engineering, security operations and compliance, application modernization, and data platforms and analytics. The company is known for its agile, delivery-driven approach and innovative engineering practices, applying operational rigor and performance-focused execution to improve system resilience, security, and scalability across complex government environments.

BENEFITS AND PERKS

• Comprehensive Health Benefits (Medical, Dental and Vision) 
• Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) & Health Savings Account (HSA) 
• Retirement Plan with 4% match and discretionary match at year end
• Paid Time Off (PTO): 15 days of PTO accrued per year; 7 holidays+ 3 Floating holidays; 2 Innovation days (paid training days)
• Short Term and Long-Term Disability
• Paid Parental Leave 
• Paid Jury Duty leave 
• Life and AD&D Insurance 
• Critical Illness Insurance
• Training and Development 
• Wellness Incentives & Discount programs
• Employee Referral Program 
• Annual Charity Donation Match 
• Awards and Recognition

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

Precise Software Solutions is committed to providing a workplace free from discrimination and harassment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, age, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or other legally protected status.

We are an inclusive organization and actively promote equality of opportunity for all with the right mix of talent, skills and potential. We expect every member of the Precise community to do their part to cultivate and maintain an environment where everyone has the opportunity to feel included and is afforded the respect and dignity they deserve.