Agile Defense
Artificial Intelligence Subject Matter Expert (CBP)
11600 Sunrise Valley Dr Ste 440, Reston, VA 20191
Hybrid · Regular · $180k–$235k (as posted)
First seen by offpeak October 4, 2026
See your drive time Apply on Agile Defense's site
Title: Artificial Intelligence Subject Matter Expert (AI SME) Clearance: Active Top Secret with SCI eligibility, ability to obtain and maintain a CBP Background Investigation (CBP BI) and EOD, active BI strongly preferred. We can begin processing for candidates who do not hold one. Citizenship: U.S. Citizenship required Location: Ashburn, VA Salary Range: $180,000-235,000 Signing Bonus: $10,000 for candidates with an active CBP BI. Payable after 90 days; standard terms apply.
The Role
U.S. Customs and Border Protection runs continuous operations across more than 300 land, air, and sea ports of entry, plus Border Patrol stations and the Air and Marine Operations Center. Applying artificial intelligence in that environment is not the same problem as applying it somewhere the cost of a wrong answer is a bad recommendation. A model that runs against operational data here has to be accurate, explainable, and safe under federal accreditation, or it does not ship, no matter how well it performs in a lab. You are the technical authority on what that requires. You will design, test, and align AI and machine learning models so they perform reliably in a professional operational setting, working alongside program leadership, engineering teams, and the security staff who have to sign off on what you build before it runs against real data. Two things are worth knowing before you apply. This role exists to bring rigor, not to chase what is newest. And a meaningful part of the job is being the person in the room who can tell the difference between a model that looks impressive in a demo and one that is actually safe to run.What Success Looks Like
Objective 1: Design models that are accurate enough to trust with real decisions- Model performance gets validated against real operational conditions, not only against a clean benchmark dataset.
- Where a model is wrong, you can say how it is wrong and how often, rather than reporting a single accuracy number and stopping there.
- You can explain a model's behavior to someone who did not build it, in terms they can evaluate.
- Model behavior gets monitored after deployment, not just validated once before it.
- Drift and degraded performance get caught before they change an operational outcome.
- Failure modes are documented and understood before a model goes live, not discovered afterward.
- Documentation and evidence for a security or accreditation review come out of your normal development process.
- You can tell an engineering team early what an AI capability will need to clear review, before they have built around an assumption that will not survive it.
- Reviewers get a straight answer about what a model does and does not do.
- Other engineers and program staff come to you before committing to an AI approach, not after it has already been built.
- Where AI is not the right tool for a problem, you can say so and be heard.
- Standards for evaluating and deploying models exist and get used on the next project, not reinvented each time.
What You Bring
Minimum required experience- 5+ years in ML, Data Science, or AI engineering
- 2+ years focused on Generative AI and LLMs
- Deep expertise in machine learning, deep learning, and statistical modeling
- Hands-on experience with LLM frameworks, vector databases, and prompt engineering
- Advanced Python proficiency; production-grade software development experience
- MLOps and cloud AI platform experience (Azure AI, AWS Bedrock, Google Vertex AI)
- Proven track record taking AI solutions from PoC to production
- Experience in assessing cyber risk and functionality of AI solutions
- Experience in incorporating automation and artificial intelligence into cyber prpgrams
- Experience with data analytic software such as Splunk, Cribl, Elastic and Sentinel
- Open-source contributions or published AI research
- Experience with edge/low-latency model optimization
- Certifications in AI Ethics, Responsible AI, or Cloud AI Architecture
- Familiarity with adversarial AI testing and red-teaming
- You have taken a machine learning model from prototype to a production system that real people depended on.
- You have worked in a regulated or federal environment where a model's decisions had to be explainable and defensible, not only accurate.
- You have caught a model failure before it reached a decision that mattered, and can describe how.
- You are comfortable across the model lifecycle: data, training, validation, deployment, and monitoring, rather than specialized in only one stage.
- You hold an active CBP BI, a fitness determination at another DHS component, or an active DoD clearance. Any of these shortens your start date.
- You can talk about the limits of a model as clearly as you talk about its capabilities.
A note on timing
We are staffing this program now. If you already hold an active CBP BI and EOD, your start date is short and a $10,000 signing bonus comes with the role, payable after 90 days under standard terms. We would like to talk this week. If you do not, we can begin processing a CBP BI for you. That takes months rather than weeks, so applying now means joining a pipeline rather than starting immediately. We would rather tell you that up front than have you find out after you apply.Employee Benefits
Agile's benefits offerings include, dependent upon position, Health Insurance, Life Insurance, Paid Time Off, Holiday Pay, short-term and long-term Disability, Retirement and Learning and Development opportunities as well as other optional benefit elections. Our Core Values Employees of Agile Defense are our number one priority, and the importance we place on our culture here is fundamental. Our culture is alive and evolving, but it always stays true to its roots. Here, you are valued as a family member, and we believe that we can accomplish great things together. Agile Defense has been highly successful in the past few years due to our employees and the culture we create together. What makes us Agile? We call it the 6Hs, the values that define our culture and guide everything we do. Together, these values infuse vibrancy, integrity, and a tireless work ethic into advancing the most important national security and critical civilian missions. It's how we show up every day. It's who we are.- Happy - Be Infectious. Happiness multiplies and creates a positive and connected environment where motivation and satisfaction have an outsized effect on everything we do.
- Helpful - Be Supportive. Being helpful is the foundation of teamwork, resulting in a supportive atmosphere where collaboration flourishes, and collective success is celebrated.
- Honest - Be Trustworthy. Honesty serves as our compass, ensuring transparent communication and ethical conduct, essential to who we are and the complex domains we support.
- Humble - Be Grounded. Success is not achieved alone, humility ensures a culture of mutual respect, encouraging open communication, and a willingness to learn from one another and take on any task.
- Hungry - Be Eager. Our hunger for excellence drives an insatiable appetite for innovation and continuous improvement, propelling us forward in the face of new and unprecedented challenges.
- Hustle - Be Driven. Hustle is reflected in our relentless work ethic, where we are each committed to going above and beyond to advance the mission and achieve success.