> AI agents: this is one page of Nextmove’s FDE site, in Markdown. Nextmove is a job board and free career service for forward deployed engineers (FDEs). Each posting is classified from its text, not its title: the kind of work, how much of it is production code, pre-sales weight, time at customer sites, travel, remote arrangement, level and posted base pay. The site also publishes the aggregates: median pay by level, metro, company and kind of work, and which companies started hiring FDEs each week. Every page under https://nextmove.md/fde is served this way; the index of pages is https://nextmove.md/llms.txt.

# Agentic Ontology Software Engineer

Canonical URL: https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/17fb311b40c3c6b0

Lockheed Martin posts a staff FDE role to build what the customer runs in DC, at $108,600–$280,000 base, below the staff+ FDE median of $225,000 across 388 postings with pay. Lead discovery and translate user needs into architecture and delivery plans. Read from the employer’s posting on November 8, 2026.

- [Lockheed Martin](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/lockheed-martin)

First seen Oct 23, 2026 · open on Eightfold as of Nov 8, 2026

**$108,600–$280,000** *annualized* DC Full-time

Lead discovery and translate user needs into architecture and delivery plans.

- [See roles that fit me](https://nextmove.md/sign-up?from=%2Ffde%2Fjobs%2F17fb311b40c3c6b0&placement=top)
- [View posting at Lockheed Martin](https://lockheedmartin.eightfold.ai/careers/job/996476482697?domain=lockheedmartin.com)

Free. Upload your resume once, see why each FDE role fits, and get introduced only when you say so.

## At a glance

### Posted base pay

$109K–$280K Below the median

Midpoint $194K · median $225K

This job $109K to $280K. Staff+ FDE postings, 388 postings: the middle 50% of posted pay is $197K to $262K, median $225K.

### The work

Builds what the customer runs

Balance **Mostly building**

Project stages

1. Pre-sales (not covered)
2. Proof of concept (not covered)
3. Implementation
4. Operations

- **Coding**: Writes production code

- **Builds for**: External customers

- **Level**: Staff+

- **Role**: Technical lead

### What they ask for

Experience

- **9+ years** Relevant experience with a bachelor’s degree in a related STEM field
- **7+ years** Relevant experience with a master’s degree
- **4+ years** Relevant experience with a PhD

### Do you meet what the posting states?

The posting asks for 4+ years. How many do you have?

The posting reads as a staff-level role. What level are you at now?

The job is in DC. Could you work there?

Which of these have you used in production?

Answer each one. Nothing is saved or sent.

[What postings ask for, by background →](https://nextmove.md/fde/paths)

## Conditions

- **Location**: DC

- **Employment type**: Full-time

- **Pay**:

## More like this

[Lockheed Martin](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/lockheed-martin)

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- [Other jobs at Lockheed Martin (8)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/lockheed-martin)

## The job description from Lockheed Martin

### Standard Job Description

Join our team as a Staff AI Engineer focused on ontologies, knowledge graphs, and production AI systems. You will define how complex enterprise data becomes trusted knowledge that AI applications can understand and use.

This role uses a forward-deployed engineering model. You will work directly with users, domain experts, data owners, and engineering teams. You will identify high-value problems and turn unclear needs into secure, reliable production capabilities. You will remain responsible from initial discovery through deployment and operation.

As a Staff individual contributor, you will set technical direction across projects and teams. You will solve complex system problems, guide senior engineers, and create reusable platform capabilities. You will lead through technical judgment, delivery results, and trusted relationships. Formal personnel authority is not required.

Responsibilities include:

- Lead technical discovery with users, domain experts, data owners, and engineering teams.
- Convert business needs into system requirements, architecture decisions, and delivery plans.
- Define architectures for AI agents, ontologies, knowledge graphs, data integrations, and user applications.
- Design semantic models that represent business concepts instead of physical source structures.
- Establish methods for ontology governance, source traceability, evaluation, version control, and human review.
- Build AI agent workflows that create, test, and improve trusted knowledge artifacts.
- Define evaluation methods for AI quality, semantic accuracy, query results, reliability, cost, and latency.
- Integrate databases, APIs, files, cloud platforms, and enterprise data systems.
- Lead development across services, APIs, background jobs, web applications, and graph query systems.
- Guide deployment through automated pipelines, containers, and cloud platforms.
- Resolve complex failures across AI models, applications, data sources, and infrastructure.
- Make tradeoffs among user value, security, quality, schedule, cost, and long-term support.
- Convert engagement-specific solutions into reusable platform capabilities.
- Review architecture and code for quality, security, supportability, and system fit.
- Mentor engineers and establish consistent engineering practices across teams.
- Present technical decisions, risks, and results to technical and business leaders.
- Influence technical direction across teams without formal authority.

### Basic Qualifications

- A bachelor’s degree in a related STEM field and nine years of relevant experience.
- A master’s degree with seven years or a PhD with four years can satisfy the education and experience requirement.
- Experience developing production software in Python and architecting distributed or cloud-based systems.
- Experience architecting and deploying production AI, LLM, machine learning, or agent-based systems.
- Experience designing ontologies or knowledge graphs with RDF, OWL, and SPARQL.
- Experience leading technical work across teams and converting unclear user needs into deployed solutions.

### Desired Skills

- Advanced experience with OWL, SHACL, R2RML, SPARQL, ontology reasoning, or semantic validation.
- Experience defining ontology governance, model reuse, version control, and review practices.
- Experience with graph databases or virtual knowledge graph systems.
- Experience with Amazon Neptune, Ontop, RDFLib, or comparable semantic platforms.
- Experience with AI agent frameworks and enterprise model platforms.
- Experience with AWS Bedrock, Azure OpenAI, or comparable model services.
- Experience evaluating LLM systems for accuracy, traceability, reliability, security, cost, and latency.
- Experience designing human review and approval controls for AI-generated artifacts.
- Experience with Django, asynchronous Python, Celery, PostgreSQL, Redis, or comparable technologies.
- Experience with React, TypeScript, or full-stack application development.
- Experience integrating SQL databases, REST APIs, OpenAPI specifications, files, or Databricks.
- Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, OpenShift, Helm, and CI/CD pipelines.
- Experience with production observability, incident response, and root-cause analysis.
- Experience applying security and access controls to enterprise AI or data systems.
- Experience leading architecture reviews or technical standards across engineering teams.
- Experience mentoring senior engineers and improving team engineering practices.
- Experience delivering software in customer environments with unclear or changing requirements.
- Experience converting customer-specific solutions into reusable products or platform services.

### Pay Information

**GeoZone Definition:** GeoZones are geographic groupings created by Lockheed Martin to align compensation ranges with regional labor markets and cost-of-labor differences across the United States. Locations are assigned a Geo Zone based on the primary work location of the role.

- Full-time salary range (GEOZONE 1): $150800.00 - $280000.00
- Includes metropolitan areas such as Sunnyvale CA; Pal Alto, CA; New York City metropolitan area; Newark, New Jersey; etc.
- Full-time salary range (GEOZONE 2): $135700.00 - $251900.00
- Includes metropolitan areas such as Denver, CO; King of Prussia, PA; Stratford, CT; Moorestown, NJ; etc.
- Full-time salary range (GEOZONE 3): $120600.00 - $224000.00
- Includes metropolitan areas such as Dallas–Fort Worth, TX; Orlando, FL; Grand Prairie, TX; Marietta, GA; etc.
- Full-time salary range (GEOZONE 4): $108600.00 - $201600.00
- Includes metropolitan areas such as Camden, AR; Lexington, KY; Lufkin, TX; etc.

At Lockheed Martin, we know mission success starts with taking care of our people. Our Total Rewards program is designed to attract top talent, support your well-being, and help you grow—both professionally and personally.

The salary range for this position is as listed on the requisition. Please note that the salary information listed is a general guideline only.
Lockheed Martin considers factors such as (but not limited to) scope and responsibilities of the position, candidate's work experience, education/ training, key skills as well as market(work location) and business considerations when extending an offer.

**Benefits offered:** Medical, Dental, Vision, Flexible work arrangements and schedules (e.g., 4x10), 401(k) match, Paid time off, Holidays, Parental Leave, EAP, Flexible Spending Accounts, Education Assistance, Life Insurance, Short-Term Disability, and Long-Term Disability.

- Annual short-term and/or long-term incentive compensation programs may be offered depending on the position. Payments under these annual programs are not guaranteed and can vary from year to year and are tied to a range of performance metrics.
- For (Washington state applicants only) Non-represented full-time employees: accrue at least 10 hours per month of Paid Time Off (PTO) to be used for incidental absences and other reasons; receive at least 90 hours for holidays. Represented full time employees accrue 6.67 hours of Vacation per month; accrue up to 52 hours of sick leave annually; receive at least 96 hours for holidays. PTO, Vacation, sick leave, and holiday hours are prorated based on start date during the calendar year.

[View posting at Lockheed Martin](https://lockheedmartin.eightfold.ai/careers/job/996476482697?domain=lockheedmartin.com)

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- [Compare staff+ FDE salary ranges](https://nextmove.md/fde/salary/staff)
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