> 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.

# Machine Learning Engineer (Active Secret Clearance)

Canonical URL: https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/262623f7a4db59ba

Striveworks posts a FDE role to build what the customer runs in Austin, TX, at $140,000–$165,000 base, level with the mid-level FDE median of $149,000 across 106 postings with pay. Develop machine learning models and custom analytics across diverse data modalities Read from the employer’s posting on November 8, 2026.

- [Striveworks](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/striveworks)

Posted Apr 24, 2026 by Striveworks · open on Greenhouse as of Nov 8, 2026

**$140,000–$165,000** + equity Austin, TX Hybrid

Develop machine learning models and custom analytics across diverse data modalities

- [See roles that fit me](https://nextmove.md/sign-up?from=%2Ffde%2Fjobs%2F262623f7a4db59ba&placement=top)
- [View posting at Striveworks](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/striveworks/jobs/7713741003)

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

$140K–$165K Level with the median

Midpoint $153K · median $149K

This job $140K to $165K. Mid-level FDE postings, 106 postings: the middle 50% of posted pay is $123K to $162K, median $149K.

### 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

Travel **Up to 30%**

- **Coding**: Writes production code

- **Builds for**: Both

- **Level**: Mid

- **Role**: Individual contributor

### What they ask for

Experience

- **2+ years** relevant experience

### Do you meet what the posting states?

The posting asks for 2+ years. How many do you have?

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

The job is in Austin, TX. 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**: Austin, TX

- **Work arrangement**: Hybrid

- **Travel**: Up to 30%

- **Pay**:

## More like this

[BCG](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/bcg)

### [BCG Platinion | Senior AI Tech Architect - AI Platforms](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/a4c47c8ee4f67d78)

Atlanta, GA · Austin, TX · +16 more 5mo ago

$150,000

[Accenture](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/accenture)

### [Enterprise AI Transformation Consultant](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/acce46d73a6442bf)

Chicago, IL · Milwaukee, WI · +40 more 12d ago

$54,400–$196,000

[Salesforce](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/salesforce)

### [Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) - Public Sector, Nonprofit & Education](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/ae7e224e776727e8)

Mclean, VA · Chicago, IL · +8 more Remote 3mo ago

$88,970–$316,750

- [Other jobs at Striveworks (11)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/striveworks)

## The job description from Striveworks

Posted by Striveworks on Apr 24, 2026

** *“In 36 months, agentic AI systems will be an operating reality across major institutions. We intend to be central to it.” — Dr. Jim Rebesco, Cofounder and CEO, Striveworks ***

The government’s demand for AI is growing far faster than the systems required to support it. Fewer than 15% of federal AI programs have reached sustained production, despite billions of dollars invested. The models perform in testing, but they degrade in the real world. And when performance drops, trust goes with it.

Striveworks was built to solve that problem.

### What you’ll build

Since 2018, we have delivered the most trusted AI systems operating in real-world use cases—providing a layer of assurance underneath hundreds of deployed models that monitors performance, manages drift, and sustains systems long after they leave the lab.

As a Machine Learning Engineer, you will be a core contributor to both customer-driven projects and the enduring products of the company. Working alongside data scientists, software engineers, and DevOps engineers, you’ll develop machine learning models, custom analytics, and mission-critical solutions applied to image, video, text, geospatial, time series, structured, and other data. You will orchestrate complex data engineering pipelines in agentic and traditional architectures. Your work informs the future of Chariot, our proprietary AIOps platform, and your impact will be felt on mission-critical deployments and through direct customer contact.

### What it’s like here

We lead with trust, treat each other with respect, and use candor consistently, kindly, and constructively. We care deeply about our work, and we find genuine satisfaction in doing it well. Above all, we take ownership—because we feel the weight of collective results personally. We are looking for people who share these values and are eager to put them into practice.

### What we’re looking for

- A BS degree in computer science, machine learning, or a related discipline and 2+ years of relevant experience
- Proficiency in Python and libraries like PyTorch, TensorFlow, and/or scikit-learn
- Proficiency in software engineering fundamentals and at least one systems programming language (e.g., Go, Rust, C++, Java, Scala, etc.)
- Experience contributing to data-centric systems (e.g., data engineering, data cleaning, ETL pipelines, machine learning, and other production analytics)
- Exposure to modern software engineering tools and processes
- Active Secret (or above) US security clearance and US citizenship

The following isn’t required, but we’d love to see it:

- An advanced degree in data science, machine learning, computer science, or a related discipline
- Knowledge of relevant architectures and design patterns for client-server systems
- Experience implementing and deploying software into containerized or cloud environments via Docker, K8s, or similar
- Experience applying machine learning to unstructured data (imagery, video, other) and/or building agentic systems

You will be hybrid or on site at our Austin, Texas, office. This role requires travel up to 30% of the time.

### Compensation

The anticipated base pay range for this position is $140,000–$165,000/year. Striveworks’ total compensation package includes a competitive base salary, equity grants, and cash bonuses.

### Benefits include:

- Medical/dental/vision insurance
- Voluntary life, long-term disability, accident, and hospital indemnity insurance
- HSA and FSA (including dependent care FSA) plans
- 401(k) plan
- Unlimited PTO
- Paid parental leave

### Ready to build systems that work for a mission that matters? Let’s talk.

Striveworks is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, belief, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity or expression), national origin, social or ethnic origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, parental status, military service, or other non-merit factors. Striveworks will not tolerate discrimination or harassment of any kind.

If you require assistance or a reasonable accommodation in the application process, please contact People Operations at hr@striveworks.us.

In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify their identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete an employment eligibility verification form upon hire.

Striveworks is a participating employer in the E-Verify program.

[View posting at Striveworks](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/striveworks/jobs/7713741003)

## About Striveworks

Cloud-to-edge AIOps platform that helps defense and other high-stakes teams build, deploy, evaluate, and maintain AI models in contested, fast-changing environments.

Series B · 50–100 people

## Similar jobs

[Writer](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/writer)

### [AI deployment engineer (Central)](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/f106a3ca48ce33ec)

San Francisco, CA · Chicago, IL · +3 more Hybrid New · 4d ago

$132,000–$184,000

[Meta](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/meta)

### [Business Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/373b94c00da9da13)

Austin, TX · Seattle, WA · +2 more 2mo ago

$118,000–$176,000

[Samsara](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/samsara)

### [Solutions Integration Engineer IV](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/81d21a9b115bb353)

Austin, TX · Chicago, IL · +3 more Remote 3mo ago

$105,910–$160,200

[Oden Technologies](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/oden-technologies)

### [Solutions Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/a0a7407331899c9c)

US Remote 2mo ago

$95,000–$160,000

[Cloudflare](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/cloudflare)

### [Senior Forward Deployed Infrastructure Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/df0b7e1d2651bcb5)

Austin, TX · San Francisco, CA Hybrid 4w ago

$194,000–$266,000

- [Compare mid FDE salary ranges](https://nextmove.md/fde/salary/mid-level)
- [Similar jobs in Austin](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs?region=austin)
- [Similar jobs that build what the customer runs](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs?role=builds-for-customers)

Hiring at Striveworks and want this page changed or removed? Email info@nextmove.md and we take it down.

Employer postings · [How we read postings](https://nextmove.md/fde/method)