> 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.

# AI Software Engineer

Canonical URL: https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/b68e811302382d5d

Dark Wolf Solutions posts a senior FDE role to build what the customer runs in Chantilly, VA and 1 more, at $120,000–$160,000 base, below the senior FDE median of $190,000 across 1,864 postings with pay. Architect and implement RAG systems and LLM agents for querying and synthesizing insights from structured/unstructured data. Read from the employer’s posting on November 8, 2026.

- [Dark Wolf Solutions](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/dark-wolf-solutions)

Posted Aug 18, 2026 by Dark Wolf Solutions · open on Greenhouse as of Nov 8, 2026

**$120,000–$160,000** Chantilly, VA +1 On-site Full-time

Architect and implement RAG systems and LLM agents for querying and synthesizing insights from structured/unstructured data.

- [See roles that fit me](https://nextmove.md/sign-up?from=%2Ffde%2Fjobs%2Fb68e811302382d5d&placement=top)
- [View posting at Dark Wolf Solutions](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/darkwolfsolutions/jobs/7886757003)

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

$120K–$160K Below the median

Midpoint $140K · median $190K

This job $120K to $160K. Senior FDE postings, 1,864 postings: the middle 50% of posted pay is $160K to $220K, median $190K.

### 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**: Senior

- **Role**: Individual contributor

### What they ask for

Experience

- **5+ years** engineering production-grade AI/ML systems
- **3+ years** engineering production-grade AI/ML systems with a Master's/Ph.D.

Background

- **Software engineering**

### Do you meet what the posting states?

The posting asks for 3+ years. How many do you have?

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

The job is in Chantilly, VA · Herndon, VA. Could you work in one of these?

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**: Chantilly, VA · Herndon, VA

- **Work arrangement**: On-site

- **Employment type**: Full-time

- **Pay**:

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## The job description from Dark Wolf Solutions

Posted by Dark Wolf Solutions on Aug 18, 2026

**Dark Wolf** constructs and deploys data management and analytics solutions for the defense and intelligence communities. We’re proud to boast a world-class engineering team that thrives on rolling up their sleeves to solve your mission’s biggest challenges.

**Dark Wolf** is seeking a highly skilled **Senior AI Engineer** to architect, build, and deploy advanced, secure AI-driven solutions supporting federal and defense enterprises. In this role, you will tackle enterprise data fragmentation by designing automated data ingestion pipelines, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) architectures, and predictive analytics tools.

You will directly address critical operational areas including HR workforce analytics, enterprise workflow automation, program management analytics, and automated scientific literature discovery.

### Key Responsibilities

- Architect and implement Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems and Large Language Model (LLM) agents to query, summarize, and synthesize insights across large volumes of structured and unstructured data.
- Build semantic search engines capable of integrating internal legacy databases, data lakes, open-source repositories, and subscription-based scientific literature via APIs.
- Implement natural language translation, automated document classification, and multi-document summarization to augment science and technology gap analysis.
- Develop intelligent chatbots and virtual agents to deliver automated, role-based recommendations, career path mapping, and skills gap analysis for enterprise workforces.
- Build NLP-driven tasking models to ingest natural language inquiries, query underlying enterprise data sources, and draft contextual responses with audit trails for records management compliance.
- Design ML algorithms (including anomaly detection, predictive modeling, and causal inference) to identify project risks, optimize resource allocation, and forecast financial/technical shifts.
- Collaborate with UI/UX and data engineers to build interactive, role-based dashboards enabling natural language querying and drill-down analytics for leadership decision-making.
- Design automated ingestion and ETL/ELT pipelines using NLP and pattern recognition to transform disparate data formats into a standardized, unified Data Fabric schema.
- Implement robust Explainable AI (XAI) techniques to ensure transparency and trustworthiness of model recommendations.
- Ensure all AI models, APIs, and data storage solutions strictly adhere to DoD security regulations (e.g., NIST, FedRAMP, Risk Management Framework) across multiple classification levels.

### Required Qualifications

- **Education:** Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, or a related technical field.
- **Experience:** 5+ years of experience engineering production-grade AI/ML systems (or 3+ years with a Master's/Ph.D.).
- **NLP & LLMs:** Hands-on experience fine-tuning, evaluating, and deploying open-source and proprietary LLMs, embedding models, and vector databases (e.g., Pinecone, Milvus, Qdrant, FAISS).
- **Programming & Frameworks:** Proficiency in Python, PyTorch, TensorFlow, LangChain, LlamaIndex, and modern API frameworks (FastAPI, RESTful APIs).
- **Data Pipelines & Databases:** Experience working with complex structured and unstructured data sources, SQL, NoSQL, graph databases, and data lakes.
- **Security Clearance:** Must hold an active U.S. Government Secret clearance (or higher) and be eligible to obtain TS/SCI access.

### Preferred Qualifications

- Experience deploying AI applications within DoD, Air Force, or Federal agency environments (CAC/PKI integration, IL4/IL5/IL6 cloud environments).
- Proven track record building XAI (Explainable AI) architectures for leadership decision support.
- Background in developing AI solutions for HR systems, workflow management software, or scientific/academic literature indexing.
- Experience with cloud platforms (AWS GovCloud, Azure Government) and containerized deployment technologies (Docker, Kubernetes).

### Core Competencies

- **System Integration:** Ability to connect AI models with existing legacy software, APIs, and document management systems seamlessly.
- **Problem Solving:** Aptitude for turning complex, noisy, multi-dimensional data into intuitive, actionable insights.
- **Communication:** Ability to communicate technical AI concepts clearly to non-technical stakeholders, scientific subject matter experts, and executive leadership.

**
Position Clearance Requirement: **

US Citizenship with an active U.S. Government Secret clearance (or higher) and be eligible to obtain TS/SCI access.

**
Location:** Chantilly/Herndon, VA.

**Target Salary Range:** $120,000.00 – $160,000.00 (Commensurate with specialized expertise and technical skillset).

**
Equal Opportunity Employer:**

We are proud to be an EEO/AA employer Minorities/Women/Veterans/Disabled and other protected categories. In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity, confirm US Citizenship, and complete the required employment eligibility verification upon hire.

We are strictly looking for direct, full-time W2 employees. We do not engage with third-party staffing agencies, C2C, or 1099 independent contractors for this role.

[View posting at Dark Wolf Solutions](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/darkwolfsolutions/jobs/7886757003)

## About Dark Wolf Solutions

Builds cyber, DevSecOps, cloud, data/AI, and mission-engineering solutions for U.S. defense, intelligence, and Fortune 500 customers with reusable accelerators.

Bootstrapped · 500–1000 people

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