The Role
Lead forward-deployed AI engineering engagements for intelligence operations customers, transforming operational workflows into production agentic systems. Build Python-based LLM applications with tools, subagents, guardrails, evaluations, and audit logging. Evaluate models and frameworks, mentor engineers, establish AI-generated code review standards, and communicate technical risks and tradeoffs to technical and government stakeholders.
Summary Generated by Built In
Belay Technologies has been voted Baltimore Business Journal's (BBJ) Best Places to Work 2026!
Belay Technologies is seeking a Senior Software Engineer to join our intel team. AIMASSIST brings AI into the operations organization, embedding engineers with the operators, analysts, and developers who carry out the CNO mission. Our engineers learn how those teams work, find the tasks that consume their time, and build AI agents and tools that let them move faster without giving up accuracy or control. We build on both frontier models and on-premises open-weight models, served through the customer's enterprise AI platform, and turn them into mission capabilities such as agents that triage incoming data, automate repetitive tradecraft, or research across disparate sources on an analyst's behalf. We are now introducing autonomous agents the mission can trust: agents that take real actions within guardrails, are measured against evaluations built with the people who use them, and log every step so a reviewer can follow what they did. As a senior Applied AI Engineer, you will lead forward-deployed work with a mission customer from the first conversation through production and set the technical direction for the agents your team builds. You will mentor engineers who are newer to applied AI and help define how our team develops software with AI, including the review standards and validation layers that let us put autonomous coding agents to work on mission code. This role suits an experienced engineer who wants to shape how AI is fielded across operations and grow into project leadership.
Responsibilities:
Candidates should have the following qualifications:
Skills Requirements:
Candidates are desired to have the following skills:
Perks and Benefits:
At Belay, we are committed to creating an environment where you can thrive both professionally and personally. We believe in transparency and fairness in compensation. Several factors influence final salary including, but not limited to, geographic location, Federal Government contract labor categories and contract wage rates, relevant prior work experience, education, specific skills and competencies and certifications. Belay offers a competitive total compensation package that includes benefits and perks, a flexible work-life balance, and career development.
Salary Range: $190,000 to $240,000
Belay Technologies is a certified Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business located in Columbia, Maryland (Baltimore/Washington area). Belay Technologies specializes in systems automation and full stack development. Belay Technologies provides leading technology and engineering solutions to the DoD, as well as state-of-the-art commercial products. We hire software engineers, web designers, test engineers, systems engineers, systems administrators, database engineers and other tech services. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, physical or mental disability, genetic factors, military/veteran status or other characteristics protected by law.
Belay Technologies is seeking a Senior Software Engineer to join our intel team. AIMASSIST brings AI into the operations organization, embedding engineers with the operators, analysts, and developers who carry out the CNO mission. Our engineers learn how those teams work, find the tasks that consume their time, and build AI agents and tools that let them move faster without giving up accuracy or control. We build on both frontier models and on-premises open-weight models, served through the customer's enterprise AI platform, and turn them into mission capabilities such as agents that triage incoming data, automate repetitive tradecraft, or research across disparate sources on an analyst's behalf. We are now introducing autonomous agents the mission can trust: agents that take real actions within guardrails, are measured against evaluations built with the people who use them, and log every step so a reviewer can follow what they did. As a senior Applied AI Engineer, you will lead forward-deployed work with a mission customer from the first conversation through production and set the technical direction for the agents your team builds. You will mentor engineers who are newer to applied AI and help define how our team develops software with AI, including the review standards and validation layers that let us put autonomous coding agents to work on mission code. This role suits an experienced engineer who wants to shape how AI is fielded across operations and grow into project leadership.
Responsibilities:
- Lead forward-deployed engagements with operations customers: elicit requirements from operators and analysts, identify the workflows where AI saves the most time, and deliver solutions from prototype to production.
- Architect and build agentic systems in Python that connect LLMs, MCP servers, Skills, and subagents to mission data sources and existing operational tools.
- Design guardrails for autonomous agents, including scoped permissions, human approval gates, and audit logging, so agents can act on operational systems safely.
- Build evaluation suites with mission users that measure the accuracy, reliability, and failure modes of AI capabilities, and use the results to decide when a capability is ready to field.
- Evaluate new models, frameworks, and AI design patterns, both frontier and open-weight, for fit against mission problems, and brief findings and tradeoffs to technical and government leadership.
- Use AI coding agents (e.g., Claude Code) in daily development, and help define team standards for reviewing, testing, and validating AI-generated code.
- Mentor engineers through design reviews, code reviews, and pairing, and lead technical design discussions for your project area.
- Communicate progress, risks, and tradeoffs to project leads and government stakeholders.
Candidates should have the following qualifications:
- TS/SCI Clearance with polygraph
- 12 yrs., B.S. in a technical discipline or 4 additional yrs. in place of B.S.
Skills Requirements:
- Extensive professional software engineering experience with advanced Python proficiency, including production services, APIs, and data pipelines that users depend on.
- Experience building LLM applications or agentic systems that use tool/function calling, structured outputs, context management, and multi-step workflows.
- Experience working directly with end users or mission customers to turn ambiguous operational problems into delivered software.
- Experience designing tests, evaluations, or validation layers for AI or other non-deterministic systems.
- Experience using AI coding assistants or agents (e.g., Claude Code, Codex, Copilot) for code generation, refactoring, and debugging, with the review discipline to own and explain everything they produce.
- Technical leadership experience, such as serving as tech lead, leading design decisions, or mentoring engineers.
- Experience with Git, CI/CD pipelines (GitLab preferred), Docker/Kubernetes, and Atlassian tools (Jira, Confluence).
- Strong written and verbal communication with technical and non-technical audiences.
Candidates are desired to have the following skills:
- Experience with Model Context Protocol (MCP), Skills, subagents, or multi-agent orchestration frameworks such as PydanticAI or LangGraph.
- Experience securing LLM applications against prompt injection, data leakage, and over-permissioned tool access.
- Experience with retrieval systems (RAG, vector databases, Elasticsearch).
- Experience building spec-driven or autonomous development pipelines with AI coding agents.
- Prior forward-deployed or embedded customer-facing engineering experience.
- Experience with production CNO capabilities and operations, or knowledge of end-to-end SIGINT collection and analysis systems.
Perks and Benefits:
- 8 weeks paid leave - 4 weeks of personal leave, 3 Yay! days, take off on your birthday,11 paid holidays and optional leave up to 6 days through Belay's volunteer program
- 10% matching in 401(k) contributions vested on day one
- $5,000 annual training/tuition
- Student Loan Repayment Program
- 100% company-funded HSA
- Rich medical coverage (100% coinsurance)
- Dental coverage including orthodontia
- Up to $420,000 in life insurance, premiums 100% company funded
- Amazon Prime, gym reimbursement, monthly lunches, games and prizes
- Pet adoption program, generous referral bonus program, fun events, and more!
At Belay, we are committed to creating an environment where you can thrive both professionally and personally. We believe in transparency and fairness in compensation. Several factors influence final salary including, but not limited to, geographic location, Federal Government contract labor categories and contract wage rates, relevant prior work experience, education, specific skills and competencies and certifications. Belay offers a competitive total compensation package that includes benefits and perks, a flexible work-life balance, and career development.
Salary Range: $190,000 to $240,000
Belay Technologies is a certified Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business located in Columbia, Maryland (Baltimore/Washington area). Belay Technologies specializes in systems automation and full stack development. Belay Technologies provides leading technology and engineering solutions to the DoD, as well as state-of-the-art commercial products. We hire software engineers, web designers, test engineers, systems engineers, systems administrators, database engineers and other tech services. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, physical or mental disability, genetic factors, military/veteran status or other characteristics protected by law.
Skills Required
- TS/SCI clearance with polygraph
- 12 years of professional experience, or 8 years with a bachelor's degree in a technical discipline
- Bachelor's degree in a technical discipline, or four additional years of experience in lieu of the degree
- Advanced Python proficiency, including production services, APIs, and data pipelines
- Experience building LLM applications or agentic systems with tool calling, structured outputs, context management, and multi-step workflows
- Experience translating ambiguous operational problems into delivered software with end users or mission customers
- Experience designing tests, evaluations, or validation layers for AI or non-deterministic systems
- Experience using AI coding assistants or agents, with ownership of reviewing and explaining generated code
- Technical leadership experience, including technical leadership, design decisions, or mentoring engineers
- Experience with Git, CI/CD pipelines, Docker or Kubernetes, and Atlassian tools
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
- Experience with MCP, Skills, subagents, PydanticAI, LangGraph, or other multi-agent orchestration frameworks
- Experience securing LLM applications against prompt injection, data leakage, and excessive tool permissions
- Experience with retrieval systems, RAG, vector databases, or Elasticsearch
- Experience building spec-driven or autonomous development pipelines with AI coding agents
- Prior forward-deployed or embedded customer-facing engineering experience
- Experience with production CNO capabilities, SIGINT collection, or SIGINT analysis systems
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The Company
What We Do
Belay Technologies, Inc. is a certified Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) located in the Baltimore-Washington area providing technology and engineering services to the Department of Defense (DoD) and expanding into the commercial market. Belay Technologies specializes in technical IT services including; software development, virtualization, systems administration, networking, and testing. Belay continues to expand, and we are always seeking top talent. Belay is more than just a company.....It's a culture. With our work hard, play hard edge and a family-like feel, our employees feel at home with Belay. We are a laid back, fun, innovative team that gets together monthly for lunches, enjoys company parties, bbq's and fun adventures together, and joins in volunteer and charity events as a socially aware company.
