Senior Mission Software Engineer (AI)

Location: Hybrid, with significant on-site time at customer sites; 25% travel expected, up to 50% as necessary, and/or relocation to Washington, DC or St. Louis.

Salary: $223,200–$279,000 USD or $186,000–$233,000 USD annually, depending on work location and qualifications.

Company

Scale AI develops reliable AI systems, high-quality data, and full-stack technologies for enterprises and government organizations.

What you will do

• Embed with U.S. government customers to understand mission needs and turn them into working software.
• Design, build, deploy, and maintain solutions from initial prototype through stable production at customer sites.
• Build backend systems and data integrations connecting customer environments with Scale’s platform.
• Partner with product and engineering teams to turn field insights into reusable platform capabilities.
• Act as the technical point of contact for customer stakeholders and support adoption.

Requirements

• 5+ years of software engineering experience, preferably in customer-facing, forward-deployed, or government environments.
• Strong production coding skills in Python and TypeScript or comparable modern languages.
• Experience across cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, or GCP, plus containers, Linux, and networking fundamentals.
• Ability to work independently, make trade-offs under pressure, and operate in ambiguous, fast-moving environments.
• Active TS/SCI clearance required.
• Ability to spend significant time on-site with customers and travel 25%, with up to 50% travel as needed.

Nice to have

• Experience building or deploying systems powered by LLMs or generative models.
• Familiarity with Node, React, Kubernetes, Docker, and Terraform.
• Data engineering experience with ETL pipelines, data modeling, and data governance.

Culture & Benefits

• Health, dental, and vision coverage.
• Retirement benefits and generous paid time off.
• Learning and development stipend.
• Equity compensation may be available for eligible roles.
• Commuter stipend may be available.
• Inclusive equal opportunity workplace with reasonable accommodation support.