R&D Systems Engineer (AI)

Location: On-site in Chantilly, Virginia, United States; travel of 0–20% and standard working hours.

Salary: $152,600–$190,700 annually for the Virginia area.

Company

hirify.global provides technical services to the U.S. Government and develops capabilities for national security space systems.

What you will do

• Provide Systems Engineering and Technical Advisory support for a U.S. Government program office developing next-generation satellite ground systems.
• Analyze ground-system concepts, architectures, emerging technologies, orchestration, task scheduling, and high-throughput data processing.
• Evaluate and optimize workflows from satellite downlink and data ingestion through final data dissemination.
• Support the full lifecycle from concept development and acquisition planning through design, development, integration, testing, and mission operations.
• Assess AI and machine learning technologies, implement quantization methods such as GGUF, AWQ, and EXL2, and develop pipelines using llama.cpp, vLLM, and Ollama.
• Scout and evaluate state-of-the-art technologies, research organizations, vendors, and external contractor partnerships.

Requirements

• Active TS/SCI clearance with polygraph required.
• Bachelor’s degree with 5+ years of relevant experience, Master’s degree with 3+ years, or PhD with 0+ years of relevant experience.
• Expertise in satellite ground-system architecture, operations, and inference pipelines.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite, Python, PyTorch or TensorFlow, and multimodal LLMs.
• Strong critical-thinking, problem-solving, analytical, written communication, presentation, and stakeholder-management skills.
• On-site availability in the Chantilly, Virginia area is required.

Nice to have

• Experience with satellite ground networks, command and control systems, space-to-ground communications, data routing, and overhead sensor data such as SIGINT or GEOINT.
• Familiarity with AI/ML, quantization, hardware and system performance monitoring, or data analysis.
• Experience evaluating vendors, supporting RFPs, or managing technical interfaces with external contractors.

Culture & Benefits

• 401(k) plan with company match and medical, dental, vision, life, AD&D, flexible spending, and disability benefits may be available.
• Paid time off and a flexible work schedule may be available.
• Professional training and development support for career advancement.
• People First and Zero Harm culture focused on belonging, connection, and growth.