Principal AI Software Developer

The Senior Principal Software Engineer/Developer will serve as a lead enterprise architect and AI engineering authority, responsible for defining and delivering large-scale, mission-critical AI-enabled systems for HUD and the AIR platform. This role goes beyond hands-on development to include enterprise-wide technical strategy, cross-program architecture leadership, executive-level stakeholder engagement, and AI governance and innovation leadership in federal environments.

Serve as the primary technical authority across multiple programs, defining AI and application architecture strategy at the enterprise level

• Establish long-term modernization roadmaps for federal systems, aligning AI adoption with mission outcomes and compliance requirements

• Act as a trusted advisor to senior federal stakeholders (SES-level and above) on AI strategy, system modernization, and technology risk

• Drive technical decision-making across portfolios, ensuring scalability, interoperability, and long-term sustainability

• Own end-to-end enterprise architecture across multiple interconnected systems, platforms, and programs

• Lead design of complex, distributed AI-enabled architectures, including multi-cloud and hybrid environments

• Define and enforce architecture standards, reference architectures, and reusable frameworks across teams

• Lead development of advanced AI solutions, including RAG systems at scale, agentic workflows and orchestration frameworks, and AI-driven automation across mission workflows

• Establish AI engineering best practices and standards across the organization

• Evaluate and lead adoption of emerging AI technologies, guiding pilots into production-ready capabilities

• Drive innovation initiatives tied to AIR platform growth and differentiation

• Oversee multiple concurrent development efforts, ensuring alignment with architecture, security, and delivery goals

• Provide technical leadership across integrated product teams, including architects, engineers, and DevSecOps specialists

• Ensure delivery of high-availability, production-grade systems supporting federal missions

• Serve as a subject matter expert in federal AI policy and governance, including NIST AI RMF, OMB M-24-10, and EO 14110

• Establish and oversee organization-wide responsible AI frameworks, including model evaluation and validation, bias mitigation strategies, and explainability and auditability

• Ensure full compliance across programs with FISMA, FedRAMP, NIST 800-53, privacy, accessibility (Section 508), and security mandates

• Lead large-scale legacy modernization initiatives, including enterprise COBOL-to-Python transformations, migration to cloud-native, and microservices-based architectures

• Define repeatable modernization frameworks and accelerators

• Oversee implementation of enterprise-grade DevSecOps pipelines and platform engineering practices

• Drive adoption of, advanced CI/CD automation, Zero-trust architectures, and secure supply chain practices (SBOM, scanning, policy enforcement)

• Mentor senior engineers, architects, and technical leads

• Build and scale high-performing engineering teams

• Lead technical hiring, workforce planning, and capability development

• Play a key leadership role in proposals, captures, and recompetes

• Serve as technical lead in client presentations, demos, and strategy sessions

• Contribute to thought leadership (whitepapers, architecture frameworks, innovation roadmaps)

Knowledge/Skills/Abilities: Initial:

• Proven ability to operate as an Enterprise architect, chief engineer, or technical director-level leader

• Strong executive communication skills with demonstrated success influencing C-suite or federal senior leadership

• Deep expertise in scaling engineering organizations and delivering across complex programs

• Ability to balance strategic vision with hands-on technical depth

Qualifications:

• US Citizenship is required

• Bachelor's or master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field

• 12-15+ years of software engineering experience, including 6-8+ years in AI-enabled systems (LLMs, generative AI, applied ML in production) (enhanced from 8+ years total)

• Demonstrated experience leading enterprise-scale architecture and multi-team delivery efforts

• Expert-level proficiency in Python and modern backend frameworks and Full-stack architectures and modern front-end technologies

• Deep experience in Cloud-native platforms (Azure, AWS, GCP) at scale and Multi-environment deployments in FedRAMP-authorized environments

• Extensive experience with AI/ML platforms (OpenAI, Bedrock, Vertex AI, etc.) and Advanced AI architectures (RAG, orchestration, agents)

• Proven track record of leading large modernization programs (COBOL-to-modern stack transformation) and delivering mission-critical federal systems

• Deep knowledge of NIST AI RMF and federal AI governance frameworks and secure software development in federal environments

• Strong experience with Microservices, APIs, distributed systems design and DevSecOps and platform engineering leadership

• Prior experience serving as Lead Architect, Chief Engineer, or Technical Director on federal programs

• Active clearance (Public Trust, Secret, or higher strongly preferred)

• Prior HUD or federal civilian agency leadership experience

• Experience contributing to organizational AI strategy or product platforms (e.g., AIR-like platforms)