Principal Agentic AI Architect - Aurora CO or Meridian

Principal Agentic AI Architect

Aurora, CO or Meridian, CO

Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis.

Clearance Requirement:
Active TS/SCI with Polygraph (Must be current and transferable)

Requires US Citizenship

We are seeking a visionary Principal Agentic AI Architect to lead the design and implementation of next-generation AI efforts for the Intelligence Community. In this role, you will define the architectural blueprint for a secure, multi-agent ecosystem that transforms natural language intent into auditable, multi-step operational workflows. You will not just build models; you will engineer collaborative agent teams, governance loops, and dynamic tool integration frameworks using open standards (MCP, A2A).

The ideal candidate possesses deep expertise in the enterprise agent frameworks, distributed systems, and Zero Trust security, with a proven track record of deploying autonomous agents in high-stakes, classified environments.

• Architectural Leadership:
  Define the end-to-end architecture, leveraging enterprise agent frameworks to enable dynamic, scalable multi-agent teams.
• Agentic Orchestration:
  Design complex reasoning loops where specialized agents collaborate, manage shared memory/context, and execute tasks autonomously while maintaining human-in-the-loop control.
• Governance & Safety:
  Engineer and enforce rigorous quality assurance (groundedness, safety, compliance) prior to result delivery, including automated rework loops.
• Integration Strategy:
  Architect the Agent Gateway and Tool Registries to facilitate secure, dynamic discovery and execution of external tools via Model Context Protocol (MCP) and Agent-to-Agent (A2A) standards.
• Infrastructure Alignment:
  Lead integration efforts with an enterprise infrastructure platform infrastructure, including secure LLM hosting environment (LLM hosting), identity management system (Identity), and serverless compute environments.
• Context Management:
  Develop robust strategies for short-term and long-term memory management to prevent context overflow in complex, multi-turn missions.
• Observability & Ops:
  Implement comprehensive tracing and metrics to provide full visibility into agent decision paths, tool usage, and lifecycle health.
• Mentorship:
  Guide a team of AI engineers and data scientists, fostering a culture of innovation, security-first thinking, and technical excellence.
• Communication:
  Primary interface with Government customers on technology, roadmaps, and implementation details. Strong communications and briefing skills and able to communicate complex Agentic AI topics to a non-technical customer.
• Agility:
  Flexibility and ability to adapt to evolving requirements and shifting priorities while effectively balancing multiple responsibilities.

• Required:
  
  Master's degree or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Distributed Systems, or a related technical field.
• Substitution:
  Equivalent practical experience (12+ years) in AI architecture and system design may substitute for advanced degrees.

• Agentic Frameworks:
  Deep, hands‑on expertise with enterprise agent frameworks. Must demonstrate understanding of agent state management, handoffs, and collaborative reasoning.
• LLM Operations:
  Proven experience deploying and optimizing LLMs in production, including prompt engineering, RAG (Retrieval‑Augmented Generation), and model switching strategies.
• Integration Protocols:
  Expert‑level knowledge of MCP and emerging A2A standards. Experience building custom connectors and gateways is essential.
• Distributed Systems:
  Strong background in microservices architecture, event‑driven design, and containerization (Kubernetes/Docker).
• Memory & Context:
  Demonstrated ability to architect vector databases, graph databases, and hybrid memory systems for maintaining long‑term agent context.
• Security & Compliance:
  Extensive experience implementing Zero Trust architectures and standards‑based authentication & access controls in high‑security environments.

• Minimum 10+ years of total software engineering experience.
• Minimum 5+ years specifically focused on AI/ML…