Lead AI Engineer​/Cedar Rapids, IA​/R&D Team

Position: Lead AI Engineer / Cedar Rapids, IA / Contract / R&D Team
Cedar Rapids, Iowa Onsite Contract  $50/hr - $80/hrA global leader in aerospace and defense technology is hiring for a Contract Lead AI Engineer in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The company is developing advanced avionics, communications, and mission critical systems used across commercial and military aviation. They’re known for innovation, long product life cycles, and solving highly complex technical challenges where reliability and certification requirements are critical.

In this role, you will lead a small team of approximately 4-7 engineers within a larger organization of roughly 50-60 technical professionals. They're looking for a mentor and technical leader who can guide engineers while remaining deeply involved in architecture, experimentation, development, and deployment. You'd be focused on designing, building, and scaling enterprise AI solutions. The role requires someone who understands AI beyond simple API integrations and has experience evaluating models, optimizing prompts and token usage, building production-grade workflows, and making technical decisions around AI architecture.

Required Skills & Experience Experience mentoring or leading teams of 4-7 Python FS Engineering experience LLMs, prompt engineering, RAG token optimization, and AI architecture Experience building and deploying production AI systems Builder mentality with a desire to stay hands-on technically
Desired Skills & Experience Go/Golang experience C/C++ Lang Chain, Lang Graph, or similar AI frameworks Agentic workflow development Enterprise AI deployment experience Computer vision experience Aerospace, defense, robotics, or highly regulated industry experience Technical leadership within agile software development teams
What You Will Be Doing
Tech Breakdown 40% AI Engineering & LLM Development 30% Python Software Engineering 15% Architecture & Technical Leadership 10% Agentic Workflows & Automation 5% Documentation & Testing

Daily Responsibilities 60% Hands-On Development 20% Management & Mentorship
The Offer5 days on-site in Cedar Rapids, Iowa Competitive pay depending on experience
Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the US on a full-time basis now and in the future.

You will receive the following benefits:

Medical Insurance - Four medical plans to choose from for you and your family

Dental & Orthodontia Benefits Vision Benefits Health Savings Account (HSA)
Health and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts Voluntary Life Insurance, Long-Term & Short-Term Disability Insurance Hospital Indemnity Insurance
401(k) including match with pre and post-tax options

Paid Sick Time Leave Legal and Identity Protection Plans Pre-tax Commuter Benefit
529 College Saver Plan Motion Recruitment Partners (MRP) is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All applicants must be currently authorized to work on a full-time basis in the country for which they are applying, and no sponsorship is currently available. Employment is subject to the successful completion of a pre-employment screening. Accommodation will be provided in all parts of the hiring process as required under MRP’s Employment Accommodation policy.

Applicants need to make their needs known in advance.