Technical Lead - Serving & Pipelines SME

Job Description

Everforth ECS is seeking a Technical Lead – Serving & Pipelines SME to work in the National Capital Region covering the Pentagon, Falls Church, and Fairfax. This position is contingent upon contract award.

The War Data Platform (WDP) is a key initiative within the U.S. Department of War's (DoW) AI-First strategy introduced in early 2026. The WDP focuses on operational war fighting data and aims to accelerate the deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) on the battlefield. The WDP extends to Unclassified, Secret, and Top Secret environments, and supports collaboration between Combatant Commands, Joint Staff directorates, Senior Executive Service leaders, and operational analysts.

This role designs, architects, and leads end-to-end AI and machine‑learning model serving operations across all WDP classification enclaves, owning the full lifecycle of automated model pipelines—from scan and validation through cross‑domain promotion and production release—to ensure scalable, secure, and mission‑ready AI capability delivery across NIPRNet, SIPRNet, and JWICS.

• Design, architect, and lead end-to-end AI and machine‑learning model serving operations across Unclassified, Secret, and Top Secret enclaves supporting mission analysts, operational planners, and senior decision makers.
• Build and maintain automated data and model pipelines that scan, validate, package, and deploy model artifacts into production environments using enterprise tools such as Kubernetes, Argo Workflows, Git Lab CI, Sonatype, and automated security scanning suites.
• Integrate test and evaluation checkpoints into deployment pathways to validate mission readiness, performance reliability, and adherence to engineering and cybersecurity best practices before models enter operational use.
• Implement serving endpoint configurations, proxy patterns, and access control integrations for scalable, secure, and auditable model consumption across the War Data Platform (WDP) Core Integration Platform.
• Maintain an enterprise model catalog and model‑zoo interface providing users with structured discovery, metadata access, and controlled onboarding workflows.
• Coordinate cross‑domain model promotions using approved transfer mechanisms to deliver synchronized releases across NIPRNet, SIPRNet, and JWICS.
• Establish standardized release processes for multi‑enclave deployments supporting ten to thirty model and service releases per month.
• Integrate external model provider services—including commercial foundation model platforms—to expand mission‑aligned model availability via secure application programming interfaces.
• Lead troubleshooting and Tier‑4 support activities for model serving, deployment infrastructure, and production pipelines.
• Produce engineering artifacts, architecture diagrams, and operational reports that advance reliability, accelerate release velocity, strengthen mission assurance, and increase adoption of enterprise artificial intelligence capabilities.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

• Current Secret security clearance with the ability to obtain and maintain a Top Secret (TS) security clearance with Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI).
• Minimum 12 years of experience designing, operating, and leading AI/ML model serving operations and automated deployment pipelines within classified or federal multi‑enclave environments.
• Hands‑on expertise with container orchestration and pipeline tooling—including Kubernetes, Argo Workflows, Git Lab CI, and Sonatype—with a proven ability to build automated scan, validate, and deploy workflows for model artifacts at enterprise scale.
• Proven experience engineering and governing cross‑domain model promotion workflows, including coordination of synchronized multi‑enclave releases across NIPRNet, SIPRNet, and JWICS at high release cadence.
• Ability to design and implement AI/ML model serving endpoints, API proxy configurations, and access control frameworks that support scalable and auditable model consumption across classification boundaries.
• Strong problem‑solving and decision‑making capabilities, with a proven ability to weigh the relative costs and benefits of potential…