AI/ML Engineering Director Fellow

AI/ML Engineering Director Fellow

Full-time FAS staff

Washington, DC [remote/hybrid/in-person]

Why FAS?  

Does FAS sound like an organization that you would be energized to join?  Is it aligned to your values?

The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) takes quite seriously our role as a beacon and voice for the science community.  

FAS has a rich history: after the devastating bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, a group of atomic researchers – deeply concerned about the use of science for malice – created an organization committed to using science and technology to benefit humanity.  

The group they created – the Federation of Atomic Scientists – soon became the Federation of American Scientists in recognition of the hundreds of scientists across diverse disciplines who joined together to speak with one voice for the betterment of the world.  

Today, we are a group of entrepreneurial, intrepid changemakers, forging a better future for all through the nexus of science, technology and talent. We value equity, inclusion, and transparency.  As a collective, we are building an organization focused on being impact-driven, customer-focused, and growth-oriented as a force for good in the world.

The FAS Impact Fellowship is a selective fellowship program that supports the development and placement of emerging scientific and technical talent within high-impact roles across federal and state governments. From education to immigration, wildfire resilience, national security, and housing, Impact Fellows are serving across a variety of federal and state agencies in roles that augment existing government teams as they confront some of the greatest scientific and social challenges of our time.

To Sum It Up…

What’s the “elevator pitch” for the role?

The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) Talent Hub is seeking an Impact Fellow for a 24 month term to join the Department of Information Technology within a state government. 

The Gubernatorial Administration has an ambitious vision to become a national leader in the responsible and productive use of artificial intelligence. Guided by the state’s AI Roadmap, the Governor’s office aims to harness AI to improve government services, making them more responsive, efficient, and impactful.

State agencies are eager to explore how AI can improve public services and deliver better outcomes for residents. To turn that momentum into impact, the state is interested in building the technical capacity and modernizing the systems needed to move from ideas to implementation.

To achieve this goal, the state is collaborating with FAS to recruit an AI/ML Engineering Director who will lead high-impact projects, expand technical capacity, and help drive the use of AI to modernize public services. The position will support innovation across workforce systems and help position the state as a national model in the innovation economy.

What will some of your responsibilities entail?  

As the AI/ML Engineering Director, you will lead technical strategy, delivery, and capacity-building to expand the state’s ability to develop and scale AI solutions. Your work will focus on:

• Identifying areas where state-led AI experimentation can have the greatest impact
• Identifying systemic barriers – such as gaps in technical expertise, procedural bottlenecks, or infrastructure/architectural limitations – that slow the adoption of AI tools across state government.
• Developing technical, policy, and talent solutions to remove these barriers and accelerate the implementation of AI projects.
• Evaluating, prototyping, implementing, and optimizing AI/ML systems to ensure they are production-ready, scalable, and high-performing.
• Leading and/or supporting high-impact AI deployments in priority areas – such as streamlining permitting or transforming legacy systems – that deliver on improved operations, customer experience, and service design.
• Championing an AI/MLOps strategy for the State AI product lifecycle.
• Building longer-term capacity by establishing practices that enable sustained AI adoption, including with and for agentic systems.

The potential impact for this role includes:

• Increasing the State’s ability across agencies to run high-priority proofs of concept, evaluate success, and scale into production.
• Expanding the State’s ability to deliver AI solutions that improve public services, enhance operational efficiency, and strengthen trust in government.
• Developing a state-wide understanding of platforms, infrastructure, and tooling to build or buy to satisfy the most impactful, requested, and high-ROI GenAI use cases. 

Skills and Expertise: Must Haves

What skills do you need to show proficiency (or higher) in order to be a strong candidate?

• 5 - 7 years of engineering leadership, preferably mentoring and growing engineering teams to design/build/ship AI systems.
• Exceptional ability to build strong relationships with cross-functional peers in Design, Legal, Product, and other diverse disciplines.
• Envision the “art of the possible” – you have a strong point of view on where AI is going next and will make a plan to keep the state at the forefront.
• Deep knowledge of the end-to-end AI product lifecycle, from user research to continuous improvement and monitoring.
• Hands-on experience defining and implementing robust frameworks for system orchestration, continuous evaluation, and post-deployment monitoring.
• A holistic approach to building AI: You value its ethics and impact as much as its accuracy.
• A track record building and launching AI systems in highly regulated industries, including the government and healthcare, is preferred but not required.

Work Environment 

This position can be a hybrid or remote role. Meaning that both remote and in-person work can be accommodated, generally two to three days per week on-site, and two to three days per week remote depending on the needs of the organization.

Salary Range

This fellowship will provide a salary for the entirety of the fellowship duration at an annual rate of $164,000 per year.

Hiring Statement

Don’t check off every box? Apply anyway! Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply for jobs unless they meet every listed qualification. At FAS we are dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workplace, and developing new voices. If you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly, we encourage you to apply anyway – you might just be the right candidate.