Forward Deployed Engineer, U.S. Government — Enterprise AI Solutions & Strategy

Join ZR Talent Group's remote specialist network as a Forward Deployed Engineer, U.S. Government — Enterprise AI Solutions & Strategy earning $300,000 - $500,000/year. Working asynchronously from anywhere in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, or South Africa, you will apply your practical background in Python, LLM Systems, Data Pipelines, Distributed Systems to benchmark frontier artificial intelligence models, identify failure modes, and elevate domain-specific accuracy.

Prior experience building machine learning systems is not required—our research partners value authentic practitioner judgment, domain rigor, and clear analytical writing.

Key Responsibilities & Deliverables

• Build and deploy agentic AI systems that support high-impact U.S. Government missions from prototype to production.
• Design and integrate LLM applications, including multi-agent systems, tool-using agents, RAG workflows, and human-in-the-loop autonomy.
• Work directly with government partners in forward-deployed environments to translate mission needs into technical systems.
• Build and maintain large-scale data curation, and evaluation pipelines for model training and improvement.
• Develop infrastructure for model inference, experimentation, evaluation, and deployment across frontier AI platforms.
• Build AI systems that turn mission data, models, and tools into real operational autonomy.
• Own systems across the full lifecycle, including discovery, architecture, implementation, deployment, reliability, security, and iteration.

Required Qualifications & Technical Criteria

• Able to operate independently in ambiguous, partner-facing settings with technical and operational ownership.
• Strong Python engineer with from initial concept through completion ownership experience.
• Practical background using LLMs and creating agentic systems.
• Built or maintained data pipelines / ML infrastructure.
• Familiar with RL workflows or simulation environments.
• Comfortable in high-security / high-reliability environments.

Preferred Experience & Bonus Attributes

• Active U.S. security clearance or eligibility and willingness to obtain one.
• Experience supporting U.S. Government, defense, intelligence, or national security missions.
• Prior experience at a startup, defense organization, Department of War, or government-focused technology company.
• Background operating in fast-moving startup environments, mission-critical government settings, or both.
• Compensation & Benefits Notice
• The national pay range for this full-time position is base salary of $150,000 –$250,000. All employees are eligible for equity compensation, and employees may also receive performance-based bonuses, dependent on role and subject to company policies. ZR Talent Group provides a comprehensive benefits package, including up to 100% reimbursement for health-insurance premiums, paid time off, a 401(K) plan with a company match, and additional benefits designed to support a high-performing, remote-first workforce.

Compensation, Remote Eligibility & Schedule

• Compensation Band: $300,000 - $500,000/year
• Work Model: 100% Remote / Work From Home with flexible asynchronous scheduling
• Eligible Remote Locations: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and South Africa
• Current Openings: 1 active specialist position
• Hiring Organization: ZR Talent Group
• Core Skills & Technologies: Python, LLM Systems, Data Pipelines, Distributed Systems