The Aerospace Corporation is the trusted partner to the nation’s space programs, solving the hardest problems and providing unmatched technical expertise. As the operator of a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC), we are broadly engaged across all aspects of space— delivering innovative solutions that span satellite, launch, ground, and cyber systems for defense, civil and commercial customers. When you join our team, you’ll be part of a special collection of problem solvers, thought leaders, and innovators. Join us and take your place in space.

At Aerospace, we are committed to providing an inclusive and diverse workplace for all employees to share in our common passion and aspiration – to carry out a mission much bigger than ourselves.

Information Systems and Cyber Division (ISCD) staff couple the latest in information system technologies, such as elastic compute clouds, containerization, microservices, real-time operating systems, and visualization frameworks, with expertise in cyber security, software architecture, software engineering, process improvement, software development, data science, and machine learning to deliver responsive, resilient, high-performance software intensive systems to our IC, DoD, and civilian customers.

The Data Science and Artificial Intelligence Department (DSAID) seeks a creative and enthusiastic ML Engineer to join a diverse team of engineers, data scientists, and programmers with a passion for researching, prototyping, understanding, and building AI and data enabled tools across the space enterprise! We are a growing, innovative, and collaborative department that makes meaningful contributions to National Security Space (AF, NRO, etc.), and Civil and Commercial customers (NASA, MDA, DHS, etc.).

Machine Learning Engineers contribute to projects involving one or more of the following: Software Engineering methodologies, DevOps/MLOps, ML application deployment, and Computer Vision. They are team-oriented, take initiative, are focused on developing innovative technologies and frameworks, and are comfortable balancing multiple projects spanning internally funded research and development to advise customer support for mission-critical space systems.

Work Model

This position can be partially remote or onsite in El Segundo, CA; Chantilly, VA; or Colorado Springs, CO.

What You’ll Be Doing

• DSAID’s customers range from National Security Space (AF, NRO, etc.) to civil (NASA, NOAA, etc.) and commercial (commercial space, autonomous vehicles, etc.)
• DSAID applies data science and AI knowledge across the space enterprise, to Aerospace enterprise capabilities, and towards corporate workforce development and strategic focus areas
• ML Engineering Specialists work on teams spanning subject areas, experience levels, and organizational boundaries.
• Primary functions include:
• Evaluating technologies for use in scalable and resilient mission-critical applications in a production environment
• Developing and implementing experiments
• Building and leading small, innovative teams to develop ML architecture and software prototypes
• Collaborating with teams of various sizes to deliver features and products
• Presenting written and verbal results to customer stakeholders
• Reinforcing an environment of learning and progress with team members and others
• Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change, or new ones may be assigned as needed

What You Need to be Successful

Minimum Requirements: Senior Member of Technical Staff

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited program in Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field(s)
• Typically, 5 or more years of experience in relevant fields in industry
• Software development skills in at least two different programming languages (e.g., Python, R, C/C++), including familiarity with machine learning and deep learning libraries in Python
• Experience with and understanding of software engineering, machine learning, and statistics
• Experience with ML Development Lifecycle
• Experience developing and deploying ML applications/solutions
• Experience packaging ML software and products (e.g., Docker, ONNX)
• Experience with MLOPs and Data Engineering tools (e.g., MLFlow, Kubeflow, Neptune, Airflow, DVC)
• Familiarity with Unix/Linux operating systems
• Technical leadership or responsibility in one or more software development or computer engineering projects
• Demonstrated ability to operate independently and proactively seek guidance as needed
• Demonstrated ability to cooperate and lead teams
• This position requires ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance, which is issued by the US government. U.S citizenship is required to obtain a security clearance

Minimum Requirements: Engineering Specialist

• Typically, 8 or more years of experience in relevant fields in industry
• All other requirements mentioned above as well.  

How You Can Stand Out

It would be impressive if you have one or more of these:

• A graduate degree from an accredited program in Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field(s)
• Familiarity with High Performance Computing hardware (GPUs, TPUs)
• Experience creating effective data visualizations and user interfaces, communicating results
• Experience in SQL, NoSQL, Cypher and other database querying languages
• Experience with big data frameworks (Hadoop, Spark, Flink etc.)
• Familiarity with data pipelining and streaming technologies (Apache Kafka, Apache Nifi, etc.)
• Experience with container orchestration tooling (Kubernetes, Docker Swarm, Rancher)
• Experience deploying ML models on cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, etc.)
• Demonstrated contributions to open-source software repositories (github, kaggle, etc.)
• Active security clearance

We offer a competitive compensation package where you’ll be rewarded based on your performance and recognized for the value you bring to our business.  The grade-based pay range for this job is listed below.  Individual salaries within that range are determined through a wide variety of factors including but not limited to education, experience, knowledge and skills. 

(Min - Mid - Max)

Ways We Reward Our Employees

During your interview process, our team will provide details of our industry-leading benefits.

Benefits vary and are applicable based on Job Type.  A few highlights include:

• Comprehensive health care and wellness plans

• Paid holidays, sick time, and vacation

• Standard and alternate work schedules, including telework options

• 401(k) Plan — Employees receive a total company-paid benefit of 8%, 10%, or 12% of eligible compensation based on years of service and matching contributions; employees are immediately eligible and vested in the plan upon hire

• Flexible spending accounts

• Variable pay program for exceptional contributions

• Relocation assistance

• Professional growth and development programs to help advance your career

• Education assistance programs

• An inclusive work environment built on teamwork, flexibility, and respect

We are all unique, from diverse backgrounds and all walks of life, yet one thing bonds all of us to each other—the belief that we can make a difference. This core belief empowers us to do our best work at The Aerospace Corporation.

Equal Opportunity Commitment

The Aerospace Corporation is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. We believe that a diverse workforce creates an environment in which unique ideas are developed and differing perspectives are valued, producing superior customer solutions. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, age, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, color, religion, genetic information, marital status, ancestry, national origin, protected veteran status, physical disability, medical condition, mental disability, or disability status and any other characteristic protected by state or federal law. If you’re an individual with a disability or a disabled veteran who needs assistance using our online job search and application tools or need reasonable accommodation to complete the job application process, please contact us by phone at 310.336.5432 or by email at ieo.mailbox@aero.org. You can also review Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal, as well as the Pay Transparency Policy Statement.