Software Engineering Manager, Forward Deployed

Air is hiring a Forward Deployed Data Science Manager to lead a team delivering data science and applied AI solutions through its Enterprise Readiness platform. The role oversees technical standards, delivery quality, customer collaboration, and innovation for readiness outcomes.

Responsibilities:

• Collaborate with the Go-To-Market and Forward Deployed Engineering teams to ensure appropriate support and delivery for government customers
• Lead and mentor a team of Forward Deployed Data Scientists and AI Engineers to deliver readiness outcomes for our customers through Air’s Enterprise Readiness platform
• Direct complex AI initiatives for U.S. Government clients, covering agentic AI, classical machine learning and statistical modeling approaches. Applications focus on critical defense sectors (Army, Navy, Air Force, Space Force) for fleet readiness (MRO), predictive maintenance, supply chain analysis and other use cases
• Establish coding, testing, and AI coding best practices and standards for engineers, driving excellence in software development
• Oversee AI development for practical use cases in deployment by nurturing the AI team culture, defining AI/ML tool usage, and applying scientific methods
• Oversee the quality of data scientists' deliverables, including model delivery, coding, evaluation, and testing, to maintain high standards of science and software
• Collaborate closely with client stakeholders and Air’s delivery teams to translate business requirements into technical specifications
• Continuously seek innovation and process improvement opportunities, finding efficiencies in all assigned tasks to drive the team's success
• Work with AI platform teams to ensure generalization of AI cases built for particular clients into platform and product features
• Collaborate closely with Air's product team ensuring a feedback loop from the edge to the core platform
• Work collaboratively with data engineers, software engineers, QA engineers, and DevOps engineers to enhance our platform's overall quality and performance

Requirements:

• U.S. Citizenship is required
• 5+ years of external or internal customer-facing, complex, and large-scale project management experience
• 5+ years of delivering data science solutions into production
• 2+ years of experience leading and managing a team of data scientists and/or machine learning engineers and/or AI engineers developing new AI systems and deploying them into production
• Strong technical background with expertise in developing AI/ML solutions for a wide variety of problems
• Deep understanding of data assets and their applicability to AI/ML model development
• Proven ability to continuously evaluate and adopt new AI tools and methods to improve delivery speed and quality
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to become a subject matter expert (SME) in the National Security domain and communicate complex technical concepts to both internal and external stakeholders
• Demonstrated success in recruiting, training, coaching, and mentoring high-performing technical teams
• Strong problem-solving skills and a commitment to continuous innovation and process improvement
• Proven track record of translating complex industrial challenges into AI/ML solutions that drive measurable impact
• Experience with agile software development methodologies
• Current possession of a U.S. security clearance, or the ability to obtain one with our sponsorship
• Experience in or exposure to the nuances of a startup or other entrepreneurial environment
• Experience and interest in National Security
• Experience collaborating with Product, Engineering, Engagement departments and clients to define and execute an AI/ML roadmap
• Experience working on agile/scrum teams
• Familiarity with big data frameworks (e.g., HDFS, Spark) and AWS
• Practical understanding of LLMs and Agentic AI solutions