Senior Staff AI Engineer

100% onsite - Columbia, MD

About the role

We are seeking a highly skilled and hands-on Senior Staff AI Engineer to head our Edge AI Applications Lab. The role includes leadership of R&D, PoC, and AI product demo projects involving physical hardware builds associated with microcontroller deployment of tiny AI models. It also encompasses management and scheduling of the associated physical lab space and equipment, as well as cross-BU and customer support efforts that may require physical lab implementations.

The ideal candidate will bring significant skills in small-scale PoC fabrication, coupled with an understanding of a range of AI algorithms and their practical applications to real-world sensor data on microcontrollers. The individual should have demonstrated project and small-team leadership experience, both technical and interpersonal, and bring a creative, hands-on disposition.

Responsibilities

• Lead Edge AI Applications Lab, including management of projects, people, facilities, and scheduling.
• Develop and maintain edge AI-based applications, demos, and solutions combining tiny ML models in a wide variety of physical hardware settings, including consumer devices, industrial machines, and automotive.
• Collaborate with customers and internal product teams to ingest, debug, and analyze their data for model development.
• Work with other AI and embedded engineers to optimize and deploy AI models suitable for microcontrollers (MCUs) and embedded platforms.
• Manage a variety of projects both technically and logistically in an industrial laboratory setting, including planning, part procurement, instrumentation, hardware setup, and creating ML models.
• Fabricate and assemble hardware setups (e.g., physical systems, sensor arrays, embedded boards) and collect data from real-world physical environments to support model development and validation.
• Mentor junior engineers and contribute to technical leadership across teams.
• Stay current with emerging technologies in AI, embedded ML, and signal processing.

Requirements

• Master’s or PhD in Electrical Engineering or related technical field, and 7-12 years of career experience.
• Understanding of AI/ML algorithms with experience deploying models on MCUs.
• Practical fabrication of prototype systems that include physical, microelectronic, and sensor elements in novel combinations, including familiarity with design tools, 3D printing, and hands-on electrical and physical assembly.
• Demonstrated experience leading engineering teams and collaborating effectively across multiple cross-functional groups.
• Broad familiarity with types of sensors and their placement and applications in practical systems, including hands-on experience with audio, electrical, accelerometers, and control system signals.
• Experience working with large high-frequency sensor datasets (e.g., audio, electrical, motor control, accelerometers), including debugging, preprocessing, and ML Ops.
• Proficiency in Python, MATLAB, and C, specifically including experience with real-time edge computing and embedded systems.
• Background in digital signal processing (DSP) for audio and time-series data preferred.

Pay

The expected annual pay range for this position is $139,500 - $185,000. This position is also eligible for bonus opportunities and commission pay. The final offer amount will be dependent on geographic location, applicable experience, and skillset of the candidate.

Benefits

• Full range of elective benefits including medical, health savings account (with applicable medical plan), dental, vision, health and/or dependent care flexible spending accounts, pre-tax commuter benefits, life insurance, AD&D, and pet insurance.
• Company-paid life insurance and AD&D, long-term disability, short-term medical benefits.
• Paid sick time, paid holidays, and accrued paid vacation.
• New employees attend a detailed benefit orientation to learn more about available benefits and resources.