Senior Computer Vision AI/ML Engineer (TS/SCI) {S}

ARKA Group L.P. (“ARKA”) is an advanced technologies company serving the U.S. military, intelligence community, and commercial space industry delivering next-generation solutions to support the national security space enterprise. Built on more than six decades of excellence, ARKA brings modern approaches and a culture of innovation to the challenges of today.

Join the ARKA team to learn how Beyond Begins Here. Discover your next career opportunity now!

Position Overview:

This position is for a Senior Computer Vision AI/ML Engineer. As a CV AI/ML Engineer, you will apply cutting-edge AI/ML-based Computer Vision algorithms to problems in remote sensing, including Automatic Target Recognition (ATR) and Multimodal Data Fusion for Electro-Optical (EO) and Synthetic Aperture RADAR (SAR). You will be responsible for maturing, optimizing, and deploying these algorithms to a cloud-hosted environment. You will also serve as a technical leader and will have the opportunity to guide a team of researchers and developers to see these algorithms from prototype to operations. 

We offer generous relocation benefits for eligible candidates.

In support of work/life balance, many positions are available for a flexible schedule within the pay period.  Ask us about the opportunity for flex scheduling if that’s of interest to you. 

Responsibilities:

As a CV AI/ML Engineer, your responsibilities include: 

• Leading a small team consisting of developers and researchers to implement AI/ML algorithms to solve computer vision problems in remote sensing 
• Analyzing and pre-processing large remote sensing datasets 
• Researching supervised and unsupervised ATR solutions for remote sensing 
• Researching the performance benefits of multimodal data fusion for ATR, under diverse data collection scenarios 
• Training, optimizing, and deploying deep learning CV models that provide analysts with actionable insights 
• Reviewing relevant publications to understand cutting edge concepts, break down key ideas to government customers, and apply to defense and commercial applications 
• Writing technical documentation supporting code, program capabilities and user-guides 

Required Qualifications:

• BS in machine learning, computer science, computer vision, mathematics, or relevant fields
• Experience leading an interdisciplinary team of researchers and software developers and working with a program manager to define project scope and schedule to ensure we meet project milestones as defined by our customers 
• Experience selecting a technical AI/ML approach and then iterating/pivoting as needed to enhance performance 
• Experience with Python and any of the following Python machine learning frameworks: PyTorch, TensorFlow, Keras, PyTorch Lightning, scikit-learn / scikit-image, and/or OpenCV 
• Experience training wither convolutional-based CV models (e.g. YOLOv3-11, YOLOX) or transformer-based CV models (Vision Transformer, Swin, etc.)
• Effective communicator with the ability to write and present technical reports both internally to the engineering team and externally to customers 
• 5+ years of experience, preferably in software development or as a data scientist with 3+ years of developing/training AI/ML models 
• Active TS/SCI U.S. Government Security Clearance

Preferred Qualifications:

• MS or PhD in machine learning, computer science, computer vision, mathematics, or relevant fields 
• Experience with Self-Supervised Learning (SSL) and student-teacher approaches (e.g., DINO, knowledge distillation, BYOL) 
• Experience with applying AI/ML algorithms to Image Segmentation, Super Resolution, Image Denoising, Image Restoration, and Multi-INT Fusion 
• Experience with Graph Convolutional Networks (GCNs) and applying them to CV-based problems 
• Experience working with image processing chains for any of the following domains: SAR, EO, and OPIR 
• Experience working with datasets of overhead imagery like xView, SpaceNet datasets, Functional Map of the World, xView3, MSTAR, HRSID, CAESAR, DOTA v1/v2, etc. 
• Familiarity with using AWS cloud computing resources such as EC2, S3, Lambda, etc. 
• Experience with version control processes and tools for code version control, data version control, and model version control 
• Experience with Linux 
• Experience with implementing tracking and fusion, and pattern-of-life algorithms 
• Experience in application deployment, virtualization, and containerization 
• Experience shaping and writing proposals 
• Active TS/