Vannevar is a defense technology company building AI to deter our adversaries. In the 21st century, conflict moves at algorithmic speed and foresight equals firepower. Our agentic AI is purpose-built to compete with China—from cross-Strait conflict to gray zone coercion. Trained on the most mission-relevant datasets in defense, our technology models adversary behavior, simulates campaigns, and recommends the best course of action to decision makers. Our AI systems are some of the most trusted in the industry and actively used on the front lines of the Indo-Pacific to keep the peace and save lives.
Exceptional technology starts with exceptional people. Vannevar is a small agile team combining world-class engineers with veteran strategists who bring deep expertise in defense and tradecraft. We’re building a company defined by mission impact, user empathy, and disciplined growth. In just three years, we grew from $3M to $80M in ARR, achieved early profitability, and reached unicorn status—proving that disruption doesn’t require an ego, and staying power doesn’t mean standing still.
About the role:
The Agentic AI team is building key AI-native applications as well as the platforms and libraries to embed Agentic AI across the company. We are looking for a Senior Machine Learning Engineer to help build and scale our core agent platform.
We are working in a space that is a perfect fit for AI Agents - the process is plentiful but well specified, there is an abundance of multi-modal data, and accelerating speed to decision is the difference between winning and losing. You will work on cutting edge technical challenges that span AI, UX design, and software engineering, while also working on problems that matter.
What you’ll do:
- Build and scale our Agentic AI Platform. Own the backend, infrastructure, and AI/ML platform powering the next generation of AI for the DoD. Today this is building out the foundational layers of our agent platform and in the future it will include pushing the state-of-the-art on fine-tuning for custom agent workflows.
- Make Agents work reliably. Build the right systems, patterns, and solutions to help move from prototype to production including evaluations at scale, human-in-the-loop tooling, guardrails, and fine-tuning pipelines.
- Democratize agent building. Everyone at Vannevar is an agent builder, from AI Engineers to our CEO. The platform you are building will make it possible for more people to participate in automating workflows with agents.
- Collaborate across disciplines. Building effective agents is a fullstack problem. While building effective agents you will also work with designers on the UX patterns for how a user interacts with the agent, frontend engineers to bring those designs to life, platform engineers to get access to the most valuable data, and product owners to get customers irrationally excited.
Must have:
- Technical leadership on making the right decisions, setting direction, and delivering outcomes
- A track record of shipping high impact AI-enabled applications
- Deep and current knowledge of AI capabilities and emerging trends.
- An excitement to work with other engineers to make them successful in building their products
- Bias towards achieving outcomes, including willingness to step outside your immediate role to ensure mission success.
- Ability to work autonomously and set your own goals.
- Ability to learn quickly.
- Grit and creativity to keep going when faced with a roadblock.
- Active TS / SCI Clearance is a plus but not needed.
What we offer
The salary range for this position is $190,000 - $230,000 + equity + 401K match. Within the range, individual pay is determined by experience, relevant education, and/or training.
- Health, dental, and vision insurance
- 100% remote first culture. You can work from anywhere in the US and all full time employees have WeWork access
- Unlimited PTO including competitive vacation and holiday schedules
- Lifestyle stipends - Monthly mental health, wellness & fitness stipend, in-home office setup stipend and family planning assistance
- Salary top-up during military reserve duty
- Fully paid parental leave
- Child and pet care reimbursement during travel
We are committed to protecting the privacy of all applicants. Official emails from the company will come from an @vannevarlabs.com domain. Under no circumstances will a legitimate representative from our company contact you to request passwords, financial information, or other sensitive personal data. Please be vigilant of potential scams.