All hired employees are expected to have experience with Microsoft Copilot and / or an approved equivalent AI solution.
Position Purpose
Build practical, secure AI and automation solutions that move from business or mission need through deployment, adoption, and measurable operational value.
Position Summary
The Senior AI Solutions Engineer will be part of the DSA Technology & Innovation Office (TIO) and work directly with DSA departments and Defense, Intelligence Community (IC), and Federal Civilian customer teams to identify, design, build, and deploy AI agents, intelligent automation, and agentic workflows that improve mission and business outcomes.
This is a hands-on engineering role that bridges business and mission needs with DSA's AI and Digital Transformation capabilities. The Senior AI Solutions Engineer will work with stakeholders to understand processes and pain points, rapidly prototype solutions, integrate AI with enterprise systems and data, and move successful solutions into secure, governed, operational use.
The role will initially leverage Microsoft Copilot Studio, Microsoft Power Platform, Microsoft 365, and related technologies, while expanding into other approved AI, agentic, and development platforms as DSA's capabilities mature. Success will be measured not only by solutions delivered, but also by user adoption, measurable operational improvement, and the reuse and scalability of capabilities across DSA and its customers.
Key Responsibilities
AI Discovery and Solution Design
• Partner with DSA departments and customer teams to identify high-value opportunities for AI and automation and understand current processes, pain points, data, systems, and operational constraints.
• Evaluate and prioritize use cases based on mission or business value, feasibility, security, data availability, implementation effort, and risk.
• Translate business and mission needs into solution designs, technical requirements, prototypes, backlog items, implementation plans, and measurable success criteria.
• Identify opportunities to reuse solutions, patterns, connectors, agents, and components across departments and customer environments.
Agent and Automation Development
• Design, build, configure, test, and deploy AI agents and agentic workflows using Microsoft Copilot Studio, Power Automate, Power Apps, SharePoint, and other approved AI and automation technologies.
• Develop agent instructions, knowledge grounding, retrieval approaches, tool integrations, custom connectors, and human-in-the-loop workflows.
• Integrate AI capabilities with enterprise applications, APIs, data sources, and operational systems.
• Rapidly prototype and demonstrate solutions with stakeholders, using feedback to iteratively improve functionality and usability.
• Develop maintainable and reusable solution components where practical to accelerate future AI implementations.
Testing, Governance, and Security
• Develop evaluation criteria and test sets to validate agent accuracy, reliability, security, usability, and expected outcomes before deployment and following significant changes.
• Implement responsible AI practices, including appropriate human oversight, data protection, identity and access controls, auditability, and governance.
• Work with IT, cybersecurity, data owners, and customer stakeholders to ensure solutions operate within authorized environments and approved data boundaries.
• Identify technical, security, operational, and adoption risks and incorporate appropriate mitigations into solution designs.
Deployment, Adoption, and Continuous Improvement
• Support deployment and transition of successful prototypes into sustainable operational solutions.
• Develop user guidance, demonstrations, training, and other enablement materials needed to drive adoption.
• Monitor user feedback, adoption, solution performance, and business or mission outcomes following deployment.
• Continuously refine deployed solutions based on operational use, changing requirements, and technology capabilities.
• Help quantify productivity improvements, cost avoidance, cycle-time reduction, quality improvements, or other measurable outcomes generated by AI solutions.
Innovation and Technology Evaluation
• Evaluate emerging AI, agentic, automation, and integration technologies through practical experimentation and prototyping.
• Recommend technologies and approaches that have a clear business or mission application rather than adopting technology for its own sake.
• Contribute reusable patterns, lessons learned, demonstrations, and technical assets to DSA's broader AI and Digital Transformation capabilities.
• Support internal demonstrations and customer-facing discussions that showcase practical applications of DSA's AI capabilities.
Required Qualifications
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Engineering, or a related technical discipline, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant practical experience.
• 10+ years of progressive IT experience in software development, systems integration, workflow automation, enterprise applications, solutions engineering, or related disciplines.
• Demonstrated recent hands-on experience designing or developing solutions using generative AI, large language model (LLM)-based tools, intelligent automation, or agentic technologies.
• Hands-on experience with Microsoft Copilot Studio and/or Microsoft Power Platform, including Power Automate or Power Apps, and familiarity with Microsoft 365 and SharePoint.
• Working knowledge of generative AI concepts, including prompt and context design, retrieval and knowledge grounding, agent tool use, orchestration, and solution evaluation.
• Experience using Python and/or JavaScript, SQL, REST APIs, and integration or connector technologies.
• Experience integrating applications, data sources, APIs, or enterprise systems to deliver operational solutions.
• Demonstrated ability to translate business or mission problems into practical technical solutions and measurable outcomes.
• Understanding of identity, access control, data protection, privacy, human-in-the-loop controls, and AI governance considerations.
• Strong communication skills and demonstrated ability to work directly with technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Ability to independently learn and apply emerging technologies in a rapidly changing technical environment.
Preferred Qualifications and Certifications
• Experience with additional AI and agentic development platforms such as Azure AI Foundry, OpenAI technologies, Anthropic Claude, Google AI technologies, and Model Context Protocol (MCP)-based integrations.
• Experience developing AI-enabled solutions supporting GovCon, Department of Defense, Intelligence Community, Federal Civilian, or other regulated environments.
• Experience automating business processes in areas such as capture and proposals, contracts, finance, human resources, acquisition, knowledge management, or program operations.
• Experience with automation and integration technologies such as UiPath, Azure Logic Apps, or comparable tools.
• Experience transitioning prototypes into production and supporting ongoing operation, adoption, and improvement.
• Experience training users and supporting organizational adoption of new technologies.
• Microsoft Power Platform or Azure AI certifications, such as PL-200, PL-400, or an applicable Azure AI credential.
• CompTIA Security+ CE.
• Active Secret security clearance or the ability to obtain and maintain one.
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The posted salary range is a good-faith estimate. Actual compensation will be based on the selected candidate’s qualifications, experience, skills, and other job-related factors.
DSA - Salary Pay Range
$120,000 - $140,000 USD
Many of DSA's positions require the ability to obtain a security clearance. Security clearances may only be granted to U.S. citizens. In addition, applicants who accept a conditional offer of employment may be subject to government security investigation(s) and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information. DSA is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. DSA is committed to treating all employees and applicants for employment with respect and dignity and maintaining a workplace that is free from unlawful discrimination. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, disability, veteran status, or other legally protected status. DSA requires background checks , where permitted , by law. DSA is an E-Verify Employer.
