AI Engineer Jobs in McLean, VA
AI Engineer jobs in McLean, Virginia concentrate in the Tysons Corner corridor, the Spring Hill and McLean business clusters, and along the Route 123 technology belt, with strong demand from defense contractors, intelligence community vendors, and enterprise software firms. Employers hiring right now include Capital One, Booz Allen Hamilton, and MITRE. Scan the live roles below and apply to whichever ones fit.
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At Capital One, we are creating responsible and reliable AI systems, changing banking for good. For years, Capital One has been an industry leader in using machine learning to create real-time, personalized customer experiences. Our investments in technology infrastructure and world-class talent — along with our deep experience in machine learning — position us to be at the forefront of enterprises leveraging AI. From informing customers about unusual charges to answering their questions in real time, our applications of AI & ML are bringing humanity and simplicity to banking. We are committed to continuing to build world-class applied science and engineering teams to deliver our industry leading capabilities with breakthrough product experiences and scalable, high-performance AI infrastructure. At Capital One, you will help bring the transformative power of emerging AI capabilities to reimagine how we serve our customers and businesses who have come to love the products and services we build.
Team Description:
The Intelligent Foundations and Experiences (IFX) team is at the center of bringing our vision for AI at Capital One to life. We work hand-in-hand with our partners across the company to advance the state of the art in science and AI engineering, and we build and deploy proprietary solutions that are central to our business and deliver value to millions of customers. Our AI models and platforms empower teams across Capital One to enhance their products with the transformative power of AI, in responsible and scalable ways for the highest leverage impact.
In this role, you will:
Partner with a cross-functional team of engineers, research scientists, technical program managers, and product managers to deliver AI-powered products that change how our associates work and how our customers interact with Capital One.
Design, develop, test, deploy, and support AI software components including foundation model training, large language model inference, similarity search, guardrails, model evaluation, experimentation, governance, and observability, etc.
Leverage a broad stack of Open Source and SaaS AI technologies such as AWS Ultraclusters, Huggingface, VectorDBs, Nemo Guardrails, PyTorch, and more.
Invent and introduce state-of-the-art LLM optimization techniques to improve the performance — scalability, cost, latency, throughput — of large scale production AI systems.
Contribute to the technical vision and the long term roadmap of foundational AI systems at Capital One.
The Ideal Candidate:
You love to build systems, take pride in the quality of your work, and also share our passion to do the right thing. You want to work on problems that will help change banking for good.
Passion for staying abreast of the latest research, and an ability to intuitively understand scientific publications and judiciously apply novel techniques in production.
You adapt quickly and thrive on bringing clarity to big, undefined problems. You love asking questions and digging deep to uncover the root of problems and can articulate your findings concisely with clarity. You have the courage to share new ideas even when they are unproven.
You are deeply Technical. You possess a strong foundation in engineering and mathematics, and your expertise in hardware, software, and AI enable you to see and exploit optimization opportunities that others miss.
You are a resilient trail blazer who can forge new paths to achieve business goals when the route is unknown.
Basic Qualifications:
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, AI, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related fields plus at least 4 years of experience developing AI and ML algorithms or technologies, or a Master's degree in Computer Science, AI, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related fields plus at least 2 years of experience developing AI and ML algorithms or technologies
At least 4 years of experience programming with Python, Go, Scala, or Java
Preferred Qualifications:
6 years of experience deploying scalable and responsible AI solutions on cloud platforms (e.g. AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, or equivalent private cloud)
Experience designing, developing, delivering, and supporting AI services
Experience developing AI and ML algorithms or technologies (e.g. LLM Inference, Similarity Search and VectorDBs, Guardrails, Memory) using Python, C++, C#, Java, or Golang
Experience developing and applying state-of-the-art techniques for optimizing training and inference software to improve hardware utilization, latency, throughput, and cost
Passion for staying abreast of the latest AI research and AI systems, and judiciously apply novel techniques in production
Capital One will consider sponsoring a new qualified applicant for employment authorization for this position.
The minimum and maximum full-time annual salaries for this role are listed below, by location. Please note that this salary information is solely for candidates hired to perform work within one of these locations, and refers to the amount Capital One is willing to pay at the time of this posting. Salaries for part-time roles will be prorated based upon the agreed upon number of hours to be regularly worked.
McLean, VA: $197,300 - $225,100 for Lead AI EngineerNew York, NY: $215,200 - $245,600 for Lead AI Engineer
Richmond, VA: $179,400 - $204,700 for Lead AI Engineer
San Jose, CA: $215,200 - $245,600 for Lead AI Engineer
Candidates hired to work in other locations will be subject to the pay range associated with that location, and the actual annualized salary amount offered to any candidate at the time of hire will be reflected solely in the candidate’s offer letter.
Capital One offers a comprehensive, competitive, and inclusive set of health, financial and other benefits that support your total well-being. Learn more at the Capital One Careers website. Eligibility varies based on full or part-time status, exempt or non-exempt status, and management level.
This role is expected to accept applications for a minimum of 5 business days. No agencies please. Capital One is an equal opportunity employer (EOE, including disability/vet) committed to non-discrimination in compliance with applicable federal, state, and local laws. Capital One promotes a drug-free workplace. Capital One will consider for employment qualified applicants with a criminal history in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable laws regarding criminal background inquiries, including, to the extent applicable, Article 23-A of the New York Correction Law; San Francisco, California Police Code Article 49, Sections 4901-4920; New York City’s Fair Chance Act; Philadelphia’s Fair Criminal Records Screening Act; and other applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations regarding criminal background inquiries.If you have visited our website in search of information on employment opportunities or to apply for a position, and you require an accommodation, please contact Capital One Recruiting at 1-800-304-9102 or via email at RecruitingAccommodation@capitalone.com. All information you provide will be kept confidential and will be used only to the extent required to provide needed reasonable accommodations.
For technical support or questions about Capital One's recruiting process, please send an email to Careers@capitalone.com
Capital One does not provide, endorse nor guarantee and is not liable for third-party products, services, educational tools or other information available through this site.
Capital One Financial is made up of several different entities. Please note that any position posted in Canada is for Capital One Canada, any position posted in the United Kingdom is for Capital One Europe and any position posted in the Philippines is for Capital One Philippines Service Corp. (COPSSC).
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Who's Hiring
- Capital One11

- Booz Allen Hamilton10

- MITRE7

- PGTEK2P
- A-TEK2
Top Industries Hiring
- Banking & Financial Services9
- Consulting & Professional Services6
- Fintech3
- Technology & Software3
- Accounting & Auditing1
AI Engineer Jobs in McLean: Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get a ai engineer job in McLean?
The strongest entry point in McLean is targeting the defense and intelligence technology contractors concentrated along the Tysons Corner and Spring Hill corridors, where AI work centers on machine learning systems, natural language processing, and computer vision for government clients. Candidates with active security clearances move to the front of most pipelines here. Familiarity with cloud platforms and experience deploying models in secure or classified environments gives applicants a clear edge over those with purely commercial backgrounds.
Which companies hire ai engineers in McLean?
Companies currently hiring ai engineers in McLean include Capital One, Booz Allen Hamilton, and MITRE, per current listings on Migrate Mate as of July 2026. McLean's hiring base skews heavily toward defense primes, federal IT contractors, and financial services firms with government-facing divisions, many of them clustered in the office parks around Tysons and the Dolley Madison Boulevard corridor.
Are there remote ai engineer jobs in McLean?
Yes, though with a significant caveat: many McLean ai engineer roles require on-site work or active security clearances that make fully remote arrangements uncommon. About 27% of ai engineer openings tied to McLean are remote or hybrid as of July 2026, concentrated mainly in the commercial software and data analytics firms rather than defense contractors. Research and model development work tends to offer the most flexibility, while deployment and integration roles almost always require on-site presence.
How can I get a ai engineer job in McLean with little or no experience?
The most realistic entry path in McLean for candidates without direct experience is through the federal IT contracting pipeline, where firms regularly hire junior machine learning engineers and data scientists to support larger government programs. Entry-level titles like associate AI engineer, junior data scientist, or AI research analyst appear at mid-size contractors and consulting shops in the Tysons and Spring Hill office parks. A portfolio of personal or academic projects demonstrating model training, fine-tuning, or deployment on cloud platforms moves applications forward faster than credentials alone in this market.
Which industries hire the most ai engineers in McLean?
Most ai engineer openings in McLean sit in Banking & Financial Services, Consulting & Professional Services, and Fintech, per current listings on Migrate Mate as of July 2026. McLean's position as a hub for defense contractors, intelligence community support firms, and financial services companies with federal clients means AI engineering demand is unusually concentrated in security-cleared, regulated environments rather than consumer technology.
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