Applied AI Engineer Jobs in Virginia
Applied AI Engineer jobs in Virginia are among the most actively recruited technology roles in the state, concentrated in defense contracting, federal government services, and commercial cloud infrastructure, with openings at every level from associate engineer through principal and staff positions. Northern Virginia, particularly the Tysons and Reston corridors, and Richmond serve as the primary hiring hubs, anchored by major employers like Booz Allen Hamilton, Leidos, and Amazon Web Services. The most in-demand specialties are machine learning deployment, large language model integration, and AI systems engineering for government and enterprise applications. Find a role that fits below and apply directly.
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DESCRIPTION
Are you a builder with a passion for helping public sector organizations achieve their mission? Do you have the business savvy, Contact Center background, and sales skills necessary to help position AWS as the cloud provider of choice for government, education, healthcare, and nonprofit customers? Do you love building new strategic and data-driven businesses that serve the public interest? Join the Amazon Specialist and Partner Organisation (ASP) Amazon Connect team as a Specialist Solutions Architect!
The Amazon Specialist and Partner Organization (ASP) is responsible for driving revenue, adoption, and growth across public sector customers, from small agencies and districts to the largest government, education, and healthcare organizations. We work backwards from our customer's most complex and mission critical problems to build and execute go-to-market plans that turn AWS ideas into transformative outcomes for citizens and communities. ASP teams include business development, specialist and technical solutions architecture. As part of ASP, you'll provide expertise across the entire life cycle of an AWS customer initiative, from developing ideas for new services to accelerating the adoption of established businesses. We pride ourselves on thinking big, delivering exceptional results for the constituents our customers serve, and working across AWS as #OneTeam.
Key job responsibilities
- Represent the voice of our public sector customers and partners; collaborate with field and central teams to bring customer feedback to product teams. Lead curation of custom feature and availability requests for unique mission and compliance-driven use cases
- Provide advanced technical knowledge to your aligned GTM teams to unblock our partners that are delivering for our government, education, healthcare, and nonprofit customers' largest and most mission-critical challenges
- Along with your extended team, own the technical bar for specialist technical artifacts and standards
- Collaborate with your GTM colleagues to provide technical insights into GTM strategy and support field marketing to execute local technical events, campaigns, and customer engagements across the public sector community
- Act as a thought leader sharing best practices through forums such as AWS blogs, whitepapers, reference architectures and public-speaking events such as AWS Summits, AWS re:Invent, etc.
- Guide and Support an AWS internal community of technical subject matter experts aligned to your public sector partner . Create field enablement materials for the broader SA population to help them understand how to integrate new AWS solutions into mission-driven customer architectures
- Design and deliver practice build and continual improvement to our partners' business, ensuring partners are delivering architectures and implementations that meet public sector requirements and exceed the needs of our customers
About the team
This position is part of the Amazon Specialist and Partner Organization (ASP). Specialists own the end-to-end go-to-market strategy for their respective technology domains, providing the business and technical expertise to help our customers succeed. Partner teams own the strategy, recruiting, development, and growth of our key technology and consulting partners. Together they provide our customers with the expertise and scale needed to build innovative solutions for their most complex challenges.
The Amazon Connect Specialist Team is made up of deep CX and Enterprise Contact Center domain experts who work directly with our customers to solve their most complex challenges. We stay closely connected to our customers and bring valuable data and insights to our product teams, strengthening the product roadmap. Our team is at its best when a customer is thinking big and needs specialized experience to innovate for their business.
Diverse Experiences
AWS values diverse experiences. Even if you do not meet all of the preferred qualifications and skills listed in the job description, we encourage candidates to apply. If your career is just starting, hasn’t followed a traditional path, or includes alternative experiences, don’t let it stop you from applying.
Why AWS?
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. We pioneered cloud computing and never stopped innovating — that’s why customers from the most successful startups to Global 500 companies trust our robust suite of products and services to power their businesses.
Inclusive Team Culture
AWS values curiosity and connection. Our employee-led and company-sponsored affinity groups promote inclusion and empower our people to take pride in what makes us unique. Our inclusion events foster stronger, more collaborative teams. Our continual innovation is fueled by the bold ideas, fresh perspectives, and passionate voices our teams bring to everything we do.
Mentorship & Career Growth
We’re continuously raising our performance bar as we strive to become Earth’s Best Employer. That’s why you’ll find endless knowledge-sharing, mentorship and other career-advancing resources here to help you develop into a better-rounded professional.
Work/Life Balance
We value work-life harmony. Achieving success at work should never come at the expense of sacrifices at home, which is why we strive for flexibility as part of our working culture. When we feel supported in the workplace and at home, there’s nothing we can’t achieve.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- 8+ years of specific technology domain areas (e.g. software development, cloud computing, systems engineering, infrastructure, security, networking, data & analytics) experience
- 3+ years of design, implementation, or consulting in applications and infrastructures experience
- 10+ years of IT development or implementation/consulting in the software or Internet industries experience
- Knowledge of AWS services, market segments, customer base and industry verticals
- Experience with AI/ML technologies
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- 5+ years of infrastructure architecture, database architecture and networking experience
- Experience working with end user or developer communities
- Experience working with consulting partners through solution alignment, account management, product management, program management and business development engagements
- 3+ years of public sector experience
Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status.
Our inclusive culture empowers Amazonians to deliver the best results for our customers. If you have a disability and need a workplace accommodation or adjustment during the application and hiring process, including support for the interview or onboarding process, please visit https://amazon.jobs/content/en/how-we-hire/accommodations for more information. If the country/region you’re applying in isn’t listed, please contact your Recruiting Partner.
The base salary range for this position is listed below. Your Amazon package will include sign-on payments and restricted stock units (RSUs). Final compensation will be determined based on factors including experience, qualifications, and location. Amazon also offers comprehensive benefits including health insurance (medical, dental, vision, prescription, Basic Life & AD&D insurance and option for Supplemental life plans, EAP, Mental Health Support, Medical Advice Line, Flexible Spending Accounts, Adoption and Surrogacy Reimbursement coverage), 401(k) matching, paid time off, and parental leave. Learn more about our benefits at https://amazon.jobs/en/benefits.
USA, VA, Arlington - 153,600.00 - 207,800.00 USD annually
USA, WA, Seattle - 153,600.00 - 207,800.00 USD annually
See All 18 Applied AI Engineer Jobs in Virginia
Find roles in Virginia that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
Find Applied AI Engineer JobsApplied AI Engineer Jobs by City in Virginia
Where Virginia roles are concentrated, by current openings.
Applied AI Engineer Job Market in Virginia
A snapshot from current Virginia openings, updated as new roles post.
Who's Hiring



Top Industries Hiring
- Technology & Software
- Distribution & Wholesale
What Virginia Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in applied AI engineer jobs across Virginia.
- Bachelor's or master's degree in computer science, AI, machine learning, or a related engineering field
- Demonstrated experience building and deploying production machine learning or AI systems
- Proficiency in Python and AI frameworks such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, or Hugging Face
- Experience with cloud platforms, particularly AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud AI services
- Active or eligible security clearance preferred for many Virginia defense and federal contractor roles
- Familiarity with MLOps practices, model monitoring, and CI/CD pipelines for AI workloads
Applied AI Engineer Jobs in Virginia: Frequently Asked Questions
How do you become a applied ai engineer in Virginia?
Applied AI engineering in Virginia has no state-issued license, so the path runs through education and demonstrated technical skill. Most Virginia employers expect at least a bachelor's degree in computer science, data science, or a related field, with a master's degree preferred for senior roles at defense contractors and federal agencies. Building a portfolio of deployed AI projects and earning cloud certifications from AWS or Google strengthens candidacy considerably in Virginia's market.
How much do applied AI engineers make in Virginia?
Applied AI engineers in Virginia earn a median of about $136,460 a year, based on May 2025 Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data, ranging from around $83,350 for the lowest 10% to over $211,930 for the top 10%. Pay rises with experience, specialty, and employer.
Which companies hire applied ai engineers in Virginia?
Employers hiring applied ai engineers in Virginia right now include Amazon Web Services, Groundswell, and Nebius, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of November 2026. Virginia's high concentration of defense contractors and federal IT services firms means many openings are tied to government program work, making it a particularly deep market for applied AI engineering talent.
Which Virginia cities have the most applied ai engineer jobs?
Arlington, Virginia, and Herndon have the most applied ai engineer openings in Virginia. Northern Virginia's concentration of defense agencies, cloud infrastructure campuses, and federal contractors drives the majority of demand, while Richmond's growing financial services and technology sector accounts for a meaningful share of commercial AI engineering roles.
Are there remote applied ai engineer jobs in Virginia?
Yes, and more than most fields. About 80% of applied ai engineer openings tied to Virginia are remote or hybrid as of November 2026, reflecting how naturally suited the work is to distributed environments. Model development, experimentation, and MLOps work tend to be the most remote-friendly tasks, while roles requiring access to classified systems or secure government facilities require on-site presence.
How can I get hired as a applied ai engineer in Virginia with little or no experience?
The most realistic entry path is a junior or associate AI engineer role at one of Northern Virginia's large federal IT contractors, where structured onboarding programs exist for candidates coming straight from university. Booz Allen Hamilton and Leidos both run new-graduate technology development programs that place candidates with AI and data science backgrounds onto applied projects. A strong GitHub portfolio demonstrating deployed machine learning projects, combined with an AWS or Google Cloud certification, gives entry-level candidates a practical edge over those relying on coursework alone.
Where can I find and apply to applied ai engineer jobs in Virginia?
You can find and apply to applied ai engineer jobs in Virginia on Migrate Mate, which lists current Virginia openings. Search the listings for roles that match your experience and specialization, then apply directly to the ones that fit.
See All 18 Applied AI Engineer Jobs in Virginia
Find roles in Virginia that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
Find Applied AI Engineer Jobs