Senior ML Engineer Jobs in McLean, VA
Senior ML Engineer jobs in McLean, Virginia are in strong demand, concentrated in the Tysons Corner corridor, McLean proper near the Beltway, and the emerging tech clusters along Route 123, across defense intelligence, federal contracting, and financial services. Employers hiring right now include Capital One, Information Technology Senior Management Forum, and BLN24. See the openings below and apply to the ones that match your experience.
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INTRODUCTION
Senior Lead Machine Learning Engineer (Intelligent Foundations and Experiences)
As a Capital One Machine Learning Engineer (MLE), you'll be part of an Agile team dedicated to productionizing machine learning applications and systems at scale. You’ll participate in the detailed technical design, development, and implementation of machine learning applications using existing and emerging technology platforms. You’ll focus on machine learning architectural design, develop and review model and application code, and ensure high availability and performance of our machine learning applications. You'll have the opportunity to continuously learn and apply the latest innovations and best practices in machine learning engineering.
ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES
The MLE role overlaps with many disciplines, such as Ops, Modeling, and Data Engineering. In this role, you'll be expected to perform many ML engineering activities, including one or more of the following:
- Lead dedicated pods of software, data and machine learning engineers in building AI/ML capabilities for Credit and Financial Risk Management products, serving as a technical mentor to the team on these core technologies
- Design, build, and deliver AI-powered products and components that solve real-world business problems, leveraging expertise in model experimentation, LLM inference, similarity search, and agentic AI within a collaborative Product and Data Science environment
- Collaborate with a cross-functional team of engineers, data scientists, and designers to develop and scale AI-powered products that enable optimized associate performance and deliver world-class customer value
- Inform your ML infrastructure decisions using your understanding of ML modeling techniques and issues, including choice of model, data, and feature selection, model training, hyperparameter tuning, dimensionality, bias/variance, and validation
- Solve complex problems by writing and testing application code, developing and validating ML models, and automating tests and deployment
- Retrain, maintain, and monitor models in production
- Leverage or build cloud-based architectures, technologies, and/or platforms to deliver optimized ML models at scale
- Construct optimized data pipelines to feed ML models
- Leverage continuous integration and continuous deployment best practices, including test automation and monitoring, to ensure successful deployment of ML models and application code
- Ensure all code is well-managed to reduce vulnerabilities, models are well-governed from a risk perspective, and the ML follows best practices in Responsible and Explainable AI
- Leverage a broad stack of Open Source and SaaS AI technologies and use programming languages like Python, Scala, or Java
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor’s Degree
- At least 8 years of experience designing and building data-intensive solutions using distributed computing (Internship experience does not apply)
- At least 4 years of experience programming with Python, Scala, or Java
- At least 3 years of experience building, scaling, and optimizing ML systems
- At least 2 years of experience leading teams developing ML solutions
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Master's Degree in Computer Science, AI, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a similar field
- 6+ years of experience designing, developing, delivering, and supporting AI services at scale
- 3+ years of experience developing AI and ML algorithms or technologies using Python
- 2+ years of experience with Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG)
- Experience staying abreast of latest ML research with an intuitive ability to understand scientific publications and judiciously apply novel techniques in production
- Experience deploying scalable AI/ML solutions in a public cloud such as AWS Bedrock, Google Cloud, Azure
- Experience designing, implementing, and scaling complex data pipelines for ML models and evaluating their performance
Capital One will consider sponsoring a new qualified applicant for employment authorization for this position.
COMPENSATION
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.
- Cambridge, MA: $229,900 - $262,400 for Sr. Lead Machine Learning Engineer
- McLean, VA: $229,900 - $262,400 for Sr. Lead Machine Learning Engineer
- New York, NY: $250,800 - $286,200 for Sr. Lead Machine Learning Engineer
- Richmond, VA: $209,000 - $238,500 for Sr. Lead Machine Learning 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.
This role is also eligible to earn performance based incentive compensation, which may include cash bonus(es) and/or long term incentives (LTI). Incentives could be discretionary or non discretionary depending on the plan.
Capital One offers a comprehensive, competitive, and inclusive set of health, financial and other benefits that support your total well-being. 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).
See All 37 Senior ML Engineer Jobs in McLean
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Find Senior ML Engineer JobsSenior ML Engineer Job Market in McLean
Who's Hiring
- Capital One30

- Information Technology Senior Management Forum5
- BLN241

- Somatus1

Top Industries Hiring
- Banking & Financial Services
- Fintech
Senior ML Engineer Jobs in McLean: Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get a senior ml engineer job in McLean?
The strongest path into McLean's senior ML engineer market runs through defense intelligence contractors and federal IT services firms, which dominate local hiring. Clearance eligibility gives candidates a significant edge here, as does experience with large-scale model deployment on government cloud infrastructure. Concentrating your search on the Tysons Corner corridor and Route 123 technology campuses puts you in front of the employers that hire most actively in this market.
Which companies hire senior ml engineers in McLean?
Companies currently hiring senior ml engineers in McLean include Capital One, Information Technology Senior Management Forum, and BLN24, per current listings on Migrate Mate as of July 2026. McLean draws a mix of large defense primes, federal IT contractors, and financial services firms, many of which maintain significant engineering operations here due to proximity to government agency clients in the region.
Are there remote senior ml engineer jobs in McLean?
Yes, though availability depends on the sector. About 43% of senior ml engineer openings tied to McLean are remote or hybrid as of July 2026, reflecting that modeling, research, and pipeline development work can often be done off-site. Roles tied to cleared government programs or requiring access to classified infrastructure are typically on-site, while commercial and financial services positions lean more hybrid.
How can I get a senior ml engineer job in McLean with little or no experience?
The most realistic entry path in McLean is through mid-size federal IT contractors, which frequently hire ML engineers at the associate or mid-level to support classified analytics programs. Starting in a data engineering or applied research role at one of these firms, then moving toward model development, is how many McLean ML careers begin. Familiarity with cloud platforms used in government environments and a willingness to pursue clearance eligibility opens additional doors that remain closed to candidates without that combination.
Which industries hire the most senior ml engineers in McLean?
Most senior ml engineer openings in McLean sit in Banking & Financial Services and Fintech, per current listings on Migrate Mate as of July 2026. McLean's concentration of defense contractors, intelligence community support firms, and financial institutions near Tysons Corner drives this pattern, as all three sectors depend heavily on advanced modeling and data infrastructure to support both federal clients and commercial operations.
See All 37 Senior ML Engineer Jobs in McLean
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