Job Description
The Work: Join a Mission That Matters
Torch.AI is building the AI Control Layer for the United States Government.
Not another dashboard. Not another workflow app. Not another black-box model glued to a PowerPoint.
The AI Control Layer is foundational data and intelligence infrastructure that makes sense of messy, adversarial, multi-domain data at machine speed. Commanders, analysts, and operators can act with clarity when it matters most.
Our platform—ORCUS (data movement), NEXUS (deep semantic vectorization), and HALO (graph-native reasoning)—is accredited, deployed, and operating today across enterprise clouds and tactical edge environments. We support multi-INT fusion, predictive movement analysis, targeting workflows, anomaly detection, and decision support for cross-domain operations including ISR, information advantage, joint effects, and force protection.
We are seeking candidates who want to build systems that operate under real constraints: degraded visibility, adversarial mis/disinformation, intermittent connectivity, low-SWaP hardware, and seconds-to-decision timelines.
This is operational AI.
It ships. It runs. It gets used.
If you’re driven to strengthen U.S. defense readiness and protect national interests, Torch.AI offers meaningful impact at national scale.
What Makes Torch.AI Different
We believe the government must own its data, its decision environment, and its reasoning infrastructure.
Our AI Control Layer increases the value of existing systems of record rather than replacing them. We measure performance by accuracy, latency, and efficiency, not slideware benchmarks.
We are craftsmen.
We build with intention.
We ship with discipline.
You’ll collaborate with engineers, data experts, veterans, and mission practitioners. You’ll own meaningful work, move quickly, and see your systems deployed in production, often within weeks.
We are fast-paced, entrepreneurial, and mission-driven. Every day is a new puzzle.
The Type of Candidates Who Thrive
Torch.AI is not for everyone.
People who succeed here:
- Are builders, not curators. They ship and iterate.
- Are comfortable with messy data, unclear requirements, and real mission constraints without always having the luxury of clear specs.
- Respect operators and prioritize utility over elegance.
- Care about explainability and determinism because real decisions demand auditability.
- Move quickly but understand security boundaries and accreditation realities.
- Measure success by operational impact, not model novelty.
If you need perfect conditions and months of runway, this may not be the right place.
If you want to see your work used in production and feel the weight of that responsibility, we should talk.
Security Clearance
Some roles require an active Secret, Top Secret, or Top Secret/SCI clearance. Where required, candidates must be eligible to obtain and maintain the appropriate clearance level.
U.S. citizenship is required for all positions. Torch.AI does not sponsor employment visas.
If you do not currently hold a clearance but are eligible, sponsorship may be available depending on role and mission requirements.
Work Location
Most roles are based at our headquarters in Leawood, KS. Some hybrid/remote positions across the Arlington, VA, Washington, DC, and Maryland (DMV) region are available. Limited travel (<10%) may be required for some roles.
Compensation, Benefits, Incentives
We offer competitive, performance-aligned compensation tied to technical depth, clearance level, and mission impact.
Total Rewards Include:
- Competitive base salary
- Quarterly performance bonuses
- Equity participation within the first 12 months
- Unlimited PTO + 11 paid company holidays
- Professional development in a high-growth, mission-driven environment
- Weekly in-office catering at HQ
Benefits:
- 401(k) plan (no current employer match)
- PPO, HSA, and TRICARE Supplement medical options
- Above-market HSA contributions
- HSA, FSA, and Dependent Care FSA options
- Dental and vision plans above national averages
- Employer-paid life insurance (1× salary)
- Employer-paid Short-Term and Long-Term Disability
- Voluntary Accident, Critical Illness, and Hospital Indemnity coverage
- Up to $300/month in tax-advantaged commuter benefits
Torch.AI is an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action Employer committed to building a team that reflects the mission we serve.
If you want to build AI systems that move from ingestion to actionable insight, and know exactly why they produced the answer they did, we should talk.
What You’ll Do
- Architect and deliver end-to-end full-stack applications supporting mission-critical users.
- Lead implementation of front-end interfaces using React and modern UI patterns.
- Build robust backend services using Python, Java, or Node.js.
- Design scalable API architectures integrating data services and AI-enabled capabilities.
- Own cloud deployment strategy in coordination with DevOps teams.
- Drive performance, security, scalability, and reliability improvements across the stack.
- Mentor engineers and lead technical reviews across architecture and implementation.
- Maintain documentation for systems, workflows, and deployment patterns.
Core Skills & Qualifications
- B.S. or M.S. in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.
- 7–10+ years of experience building and deploying full-stack applications.
- Deep expertise in JavaScript/TypeScript and at least one backend language (Python or Java).
- Strong proficiency with React and backend frameworks (FastAPI, Spring Boot, Node).
- Experience deploying systems to cloud environments (AWS preferred).
- Strong database skills (SQL plus search or NoSQL systems).
- Ability to lead technical workstreams and mentor others.
Additional Valuable Experience
- Experience with Kafka, NiFi, or streaming systems.
- Familiarity with observability tools and performance profiling.
- Experience with test automation frameworks (Cypress, Selenium).
- Exposure to secure or classified deployments.