AI/ML Modeling Team Lead

About the Organization Now is a great time to join Redhorse Corporation. We are a solution-driven company delivering data insights and technology solutions to customers with missions critical to U.S. national interests. We’re looking for thoughtful, skilled professionals who thrive as trusted partners building technology-agnostic solutions and want to apply their talents supporting customers with difficult and important mission sets.
About the Role

Redhorse transforms the way government uses data and technology. To support this mission, we are seeking an AI/ML Modeling Lead to support the United States Air Force (USAF) Rapid Sustainment Office (RSO) Condition Based Maintenance Plus (CBM+) program.

In this role, you will lead the modeling team in translating strategic vision into practical, data-driven solutions that treat data as a product. By fusing historical aircraft maintenance records with real-time sensor telematics, you and your team will deploy predictive models that forecast component failures, optimize fleet maintenance schedules, increase aircraft availability, and minimize operational downtime. Operating within the USAF’s Advana environment, you will ensure our AI/ML solutions are scalable, governed, explainable, and directly aligned with warfighter readiness.

Key Responsibilities

• Team Leadership & Execution: Lead day-to-day modeling team delivery, driving task prioritization, sprint planning, peer reviews, and cross-functional coordination.
• Requirements Translation: Translate complex mission objectives, operational challenges, and stakeholder inputs into defined modeling requirements, assumptions, and acceptance criteria.
• Technical Architecture & Guidance: Provide architectural direction on modeling techniques, feature engineering, data inputs, validation protocols, and performance tradeoffs to ensure solutions are reliable, explainable, and fit-for-purpose.
• Quality & Governance: Review modeling pipelines, system documentation, and analytical products for quality, consistency, and compliance with enterprise data governance standards.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner closely with data engineers, software developers, product owners, and USAF stakeholders to integrate models into scalable production pipelines within enterprise platforms.
• Risk & Blocker Mitigation: Proactively identify technical dependencies, resource bottlenecks, and delivery risks, providing actionable mitigation paths to program leadership.
• Mentorship & Best Practices: Mentor data scientists and analysts by sharing engineering best practices, establishing repeatable modeling frameworks, and championing disciplined version control and documentation habits.

Required Experience/Clearance

• Security Clearance: Active DoD Secret clearance. Applicants must currently possess an active Secret clearance to be considered. Candidates without an active clearance will not be considered.
• Professional Experience: 6+ years of progressive experience in data science, advanced analytics, or machine learning, including experience leading technical projects or multidisciplinary teams.
• Data Strategy & Execution: Demonstrated track record of leveraging data products to drive operational strategies and high-impact business outcomes.
• Agile Leadership: Proven experience managing technical workflows within collaborative, agile development environments (e.g., Scrum, Kanban).
• Stakeholder Communication: Exceptional ability to articulate complex AI/ML methodologies, validation results, and technical concepts to non-technical operational leaders.
• Platform & Tool Familiarity: Solid working knowledge of modern data platforms, cloud architectures, and analytics visualization tools (e.g., Power BI, Tableau).
• Education: Master’s degree in a quantitative discipline (Data Science, Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Business Analytics) or equivalent practical experience.

Preferred Skills/Education

We encourage all candidates who meet the basic requirements to apply, even if you do not have any of the following experience:

• Advana / WDP / BLADE: Direct experience working within the CDAO War Data Platform (WDP / Advana) or the USAF BLADE analytics enclave.
• Defense Logistics & CBM+: Domain knowledge of Department of Defense maintenance operations, supply chain logistics, aviation telemetry, or Condition Based Maintenance Plus (CBM+).
• End-to-End Lifecycle Modeling: Hands-on experience executing full-lifecycle modeling workflows, including data cleaning, model design, validation, calibration, hyperparameter tuning, and production documentation.
• Data Quality Frameworks: In-depth understanding of enterprise data governance, data lineage, and automated data quality validation.
• Industry Certifications: Relevant technical or management credentials such as Project Management Professional (PMP), Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), or cloud/data architecture certifications.

The salary range provided for this position represents the anticipated base salary for successful candidates. Actual compensation will be determined based on a variety of factors, including relevant experience, education, certifications, skills, security clearance level, geographic location, market conditions, and internal equity. In addition to base salary, eligible employees may participate in Redhorse's comprehensive benefits programs and may be eligible for performance-based or other incentive compensation, where applicable.   Redhorse Corporation is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, disability, or any other protected class.   If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran, you may request a reasonable accommodation if you are unable or limited in your ability to access job openings or apply for a job on this site as a result of your disability. You can request reasonable accommodations by contacting Talent Acquisition at [email protected]   Redhorse Corporation shall, in its discretion, modify or adjust the position to meet Redhorse’s changing needs. This job description is not a contract and may be adjusted as deemed appropriate in Redhorse’s sole discretion.