Full-Stack Engineer (Mid-Level) - NiFi / Java

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

• Design and build backend systems that support mission-critical data processing, integration, and operational workflows.
• Develop scalable services and APIs using Java (Spring Boot, Micronaut) and/or Python to support high-throughput, data-intensive applications.
• Design, implement, and maintain data ingestion and orchestration pipelines using tools such as Apache NiFi.
• Integrate and transform data across multiple sources, enabling reliable data movement, enrichment, and downstream consumption.
• Optimize backend performance, including database queries, service latency, and data pipeline throughput.
• Build and maintain RESTful APIs and service integration layers supporting distributed systems.
• Collaborate with platform, DevOps, and security teams to deploy and operate services in cloud and hybrid environments.
• Contribute to CI/CD pipelines, containerized deployments, and automated testing workflows.
• Support troubleshooting and root-cause analysis across backend services and data pipelines.
• Work with SQL and NoSQL data stores to design schemas and implement efficient data access patterns.
• Provide backend support to frontend applications, ensuring reliable data delivery and API performance.
• Document system architecture, data flows, and technical decisions in internal documentation systems.

Core Skills & Qualifications

• B.S. or M.S. in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.
• 3–6 years of experience in backend or full-stack development with a strong emphasis on backend systems.
• Strong proficiency in Java and experience building backend services using frameworks such as Spring Boot or Micronaut.
• Experience designing and implementing REST APIs and service integration layers.
• Hands-on experience with Apache NiFi or similar data integration/orchestration tools.
• Strong understanding of data pipelines, ETL processes, and data transformation patterns.
• Experience working with SQL databases and familiarity with NoSQL systems.
• Experience deploying services to cloud environments (AWS preferred) and using containerization (Docker).
• Familiarity with Git workflows, CI/CD pipelines, and automated testing practices.
• Ability to design, troubleshoot, and optimize distributed backend systems.

Additional Valuable Experience

• Experience with Kafka or event-driven / streaming architectures.
• Familiarity with Airflow or other orchestration tools.
• Experience with observability tooling (Prometheus, Grafana, ELK).
• Exposure to microservices and cloud-native architectural patterns.
• Experience supporting defense, intelligence, or other secure environments.
• Exposure to AI/ML-enabled systems, data pipelines, or large-scale data processing platforms.
• Basic familiarity with frontend technologies (React, TypeScript) for API integration support.