AI Integration Engineer

Who We Are

nLIGHT-DEFENSE Systems, Inc. is one of the nation's leading developers of Directed Energy systems, which is a top modernization priority of the Department of Defense. Our High Energy Laser (HEL) systems, Adaptive Optical (AO) systems, and Acquisition / Pointing / Tracking (APT) solutions are designed to overcome the most difficult challenges facing the deployment of high energy laser solutions to the United States military and our allies. Located in Longmont, Colorado, nLIGHT-DEFENSE Systems, Inc. is a vertically integrated business that leverages internal capabilities - from semiconductor device through target identification - to develop systems that are both high-performance and cost-effective. We continue to invest in capabilities, facilities and technology to bring leading edge HEL solutions to the warfighter. This is a great opportunity to work at a company that is on the leading edge of the HEL industry and provides a culture of excellence and commitment to delivering solutions to the warfighter and our country.

Headquartered in Camas, Washington, nLIGHT is a publicly listed company (NASDAQ: LASR).

Summary:

The AI Integration Engineer is responsible for evaluating, deploying, and advancing AI technologies that improve engineering productivity, quality, and innovation across nLIGHT. This role partners closely with software, firmware, and engineering teams to integrate AI-enabled tools, automation, and workflows into development environments while ensuring compliance with CUI, ITAR, and company security requirements. The position also serves as a technical advisor and educator, helping teams effectively adopt and leverage emerging AI capabilities. Success is measured by the sustainable adoption of AI solutions that drive measurable improvements in engineering efficiency, effectiveness, and business outcomes.

All applicants must possess or be qualified to obtain a U.S. DoD Personnel Security Clearance. Preference will be given to candidates with an existing U.S. DoD Personnel Security Clearance. Further information on requirements to obtain a security clearance is available at: https://www.dcsa.mil/mc/pv/mbi/gicp/. Please review this information before applying.

Responsibilities:

• Evaluate, implement, and optimize AI technologies, tools, and workflows that improve engineering productivity, quality, and effectiveness across the organization.
• Assess, deploy, and support AI-enabled development tools, agentic coding solutions, and automation capabilities within engineering environments and CI/CD pipelines.
• Design, develop, and maintain AI-powered applications, integrations, and workflows utilizing large language models (LLMs) and related technologies where commercially available solutions do not meet business or technical requirements.
• Identify and implement opportunities to leverage AI-assisted automation across software and firmware development, testing, code review, documentation, requirements traceability, quality assurance, and other engineering processes.
• Partner with engineers, technical leaders, and cross-functional stakeholders to drive adoption of AI technologies through training, coaching, workshops, best practices, and technical guidance.
• Establish and maintain standards, governance, and review processes for the responsible, effective, and secure use of AI-assisted development tools and AI-generated content.
• Collaborate with IT, Security, and business stakeholders to ensure AI tools, workflows, and data usage comply with company policies, cybersecurity requirements, export controls, Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) handling requirements, and International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).

Required Experience \ Capability:

• Commitment to Excellence. Attention to detail. Pride in workmanship.
• 8+ years of experience in software, firmware, or data engineering with production systems.
• Demonstrated experience building and deploying solutions using LLM APIs or AI-assisted development tools.
• Proficiency in C#/.NET, C++, or Python, with the ability to work across multiple programming languages.
• Experience integrating and supporting external APIs and services.
• Hands-on experience with agentic coding tools and AI-assisted software development workflows.
• Proficiency with Git and CI/CD pipelines; GitLab experience preferred.
• Strong technical communication, training, and knowledge-sharing skills.
• Sound judgment with the ability to evaluate where AI solutions add value and where they do not.
• Ability to work independently, manage ambiguity, and learn unfamiliar technologies quickly.

Desired Experiences:

• Experience in aerospace, defense, or another regulated industry.
• Familiarity with ITAR, CUI, NIST SP 800-171, or CMMC.
• Experience with Azure GCC High, AWS GovCloud, or other government cloud environments.
• Experience deploying and serving models on-premises: GPU infrastructure, inference servers, quantization, throughput and latency tuning.
• Experience with retrieval-augmented generation, evaluation harnesses, or Model Context Protocol (MCP) server development.
• Background in embedded, real-time, or hardware-in-the-loop software.
• Experience running an internal training, enablement, or developer experience program.
• Familiarity with electro-optical systems, Adaptive Optics, or High Energy Laser systems.

Benefits Summary:

* 4 weeks of Paid Time Off per year

* 11 paid Holidays

* Employee Stock Purchase Plan

* Tuition Assistance Program

* Health (ACA Gold Plan), Vision and Dental Care paid by employer 100% for

Employee and 75% for Dependents

* Paid Family Leave, Short and Long Term Disability paid by employer 100%

* Competitive 401k with company match and immediate vesting

Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or age. For more information about our commitment to equal employment opportunity, please see this government poster: Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal. If you are an individual with a disability and need a reasonable accommodation in the application or hiring process, please contact Human Resources at [emailprotected].