EngineeRD Solutions, LLC. Internship - Software Engineer Remote · Intern

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EngineeRD is an organization of problem solvers who love chasing challenges and finding underserved issues. We have the joy of joining together colleagues across all the Sciences, Humanities and Arts to research, design and engineer tailored solutions for the most complex problems.

About the Role

EngineeRD Solutions, LLC (EngineeRD) is developing AIRA (AI-Assisted RMF Pre-Adjudication), an intelligent software system that automates the mapping of cybersecurity control evidence to NIST SP 800-53 requirements and packages adjudication packages for United States Department of War (DoW) Risk Management Framework (RMF) review. This is a funded DoW Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I effort executed under a Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) award.

The Software Engineer Intern will work directly with the Director of AI Research and Development, on prototype development, data pipeline construction, and evaluation of AI/ML components. This is a hands-on engineering role, not a research-only position — the intern will write and test real code that feeds into a DoW deliverable.

Key Responsibilities

•      Support development of the AIRA prototype, including NLP/ML pipelines for control-to-evidence mapping and knowledge graph construction using document inputs (System Security Plans, POA&Ms, NIST SP 800-53 control families).

•      Assist in building and evaluating large language model (LLM) prompting strategies and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines for cybersecurity document analysis.

•      Write Python scripts for data ingestion, preprocessing, validation, and structured output generation from RMF artifact corpora.

•      Conduct reproducible experiments and track results against defined Phase I evaluation criteria; contribute to performance benchmarking documentation.

•      Assist in preparing technical deliverables, including mid-project briefings and the Phase I Final Report, under direction of the Senior Technical Lead and PI.

•      Participate in regular team standups with EngineeRD staff and George Mason University subcontractor research team

•      Maintain clean, documented code in the project repository and adhere to established version control and code review practices.

Required Qualifications

•      Currently enrolled in or recently completed an undergraduate or graduate program (B.S., M.S. or equivalent) in Computer Science, Data Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, Cybersecurity, or a related technical field.

•      Proficiency in Python, including experience with data science libraries (pandas, scikit-learn) and ability to write clean, testable code.

•      Demonstrated experience with data analysis, data cleaning, and structured query workflows (SQL or equivalent).

•      Familiarity with schematics and diagraming, SDLC and Business Process Model Notation

•      Strong analytical and written communication skills; ability to document methods and findings clearly for a technical audience.

•      Ability to work independently, manage deliverable timelines, and communicate progress proactively in a small-team environment.

•      U.S. Citizenship required (DoW facility clearance environment; no clearance required of candidate at time of hire).

Preferred Qualifications

•      Coursework or project experience in machine learning, natural language processing, or knowledge representation.

•      Familiarity with LLM frameworks (LangChain, LlamaIndex, or similar) or vector database / RAG architectures.

•      Exposure to federal IT governance frameworks — NIST SP 800-37 (RMF), NIST SP 800-53, FedRAMP, or FISMA — through coursework, project work, or prior employment.

•      Experience working with unstructured document corpora (e.g., PDF/DOCX ingestion, entity extraction, text classification).

•      Familiarity with Azure or AWS cloud platforms, particularly ML/AI services (Azure AI Studio, SageMaker, Bedrock).

•      Prior internship, research assistantship, or capstone project experience in a government, defense, or regulated healthcare IT environment.

•      Experience with R for statistical analysis or evaluation reporting.

What You Will Gain

This internship is structured to maximize your technical depth and professional exposure within a funded DoW program:

•      Real DoW program experience. AIRA is a live SBIR Phase I effort with a Defense Logistics Agency customer — not a simulated project.

•      AI/ML engineering in a compliance context. You will work at the cutting edge of applied NLP and LLM engineering applied to a rigorous, high-stakes federal use case.

•      Cross-disciplinary mentorship. You will receive direct mentorship from EngineeRD leaders and collaborate with George Mason University research faculty.

•      Publication and presentation potential. Depending on results, there is potential for co-authorship on Phase I findings and/or conference presentation through the GMU research partnership.

•      Pathway to continued engagement. Strong performers will be considered for Phase II roles should the program advance.