Artificial Intelligence

Overview

Artificial intelligence professionals help federal agencies explore, develop and use emerging technologies to improve services, strengthen decision-making and advance agency missions. They may build AI-enabled tools, conduct research, analyze data, evaluate risks, establish governance frameworks or help agencies adopt new technologies responsibly.

AI is being used across the federal government to support scientific discovery, healthcare, national security, public service delivery, cybersecurity and government operations. As agencies increasingly explore AI applications, they need professionals who can balance innovation with privacy, security, transparency and public trust.

What You Might Work On

In the federal government, professionals in this field often:

• Develop, test or evaluate AI and machine learning tools that support agency missions
• Create policies, guidance and governance frameworks for the responsible use of AI
• Assess AI systems for risks related to privacy, bias, transparency, security and accessibility
• Analyze data and build models that help agencies make evidence-based decisions
• Collaborate with technical, legal, policy and program teams to implement emerging technologies responsibly

Is This a Good Fit?

While roles and responsibilities vary, you might enjoy this field if you:

• Are interested in how technology can be used to solve public problems
• Enjoy working across technical, policy and ethical questions
• Think critically about the benefits and risks of emerging technology
• Like translating complex concepts for different audiences
• Enjoy building, testing or improving technical tools, models or automated workflows

Job series codes

What are job series codes?

In the federal government, most jobs are grouped into “job series” based on the type of work. Each series has a four-digit code (for example, 1560, Data Science).

How to use them:

You can use job series codes to narrow your search on USAJOBS. Start with a keyword (like “program analyst”), then add a series code for more targeted results. Here are a few examples to get you started — there are hundreds of job series codes across the federal government!

Where You Could Work

The federal government is big — so where do you start?

One approach is to focus on a type of role. Another is to focus on a mission area, or the kind of impact you want to have (i.e., in public health, education, transportation or elsewhere).

Keep in mind: mission areas often span multiple agencies, so you may find relevant roles in places you wouldn’t expect!

Professionals in this field work across many federal agencies depending on mission area, including:

• Government technology and digital services: General Services Administration and U.S. Digital Service
• Scientific research and innovation: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Science Foundation and Department of Energy
• Healthcare and public health: Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• National security and defense: Department of Defense and intelligence agencies
• Cybersecurity and critical infrastructure: Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
• Commerce, economic analysis and emerging technology policy: Department of Commerce
• Benefits delivery and customer experience: Social Security Administration and Department of Veterans Affairs
• Environmental and climate science: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Environmental Protection Agency

Sample positions

Artificial Intelligence Engineer (2210)

In this role, you may:

• Design, build and maintain artificial intelligence tools that support logistics, analytics, automation and decision-making across the agency
• Develop AI-enabled applications that perform tasks such as document analysis, information retrieval, content summarization and workflow assistance

Data Scientist – AI Engineer (2210)

In this role, you may:

• Develop AI and data science tools that support audits, investigations, research and oversight of Postal Service operations
• Build and test machine learning, generative AI and data pipeline solutions, including tools for text analysis, information retrieval, model validation and technical reporting

Top 10 Agencies for This Field

Top 10 Most Common Jobs in This Field