Kansas City AI jobs are machine learning, data science, and AI software roles in the Kansas City metro, where national security employers hire cleared and clearable engineers.
Kansas City AI jobs are machine learning, data science, and AI software engineering roles in the Kansas City metro, a market of 39,540 computer and mathematical jobs where national security employers hire cleared and clearable engineers.
This page is for engineers deciding whether Kansas City is a real place to do serious AI work. It covers what the jobs are, what they pay, who hires, how security clearances work for people who do not have one yet, and what the work looks like at Torch.AI, which was founded in Kansas City and still builds here.
What counts as an AI job in Kansas City?
There is no federal occupation code called "AI engineer." The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts AI work inside existing occupations, so any honest count of Kansas City AI jobs is built from a few of them:
Data scientists (SOC 15-2051): build and evaluate models, analyze data, and turn results into decisions.
Software developers (SOC 15-1252): where most machine learning engineers, MLOps engineers, and AI application developers are classified.
Computer and information research scientists (SOC 15-1221): research-heavy roles that design new methods.
Information security analysts (SOC 15-1212): increasingly responsible for securing models, data pipelines, and AI-enabled systems.
Job titles vary more than the work does. An "AI/ML Engineer," a "Machine Learning Engineer," and a "Software Engineer, Data Pipelines" can all spend their days on the same problem: getting reliable answers out of messy data.
How many AI and data jobs are in Kansas City, and what do they pay?
The table below uses BLS OEWS estimates for the Kansas City, MO-KS Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2025, compared with the same occupations nationally.
Occupation (SOC)
KC metro jobs
KC median wage
U.S. median wage
KC median as % of U.S.
Data scientists (15-2051)
1,260
$99,870
$120,230
83%
Software developers (15-1252)
12,160
$124,990
$135,980
92%
Information security analysts (15-1212)
1,810
$104,010
$129,180
81%
Computer and information research scientists (15-1221)
120
$104,670
not compared
not compared
All computer and mathematical occupations (15-0000)
39,540
$100,770
$109,280
92%
Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025 estimates, Kansas City MO-KS MSA (area 28140) and national. The percentage column is Torch.AI analysis of BLS OEWS data.
Three things stand out:
Software development is the largest AI-adjacent pool. More than twelve thousand software developers work in the metro, roughly ten for every data scientist. Most machine learning engineering happens inside that group.
Kansas City wages sit below national medians, by 8 to 19 percent depending on the occupation. For the computer and mathematical group as a whole, the Kansas City median is 92 percent of the national figure.
Tech work pays well above the local average. The median for all occupations in the metro was $50,820 in May 2025; the median for computer and mathematical occupations was $100,770, about twice as high (Torch.AI analysis of BLS OEWS data).
Who hires for AI and data roles in Kansas City?
Kansas City's AI market is shaped by national security work as much as by commercial tech. Three anchors are worth knowing:
Kansas City National Security Campus (KCNSC). One of the eight sites of the National Nuclear Security Administration, managed by Honeywell FM&T. According to KCNSC, more than 7,000 employees work there, and its primary focus is "manufacturing 80 percent of non-nuclear components that go into the nuclear stockpile."
Fort Leavenworth. In Leavenworth County, part of the Kansas City metro. Fort Leavenworth is home of the U.S. Army's Combined Arms Command, often called the "Intellectual Center of the Army," where doctrine, leader education, and mission command are developed.
Torch.AI. An AI company founded in Kansas City and headquartered in Leawood, Kansas. In May 2021 the Kansas Department of Commerce announced that Torch.AI would invest $45 million and create 490 full-time jobs in Leawood. Most of its current engineering openings are based in Leawood (see torch.ai/careers).
The common thread is the customer. A large share of the region's hardest data problems belong to defense and national security missions, which is why "cleared" and "clearable" show up in so many Kansas City AI job listings.
Work on mission AI in Kansas City.
Torch.AI builds reasoning infrastructure in Leawood for defense and national security. See the openings.
Founded in Kansas City. Mission-first work. Cleared or clearable.
Torch.AI builds reasoning infrastructure in Leawood for defense and national security. See the openings.
Founded in Kansas City. Mission-first work. Cleared or clearable.
Do Kansas City AI jobs require a security clearance?
Some do and many do not. Commercial AI roles generally do not require a clearance. Roles that touch classified government contracts often do, and the rules for who can be cleared are set in federal regulation, not by the employer.
Under the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual, 32 CFR 117.10:
The government decides, not the company. "The CSA is responsible for determining an employee's eligibility for access to classified information" (117.10(a)(1)). The CSA is the cognizant security agency, a government body.
The job has to need it. The contractor "must determine that access to classified information is essential in the performance of tasks or services related to the fulfillment of a classified contract" (117.10(a)(1)(i)).
Companies cannot stockpile cleared people. Requests for eligibility "will not be used to establish a cache of cleared employees" (117.10(a)(5)).
An offer can come before the clearance. If a role needs access on day one, the contractor may request the investigation before employment begins, provided "a written commitment for employment has been made by the contractor" and "the candidate has accepted the offer in writing" (117.10(f)(1)). The offer must say employment will start within 45 days of eligibility being granted (117.10(f)(2)).
In practice, "clearable" means a candidate the employer is prepared to put through that process for a specific role. It does not mean a clearance is guaranteed; that decision belongs to the government.
How do you get a cleared AI job if you do not have a clearance yet?
You do not apply for a clearance yourself. An employer with a classified contract sponsors you for a role that requires one. The sequence follows 32 CFR 117.10:
Offer. The contractor makes a written commitment of employment for a role that requires classified access.
Accept. You accept the offer in writing.
SF 86. You complete the SF 86, "Questionnaire for National Security Positions," in e-QIP or its successor system, and the company's Facility Security Officer reviews it for adequacy and completeness (117.10(d)).
Fingerprints. The contractor submits your fingerprints according to the government's guidance (117.10(e)).
Determination. The government investigates and determines eligibility under the national adjudicative guidelines, SEAD 4 (117.10(a)(2)).
Start. Employment begins within 45 days of eligibility being granted (117.10(f)(2)).
What helps: be accurate and complete on the SF 86, be ready to document U.S. citizenship if you claim it (117.10(c)), and pick an employer whose work genuinely needs the clearance, because that is the only way one gets requested.
How it works
From offer to cleared: the employer sponsors
You do not apply for a clearance yourself. A contractor with a classified contract can request the investigation after a written offer you accept in writing, before your first day.
Source: 32 CFR 117.10(a), (d), (e), and (f). Requests cannot be used to build a cache of cleared employees, so sponsorship is tied to a specific role.
Loops · respects reduced-motion · illustrative
What is it like to build AI at Torch.AI in Kansas City?
Torch.AI builds reasoning infrastructure for defense and national security: software that takes data from many separate systems, links records that describe the same people, places, and things, and turns the result into conclusions a mission team can trace back to sources. The customer owns the system they field.
The engineering problems that follow from that mission:
Entity resolution across many sources. Deciding when records from different systems describe the same real-world entity, and keeping the provenance of every link.
Grounded answers. Retrieval over knowledge graphs of resolved entities, so a model's answer cites the records it came from.
Deterministic, auditable logic. Encoding rules and doctrine as explicit logic that returns the same traceable result every time.
Pipelines that hold up in the real environment. Data ingestion and event processing that work on the customer's networks, not just on a laptop.
Is this you? You will likely do well here if you want ownership of outcomes, like hard problems on unfamiliar data, and care whether your work holds up when someone depends on it. It is probably not a fit if you want a research sandbox far from how the work gets used, or tightly defined tickets with no ambiguity.
Current openings, locations, and clearance requirements are listed on torch.ai/careers. Each listing states whether the role requires an active clearance or is open to clearable candidates. Tell us what kind of system you want to build and why it matters to you.
Build mission AI from Kansas City.
Engineering, data, and AI roles in Leawood, open to cleared and clearable candidates. Start here.
Kansas City based. Defense missions. Real ownership.
Engineering, data, and AI roles in Leawood, open to cleared and clearable candidates. Start here.
Kansas City based. Defense missions. Real ownership.
Sources
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates, Kansas City MO-KS MSA (28140) and national (retrieved via the BLS Public Data API, 2026-10-29).
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