Principal Data Scientist · SAIC · Defense & Federal AI

Kianni
Martinez

I build AI systems for the nation's most complex missions — and I believe the hardest problems in this field are never purely technical.

Kianni Martinez speaking at the NYSE
$4.6B+ Pipeline led
Emmy-recognized 39th Annual Awards
I am a
persevering
resolute
academic.

I am currently a Principal Data Scientist at SAIC, where I lead AI/ML strategy across a $4.6B+ opportunity pipeline — architecting modernization solutions across defense and civil federal agencies. My work spans enterprise-scale RAG systems, agentic workflows, and the technical whitepapers that define how next-generation data architectures actually get built and deployed at community scale.

My path here was not linear. I'm an Air Force military brat, eldest of four, raised by a Combat Communications father whose standard was excellence without excuses. At 16, I was five feet from the blast in the 2016 Brussels Airport terrorist attack. I lost my mother — the only constant in an ever-changing lifestyle. My pillar. I nearly lost my left leg. I spent a year in rehabilitation — relearning how to stand, how to walk — and I still accepted my AFROTC full-ride scholarship on the other side of it. I deferred it one year. I still had countless orthopedic and burn surgeries the entirety of my undergrad. I showed up every day despite it all.

I am a limb salvage patient. I wear an IDEO brace to move through the world. I have a Master of Data Science from UC San Diego, multiple federal civilian awards, an Emmy, and a job I'm proud of. I tell this story not for sympathy but because it is the foundation of everything I build: I have never had the luxury of assuming a system was designed with me in mind. That shapes how I approach every novel challenge. It shapes how I approach AI.

I'm working toward a PhD at the intersection of AI and limb salvage research — a field where young women like me are nearly absent from the literature. I believe that is a problem worth solving.

Defense & Federal AI RAG & LLM Systems AI Strategy Data Architecture Responsible AI Limb Salvage Research UCSD MDS '24
01
Defense & Federal AI/ML

Leading AI and Data strategy across Navy, DoT, DHS, MPA, and VA — not at the project level, but at the community level. Building the RAG pipelines, agentic workflows, and data architectures that modernize entire agencies and defense communities.

02
Data Architecture & LLM Integration

Authoring the technical whitepapers and frameworks that define how next-generation systems actually get built — unifying legacy data paradigms with retrieval-augmented generation, agentic workflows, and modern LLM integration. The specifications that shape what gets deployed at scale.

03
Strategic AI Communication

Translating deep technical capability into executive decision frameworks — moving leadership from process-driven models to performance-metric ones. Trusted to represent AI strategy to the stakeholders who determine what billions of dollars in modernization actually fund.

From Brussels to the boardroom — resilience is my methodology.

I've given resiliency speeches at schools, military bases, and fundraising events. I've presented AI strategy to federal executives and defense leadership. I am adept at any setting I walk into — and I believe the best talks live at the intersection of the technical and the deeply human. Emmy-recognized. Still standing.

Invite me to speak
Resilience as a Practice, Not a Platitude
Personal keynote. From Brussels to federal AI — what it actually means to keep taking the next step forward.
AI Strategy for Defense & Federal Missions
For technical and leadership audiences navigating LLM and RAG adoption at scale.
Disability, Identity & the Future of AI Research
On limb salvage, underrepresentation in tech, and why the field needs our voice now more than ever.
The Military-to-Tech Pipeline
For students, veterans, and early-career professionals. What defense teaches you about systems thinking.
What I'm focused on right now

I didn't fight for my second chance to restore what was. I fight to build what hasn't existed yet.

Read my now page