[DoritoChef]

I would say, with your background, consider applying to DeepMind[1], or a national research lab. What you'd be looking for would be "entry level" research work. This would allow you to easily stand out in your applicant pool, and make it to the interview, where'd you'd have a better chance to properly explain your non-traditional academic background. If you're a US Citizen, maybe consider applying to positions at the MIT Lincoln Lab, Los Alamos, or Argonne National Lab. A lot of these guys aren't doing that much with ML/RL/AI, but that's okay! If you're serious about research you'll probably want to do a PhD. To get into a good PhD program, you'll need good references.

[1]: https://deepmind.com/careers/

[DoritoChef]

P.S. I specifically underline references and research experience because that's where it appears you'd be weakest at the moment. Getting a 4.0 GPA in your grad school coursework (which is online, I presume) says a lot more about your organizational skills (which must be really good!) than your ability to research. Getting someone with a PhD to write "This person is capable of doing good research and I've seen it with my own two eyes" is probably one of the best things you can get on a recommendation letter to a PhD program, which is far more valuable than "this person did well in my class" (see: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&c...)

[hsikka]

This is enormously helpful, thank you! I'll look into getting my hands dirty with entry level research as fast as possible