Cleared R&D Computer Engineer - Counter-Autonomy, Onsite

Sandia National Laboratories; New Mexico; On-site; USD 102,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Flexible work arrangements

Excellent benefits

Job summary

Sandia National Laboratories seeks an on-site Cleared R&D Computer Engineer to tackle challenges in intrusion detection, counter-autonomy, and physical security systems. You will develop ML models, computer vision, and robotic platforms while collaborating across multi-disciplinary teams to protect national assets.

Responsibilities include data analysis, model deployment, and integration with sensors and autonomous devices, with travel as needed and DOE L clearance required.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant discipline or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Active DOE L clearance or higher or equivalent clearance.
• Willingness to travel domestically and internationally as needed (<15%).
• Experience in computer vision, ML, and autonomous platforms is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Formulate algorithmic and ML approaches for data analysis, localization and classification tasks.
• Develop ML models and integrate them into autonomous platforms.
• Design and implement robotic systems for surveillance and tracking.
• Analyze large datasets from sensors, UAS, and other sources; write clean code for security systems.

Skills

Machine learning

Computer vision

Python

Robotics

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

OpenCV

CUDA

TensorRT

PyTorch

Job description

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Cleared R&D Computer Engineer - Counter-Autonomy, Onsite

Sandia National Laboratories is the nation’s premier science and engineering lab for national security and technology innovation, with teams of specialists focused on cutting-edge work in a broad array of areas. Some of the main reasons we love our jobs:

Challenging work with amazing impact that contributes to security, peace, and freedom worldwide

Extraordinary co-workers

Some of the best tools, equipment, and research facilities in the world

Career advancement and enrichment opportunities

Flexible work arrangements for many positions include 9/80 (work 80 hours every two weeks, with every other Friday off) and 4/10 (work 4 ten-hour days each week) compressed workweeks, part-time work, and telecommuting (a mix of onsite work and working from home)

Generous vacation, strong medical and other benefits, competitive 401k, learning opportunities, relocation assistance and amenities aimed at creating a solid work/life balance*

World-changing technologies. Life-changing careers. Learn more about Sandia at: http://www.sandia.gov

*These benefits vary by job classification.

What Your Job Will Be Like:

We are seeking highly motivated computer engineer to assist with a broad range of challenging technical problems associated with intrusion detection of physical threats to national assets from unauthorized people, vehicles, and autonomous platforms (drones or unmanned aerial vehicles). The successful candidate will work in an innovative, multi-disciplinary team environment to develop and integrate solutions for our national security.

On any given day, you may be called on to:

Formulate algorithmic and machine learning approaches to solve data analysis and target localization and classification tasks.

Write clean, efficient, and well-documented code for physical security system implementations.

Develop machine learning models and integrate them into autonomous platforms.

Design and implement robotic systems for various applications such as surveillance and tracking.

Assist other staff as a contributor on both customer and internally funded projects.

Work in a sensor testing and data collection team, in both indoor and outdoor field settings.

Analyze and visualize large datasets from intrusion sensors, UAS, and other sources.

Develop and execute test plans, integrate hardware and software, conduct experiments, and analyze results to advise government sponsor decisions.

Troubleshoot issues with existing code and collaborate with colleagues to resolve technical challenges.

Write proposals for internally or externally funded R&D projects.

Summarize and present results to other staff and sponsors and develop papers and briefings for publication.

Collaborate with cross-functional teams to identify project requirements and develop solutions that meet those needs.

Stay up-to-date with emerging trends and technologies in robotics, machine learning, and UAS technology.

Due to the nature of the work, the selected applicant must be able to work onsite.

Salary Range:

$102,400 - $199,700

*Salary range is estimated, and actual salary will be determined after consideration of the selected candidate's experience and qualifications, and application of any approved geographic salary differential.

Qualifications We Require:

Bachelor's degree in a relevant discipline, or an equivalent combination of directly relevant education and engineering or scientific experience that demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and ability to perform independent research and development.

Active DOE L or higher level clearance or equivalent

Qualifications We Desire:

The ideal R&D S&E Computer Engineering candidate for Sandia National Laboratories will in addition possess the following:

Graduate degree in Computer Engineering or a highly related field where an independent research project was a graduation requirement (e.g., independent project, thesis, or dissertation).

Demonstrated ability to execute and deliver technical work products with application of appropriate rigor and pedigree documentation (design/code reviews, technical oversight/approvals, project team concurrence, artifact generation, etc.).

Experience in computer systems design and software development for real-time and embedded processing systems, distributed processing systems, or real-time client server implementations.

Familiarity with hardware/software requirements generation for verification, validation and qualifications

Demonstrated interpersonal skills and ability to work in a multidisciplinary, multi-disciplinary team setting for a common purpose.

Also, for this posting we are seeking individuals with the following experience:

Strong knowledge of computer vision, deep learning, and reinforcement machine learning techniques.

Strong written communication skills (e.g., published research in technical journals)

Desire to work on solutions to National Security problems, especially in counter-autonomy and physical security system applications.

Experience with S3 buckets, OpenCV, and dynamic visualization of sensor data.

Demonstrated ability to perform machine learning related activities such as pipeline development, model explainability, and uncertainty quantification.

Strong teamwork and leadership skills.

Ability to travel domestically and internationally as needed (less than 15% of the time).

Experience with GPU, embedded, or constrained-compute inference optimization.

Familiarity with CUDA, TensorRT, ONNX Runtime, NVIDIA Triton, NVIDIA DeepStream, OpenCV, PyTorch, or comparable frameworks.

Experience training, evaluating, or deploying computer-vision models.

Understanding of multi-sensor fusion, track correlation, time alignment, coordinate transformation, confidence handling, and uncertainty management.

Experience integrating third-party sensors, vendor hardware, or externally developed software components.

About Our Team:

The Mission of department 6554 is to counter evolving autonomous threats to key national facilities and to improve the performance of physical security systems protecting those sites. We are part of a larger group focused on Autonomy and Unmanned Systems. We address real-world problems through research, development, testing, and evaluation of components and systems to advance the science of physical security. This enables customers to mitigate threats to these facilities by improving the ability to sense, assess, track, and respond to physical incursions. Our work addresses current physical security operational challenges and evolving threats such as unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). We specialize in the testing and evaluation of Counter-UAS (C-UAS) systems, which counter the danger posed by UAS, and we are a C-UAS test agent for DOE, NNSA, and DHS.

Posting Duration:

This posting will be open for application submissions for a minimum of three (3) calendar days, including the 'posting date'. Sandia reserves the right to extend the posting date at any time.

Security Clearance:

Position requires a Department of Energy (DOE) L security clearance to start, or equivalent active security clearance with another U.S. government agency (e.g., DOD).

Sandia is required by DOE to conduct a pre-employment drug test and background review that includes checks of personal references, credit, law enforcement records, and employment/education verifications. Applicants for employment need to be able to maintain a DOE L-level security clearance, which requires U.S. citizenship. If you hold more than one citizenship (i.e., of the U.S. and another country), your ability to obtain a security clearance may be impacted.

Applicants offered employment with Sandia are subject to a federal background investigation to meet the requirements for access to classified information or matter if the duties of the position require a DOE security clearance. Substance abuse or illegal drug use, falsification of information, criminal activity, serious misconduct or other indicators of untrustworthiness can cause a clearance to be denied or terminated by DOE, resulting in the inability to perform the duties assigned and subsequent termination of employment.

EEO:

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, or veteran status and any other protected class under state or federal law.

NNSA Requirements for MedPEDs:

If you have a Medical Portable Electronic Device (MedPED), such as a pacemaker, defibrillator, drug-releasing pump, hearing aids, or diagnostic equipment and other equipment for measuring, monitoring, and recording body functions such as heartbeat and brain waves, if employed by Sandia National Laboratories you may be required to comply with NNSA security requirements for MedPEDs.

If you have a MedPED and you are selected for an on-site interview at Sandia National Laboratories, there may be additional steps necessary to ensure compliance with NNSA security requirements prior to the interview date.

• Affordable housing, reasonable cost of living
• Minimal traffic congestion compared to larger cities
• At Sandia, recruiters manually review resumes on each job posting instead of using a resume screening software program
• By following the best practices outlined, this ensures that recruiters can accurately determine your qualifications for the position