Member/Senior - R&D Artificial Intelligence (AI) Models, Onsite

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

Benefits offered by this job

Generous vacation

Medical and other benefits

Competitive 401k

Learning opportunities

Relocation assistance and work-life AM

Job summary

Sandia National Laboratories is seeking artificial intelligence researchers to tackle challenging national security problems. You will collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to leverage existing AI models and innovate across DOE initiatives.

You will design, train, and evaluate large-scale models, publish in journals, and present results at national venues. A hybrid onsite/remote work arrangement and strong focus on impact and security are expected.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent in a relevant discipline.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a DOE Q clearance.
• Graduate degree and AI research experience preferred.
• Experience developing software and AI systems for enterprise and national security.
• Proven ability to work in interdisciplinary teams.
• Proficiency with PyTorch and TensorFlow; Python programming.

Responsibilities

• Conduct creative AI research and develop supporting software to impact Sandia missions.
• Collaborate with engineers, mathematicians and scientists across disciplines.
• Publish in journals and conferences and present at national/international venues.
• Design and train large-scale models and scientific models.
• Research, fine-tune, and certify large reasoning models (LLM, GNNs, ViTs).
• Develop domain foundation models trained on DOE data.
• Develop discovery loops with simulations and experiments.
• Build AI surrogates to accelerate exascale simulations.
• Design and implement multi-agent frameworks.
• Run red-team evaluations for robustness and fairness.
• Advise domain scientists on model-based hypothesis generation.
• Execute and optimize software on Sandia testbeds and supercomputers.

Skills

C++/CUDA

Deep learning

Python

Distributed computing

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Tools

MPI

Horovod

Ray

Kubernetes

Job description

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*

*These benefits vary by job classification.

What Your Job Will Be Like:

Sandia is partnering with industry, government, and academia to advance AI capabilities through research, development, and deployment. These collaborations facilitate support of DOE's AI initiatives, including the transfer and commercialization of award-winning AI technology, and the training of future leaders who must anticipate and tackle problems facing the nation.

We are seeking artificial intelligence (AI) researchers to tackle some of the most challenging national security challenges. As a valued member of our collaborative team, you will work alongside talented, multidisciplinary researchers to both leverage existing AI models and techniques and innovate in this space to address the unique needs of Sandia applications. If this sounds like an exciting challenge to you, we look forward to reading your application!

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

Conduct creative AI research and develop supporting software to impact key Sandia missions

Collaborate with engineers, mathematicians and scientists across many disciplines

Publish in journals and conferences, and present at national and international venues

Design and train large-scale models and scientific models

Research, fine-tune, and certify large reasoning models (LLM, graph neural nets, vision transformers, etc.) for various science and engineering domain tasks

Develop and integrate domain foundation models trained or adapted on DOE simulation, experimental, and production data

Develop Scientific discovery loops that include simulation and experiments in the loop for advancing state of the art

Build AI surrogates to accelerate exascale multiphysics simulations

Design and implement multi-agent frameworks

Run red-team evaluations to stress-test foundation models for robustness and fairness

Advise domain scientists on model-based hypothesis generation

Execute and optimize your software on state-of-the-art testbed computers and supercomputers at Sandia and other DOE facilities

Present prototype demos and research results to stakeholders across DOE, DoD, IC, and industry

Help us define the future of computing

*The selected applicant can work a combination of onsite and offsite work. The selected applicant must live within a reasonable distance for commuting to the assigned work location when necessary.

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:

A 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.

Ability to obtain and maintain a DOE Q clearance

Qualifications We Desire:

The ideal R&D S&E Artificial Intelligence (AI) candidate for Sandia National Laboratories will in addition possess the following:

Graduate degree in a relevant computationally-intensive discipline where an independent research project was a graduation requirement (e.g., independent project, thesis, or dissertation).

Experience in developing software and AI systems for enterprise and national security applications.

Demonstrated software development skills and familiarity with modern software development practices.

Proven ability to work and communicate effectively in a collaborative and interdisciplinary team environment.

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

Experience working in collaborative software teams and familiarity with modern software development practices.

Demonstrated expertise with deep learning frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow) and proficiency in Python.

Demonstrated experience in building AI models (pretrain, finetune or post-train) or agentic systems for science and engineering domains

Experience deploying large language models, multimodal AI systems, or advanced agentic systems

Hands-on experience with model optimization techniques (quantization, pruning, distillation) and hardware acceleration

Experience with distributed computing frameworks (MPI, Horovod, Ray) and orchestration tools (Kubernetes)

Proficiency with C++, CUDA, or other performance-oriented languages/environments.

About Our Team:

The Center for Computing Research (CCR) at Sandia creates technology and solutions for many of our nation's most demanding national security challenges. The Center's portfolio spans the spectrum from fundamental research to state-of-the-art applications. Our work includes computer system architecture (both hardware and software); enabling technology for modeling physical and engineering systems; and research in discrete and applied mathematics, artificial intelligence, data analytics, and high-performance computing.

As part of CCR, the Scalable AI Models and Algorithms Department creates breakthrough algorithms and develops innovative AI solutions that unlock the potential of next generation AI models and hardware, leveraging deep expertise in applied mathematics, artificial intelligence, and computational science to tackle performance, scalability, and efficiency challenges while shaping the future of computing. While mission driven and focused, we perform most of our research in the public domain, which allows the R&D professionals in the department to publish in the open literature and effectively team with leaders at other labs, universities, and industry.

You will be part of a multi-disciplinary, success-oriented team working on mission-critical AI model development and deployment with national security implications. If you're passionate about advancing cutting-edge AI algorithms and developing innovative solutions that impact national security, we want to hear from you!

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:

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 obtain and maintain a DOE Q-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