Postdoctoral Appointee - GenAI / Materials Lifecycle Management, Onsite

Sandia National Laboratories; Kansas; On-site; USD 65,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible work arrangements

Relocation assistance

Generous vacation

401k plan

Learning opportunities

Job summary

Sandia National Laboratories invites applications for a postdoctoral appointee in the Materials Lifecycle Management Department. The role focuses on material informatics, data and predictive science to advance material discovery and engineering, with opportunities to collaborate across national labs, universities, and industry.

The position requires a PhD and a track record in predictive modeling with interpretable ML techniques, and the candidate must be able to work onsite.

Qualifications

• PhD in a relevant field with predictive modeling focus.
• Experience with interpretable machine learning techniques.
• Strong publication record and ability to obtain DOE Q-Clearance.

Responsibilities

• Conduct material informatics and data-driven research.
• Integrate ML outputs with physics-based models; collaborate across teams.
• Mentor technologists and interns; publish in peer-reviewed journals.

Skills

Interpretable ML

Technical publishing

DOE Q-Clearance eligibility

Education

PhD in Material Science, Engineering, or related field

Tools

Python

Database management

Job description

Bidder Eligibility:

This postdoctoral position is a temporary position for up to one year, which may be renewed at Sandia's discretion up to five additional years. The PhD must have been conferred within five years prior to employment. Individuals in postdoctoral positions may bid on regular Sandia positions as internal candidates, and in some cases may be converted to regular career positions during their term if warranted by ongoing operational needs, continuing availability of funds, and satisfactory job performance.

Employees, excluding student interns, must remain in their current position for one year from their hire date before bidding on a new job. However, the hiring manager may obtain approval to consider a candidate before the one-year requirement is met via the review process. This approval must be secured prior to being interviewed for a posted position. The application of this requirement will not supersede collective bargaining agreements. Please refer to the collective bargaining labor agreements for eligibility requirements for represented bidders.

About Sandia:

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:

Are you looking to do creative and innovative research in material informatics, data, and predictive science? Do you want to increase your engagement with research that supports the development of material science and engineering? Sandia's Materials Lifecycle Management department is seeking a highly dedicated and innovative Postdoctoral Appointee to join the Material, Physical, and Chemical Sciences Center.

On any given day, you may be called on:

• Use Density Functional Theory (or other first principles techniques) to acquire any data necessary to train such models when it does not already exist
• Integrate the outputs of machine learning models with other physics‑based models or classical simulations to predict the thermodynamic, kinetic, or electronic properties of materials
• Mentor technologists and interns
• Work collaboratively to execute, track, and refine project plans with an integrated multi‑disciplinary team that may include members from national labs, universities, and industry
• Communicate your research through writing scientific papers, publishing in peer‑reviewed journals, and presenting findings at seminars and conferences
• Work to execute, monitor, and refine project plans and proposals
• Due to the nature of the work, the selected candidate must be able to work onsite.

Qualifications We Require:

• PhD in or related to Material Science, Engineering, Applied Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Bioinformatics, Computer Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, or related field with an emphasis on building, evaluating, and applying predictive models
• Familiarity with interpretable machine learning techniques to discover new structure‑function relationships from experimental or computational data
• Record of technical accomplishment and written communication as evidenced by publication in high‑impact scientific journals
• Ability to obtain and maintain a DOE Q‑Clearance

Qualifications We Desire:

• Experience with active learning, GenAI techniques to iteratively discover better materials
• Strong verbal communication and data presentation skills as demonstrated through scientific conference presentations
• Strong background in statistics, machine learning and data science with applications to engineering and scientific data analysis
• Extensive collaboration skills within a larger team engaged in modeling, material synthesis, and use of advanced characterization tools
• Strong programming skills in Python and familiarity with database management tools

About Our Team:

Sandia's Materials Lifecycle Management Department is a diverse team of engineers and scientists dedicated to teaming with both research and mission delivery organizations to address materials‑based risks (i.e., quality, availability, compatibility and aging) and enable new material discovery. Our team provides a critical interface with the NNSA and engineering stakeholders through its leadership of the Aging & Lifetimes and At‑Risk Materials programs enabling informed engineering design decisions. We develop scalable, FAIR data management solutions to empower AI/ML research, assess material compatibility, manage the Granta data based, its material records, and new material data ingestion, and utilize and develop GenAI models for finding novel, application specific materials. This department has a strong record of delivering critical materials information to broad internal and external stakeholders that improves SNL's and the broader Nuclear Security Enterprise's (NSE) mission delivery.

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.

Job ID: 699504

Job Family: 92

Regular/Temporary Position: T

Full/Part-Time Status: F