Scientific Data Services Engineer – AI & HPC

Argonne National Laboratory; Lemont (IL); On-site; USD 94,000 - 147,000; Full time

Job summary

Argonne National Laboratory looks for a data services engineer to enable AI for science by exposing vast scientific data and building user-friendly interfaces for data discovery and access through high-performance APIs.

You will work with scientists, deploy data services in HPC/Kubernetes environments, and optimize performance while ensuring secure, multi-user access and alignment with Argonne’s core values of impact, safety, respect, integrity and teamwork.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and 5+ years of experience (or equivalent).
• Proficiency in Python or C/C++.
• Experience with data management frameworks and deployment in Kubernetes or HPC.
• Strong software development and version control skills (Git).
• Excellent written and oral communication; team oriented and values-aligned.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with science teams and external partners to enable AI-driven science via data services.
• Expose terabytes to petabytes of data to users and AI models through web apps and APIs.
• Support data ingestion, indexing, and search for diverse data sources.

Skills

Python

C/C++

OpenMetadata

Kubernetes

HPC

Git

Team collaboration

Communication

Value alignment

Education

Bachelor's degree

MS/PhD preferred

Tools

OpenMetadata

Kubernetes

Git

Job description

Position Overview

The Argonne Leadership Computing Facility’s (ALCF) mission is to accelerate major scientific discoveries and engineering breakthroughs for humanity by designing and providing world‑leading computing facilities in partnership with the computational science community. We help researchers solve some of the world’s largest and most complex problems with a unique combination of supercomputing resources and computational science expertise. ALCF has an opening for a data services engineer focused on enabling AI for science, specifically targeting large‑scale scientific data management. The successful candidate will join the Data Services and Workflows group, which focuses on scientific workflows that combine large‑scale data, simulations, analysis, and AI.

In this position the engineer will design and implement solutions that expose terabytes to petabytes of scientific data to users and AI models, emphasizing data ingestion, indexing, and search of diverse data. Working with scientists, the engineer will understand scientific data from target domains, structure it efficiently for project‑specific search, and expose it to users through highly usable web applications and to AI applications via high‑performance APIs.

Responsibilities

The role involves collaborating with science application teams, academia, industry, other national labs, and agencies to solve large scientific problems. The engineer will engage with studios, contribute to broader scientific initiatives, and expose data services to end users.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree and 5+ years of experience, Masters and 3+ years, PhD and 0+ years, or equivalent in computer science, computational science, physical science, engineering, or related field
• Programming experience in at least one of Python, C/C++
• Experience with one or more data management frameworks (e.g., OpenMetadata)
• Deployment experience in diverse environments such as Kubernetes or HPC
• Strong ability to create, maintain, and support high‑quality software
• Experience using version control such as git
• Collaborative, fast‑paced team orientation
• Effective written and oral communication skills
• Alignment with Argonne’s core values of impact, safety, respect, integrity, and teamwork

Preferred Skills and Qualifications

• Recent MS or PhD in computer science, computational science, physical science, engineering, or related field
• Experience working with scientific data in one or more domains
• Experience with parallel filesystems
• Design or operation of data services, including deployment, analysis, and integration with AI language models
• Profiling and optimizing data services for performance
• Familiarity with secure, multi‑user services, authentication/authorization, and API security

Job Family and Profile

Job Family: Research Development (RD)
Job Profile: Software Engineering 2
Worker Type: Regular Time, Full time

Compensation

The expected hiring range for this position is $94,486.00 – $147,398.94. Pay will be determined based on scope, responsibilities, qualifications, business considerations, internal equity, and external market pay for comparable jobs.

EEO Statement

As an equal employment opportunity employer, and in accordance with our core values of impact, safety, respect, integrity, and teamwork, Argonne National Laboratory is committed to a safe and welcoming workplace that fosters collaborative scientific discovery and innovation. Argonne encourages everyone to apply for employment. Argonne is committed to nondiscrimination and considers all qualified applicants for employment without regard to any characteristic protected by law.

Background Check

All Argonne offers of employment are contingent upon a background check that includes an assessment of criminal conviction history conducted on an individualized and case‑by‑case basis. Positions may require obtaining a government access authorization that involves additional background check requirements. Failure to obtain or maintain such authorization may result in withdrawal of a job offer or subsequent termination of employment.