Postdoctoral Appointee - AI for Security, Hybrid

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.

We are seeking a Postdoctoral Appointee to join our team. Your role will involve exploring how AI can be leveraged to enhance security measures, developing and validating cutting-edge AI models, and deploying AI solutions as services. You will work across the entire AI pipeline, from data pre-processing and analysis to model training, validation, and deployment, ensuring robust and reliable outcomes. You will also contribute to the scientific AI community by authoring and publishing peer-reviewed research papers, sharing insights and results from a wide range of AI topics, e.g., Explainable AI, Causal AI, and others. Collaboration with multidisciplinary teams will be essential as you integrate AI with networking technologies and databases to address complex security challenges.

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

• Develop end-to-end AI pipelines using PyTorch and web services.
• Train and validate ML models.
• Finetune LLMs and validate them.
• Perform generic software engineering tasks.
• Publish peer reviewed journal articles.
• Present your work at conferences and internally to your peers and colleagues.
• Team with others in your teams and across the laboratory.

This position is located in Albuquerque, NM, and the annual salary for this position is $98,500. 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.

• PhD in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or other closely-related relevant field, with a focus on AI/ML
• Experience with Python
• Experience with ML model training and validation
• Ability to obtain and maintain a DOE L-level security clearance

• Prior internship or other work experience in an AI-related position
• Expertise in PyTorch and/or TensorFlow
• Experience with ML DevOps
• Experience with LLMs fine-tuning and deployment
• Experience with Explainable AI and/or Causal AI
• More than two years of experience with training and deployment AI models as a service
• Experience with Agentic AI frameworks (e.g., Autogen)
• Experience with designing and developing APIs and experience with API frameworks (e.g., Flask)
• Ability to take initiative on solving complex problems
• Experience with networking (parsing, network layers)

Sandia's Resilient Energy and Distributed Systems Integration (REDSI) department conducts research, development and demonstrations of new components and systems that will enable resilient and reliable distributed energy resources as part of a secure and robust electric grid. The department partners extensively with the U.S. industry and other research institutions to pursue high-value solutions that enhance performance, safety, reliability and resilience of energy systems. We establish the technical foundation for advanced models, analysis methods, controls, standards, cyber-security solutions and power electronics concepts applicable to microgrids and interconnected systems. Much of this work is conducted at Sandia's Distributed Energy Technologies Laboratory (DETL), a world-recognized systems integration research facility for over 40 years. This work is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy.

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.

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 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 the DOE, resulting in the inability to perform the duties assigned and subsequent termination of employment.

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.

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.

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.