Early Career R&D AI Researcher, 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.

We are seeking researchers to work at the intersection of cybersecurity and artificial intelligence (job title: R&D Artificial Intelligence). Are you passionate about understanding how software and systems really work under the hood? Do you want to apply your knowledge of AI/ML models and data analytics at scale to understand and secure government software and systems? Do you want to apply your software understanding skills to secure and defend operational AI/ML models? If so, you will want to consider applying for this opportunity.

As a researcher in Sandia's Civilian Cyber Solutions group, you will understand threats to software, algorithms, and systems in order to defend them. You will contribute technical ideas and implementation - keeping our nation safe from attacks through innovative research and development.

To support Sandia's national security missions, our cybersecurity scientists and engineers engage in a variety of research areas including:

• Manual and automated reverse engineering, vulnerability research, and malware analysis
• Development, fine-tuning, and securing of AI/ML systems
• Network operations, information protection, and resilience strategies
• Development of software tools
• Authentication and authorization
• Threat intelligence
• Hardware/software trust and assurance methodologies
• Virtualization (system and network) and cloud technologies
• Autonomous systems

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

Applicants on this requisition may be interviewed by multiple organizations at Sandia National Laboratories.

$121,900 - $237,800

*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.

• 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-level security clearance.

The ideal R&D S&E Artificial Intelligence 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:

• Graduate degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Information Systems, Data Science, Mathematics or related field.
• Software development and algorithm design skills in Rust, Go, C/C++, Java, Python, or Assembly.
• Strong foundational knowledge of neural networks and data science, with a demonstrated ability to attack and/or defend AI/ML models effectively.
• Experience in training and fine-tuning AI/ML models for various applications.
• Experience utilizing AI coding assistants, such as Claude Code or OpenCode, to plan, design, and implement complex software solutions.
• Familiarity and experience with Model Context Protocol (MCP), tool-calling, and other agentic applications in AI system security.
• Experience applying large language models (LLMs) or AI technologies to address cybersecurity challenges.
• Understanding of security best practices and methodologies specific to AI/ML systems, including threat modeling and risk assessment.
• Ability to collaborate with cross-functional teams to integrate security measures throughout the AI development lifecycle.
• Professional, curricular, or extra-curricular experience in one or more of the following: reverse engineering, vulnerability assessments; malware analysis; software development.
• Experience auditing code in C/C++, Java, Python, assembly, or other languages.
• Experience with an assembly language (e.g., ARM, MIPS, PowerPC, 8051, x86, x64).
• Experience with static or dynamic analysis tools (Ghidra, IDA, GDB, Windbg, etc).
• Experience in data analysis on disparate datasets to find commonalities and anomalies.
• Familiarity with secure-system design principles or information assurance principles.
• Experience with research design and experimental rigor.
• Good oral and written communication skills, ability to explain complex ideas clearly and concisely.
• Ability to acquire an SCI clearance, which may require a polygraph test.

Sandia is a world-class leader and innovator in cybersecurity and AI. Today, cybersecurity is a daunting national security challenge, and we're applying decades of expertise to the task. The Civilian Cyber Solutions group (8760) currently focuses on four major areas of research and development: software understanding, vulnerability research, cloud security, and AI systems security. With a history of applying research to solve real world homeland security problems, we develop novel techniques and technologies to detect, disrupt, and mitigate adversary actions against US government and critical infrastructure systems. In addition, we are actively engaged in internship programs that prepare students to enter the national security workforce and provide a recruiting pipeline for the Sandia cyber mission area.

This posting will be open for application submissions for a minimum of seven (7) 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 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.

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.