Senior Data Scientist III – Generative AI & Foundation Model Development

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory•Richland, WA

6h•Onsite

About The Position

At PNNL, our core capabilities are divided among major departments that we refer to as Directorates within the Lab, focused on a specific area of scientific research or other function, with its own leadership team and dedicated budget. Our Science & Technology directorates include National Security, Earth and Biological Sciences, Physical and Computational Sciences, and Energy and Environment. In addition, we have an Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, a Department of Energy, Office of Science user facility housed on the PNNL campus. The National Security Directorate (NSD) drives science-based, mission-focused solutions to take on complex, real-world threats to our nation and the world. The AI and Data Analytics Division, part of the National Security Directorate, combines profound domain expertise and creative integration of advanced hardware and software to deliver computational solutions that address complex data and analytic challenges. Working in multidisciplinary teams, we connect foundational research to engineering to operations, providing the tools to innovate quickly and field results faster. Our strengths are integrated across the data analytics lifecycle, from data acquisition and management to analysis and decision support. PNNL is a key partner in the Department of Energy (DOE) Genesis Mission to develop a powerful AI platform to accelerate scientific discovery, drive energy innovation, and strengthen national security. We are seeking a Senior Data Scientist – Generative AI & Foundation Model Development (level 3). This role blends foundational research and real-world implementation to solve some of the most complex and cutting-edge challenges in modern artificial intelligence. We support PNNL's mission by contributing to impactful R&D projects that help tackle national challenges. Successful candidates will have the opportunity to grow professionally while working on diverse, mission-focused projects. At PNNL, we foster a collaborative and innovative work environment aimed at lifelong learning, creative problem-solving, and advancing interdisciplinary, data-driven innovation. The core technical focus of this position is the development, adaptation, and deployment of large language models (LLMs) and other generative AI systems. This requires hands-on work with model internals not just inference endpoints, such as direct engagement with model architectures, training pipelines, and weight-level optimization, or developing and deploying agentic AI solutions that leverage tool use, retrieval-augmented generation, multi-step reasoning, and autonomous decision-making workflows. As a Senior Data Scientist, you will also serve as a technical leader acting as principal investigator and/or project manager, driving proposal development, and engaging directly with stakeholders In this role, you will work as part of interdisciplinary teams to deliver data-driven solutions that address critical national security challenges. You will collaborate with peers to develop, adapt, and deploy large language models (LLMs) and other generative AI systems: e.g., working directly with model architectures, training pipelines, and weight-level optimization. This position is based in either Richland, WA or Seattle, WA and requires an onsite presence.

Requirements

BS/BA and 5+ years of relevant work experience -OR- MS/MA and 3+ years of relevant work experience -OR- PhD with 1+ year of relevant experience
Knowledge of current ML research landscape, especially xAI, adversarial machine learning, AI safety, and the science of deep learning.
Knowledge of compute environments and their cybersecurity concerns.
Strong communication skills with the ability to deliver technical findings to diverse audiences.
Demonstrated proficiency in creating proposals and technical reports.
Proven ability to collaborate effectively with a multi-disciplinary team environment.
U.S. Citizenship
Background Investigation: Applicants selected will be subject to a Federal background investigation and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified matter in accordance with 10 CFR 710, Appendix B.
Drug Testing: All Security Clearance positions are Testing Designated Positions, which means that the applicant selected for hire is subject to pre-employment drug testing, and post-employment random drug testing. In addition, applicants must be able to demonstrate non-use of illegal drugs, including marijuana, for the 12 consecutive months preceding completion of the requisite Questionnaire for National Security Positions (QNSP).
Applicants will be considered ineligible for security clearance processing by the U.S. Department of Energy if non-use of illegal drugs, including marijuana, for 12 months cannot be demonstrated.

Nice To Haves

Degree in computer science, statistics, mathematics, or related fields.
Experience in generative AI, foundation model, agentic system development in applied science/research for national security challenges.
Hands-on experience analyzing the internal structures of deep learning models, particularly those associated with large language models and large vision models.
Experience in quantifying uncertainties in neural networks and complex systems.
Strong experience in Python development and common associated libraries (e.g., Pandas, Numpy, Scipy).
Experience and proficiency developing, training, and testing AI/ML models in frameworks like PyTorch.
Experience in deploying AI agents, Autonomous AI infrastructure, or hands-on experience with our AI labs.
Active DOE Q or TS/SCI clearance and ability to maintain such clearance.

Responsibilities

Conduct cutting-edge research to develop and refine generative AI techniques, including but not limited to large language model pretraining, fine-tuning, agentic systems, novel training methodologies.
Take ownership of defined tasks or small to medium projects, proactively identifying technical challenges and proposing solutions to senior staff or project leads.
Drives the execution of research by designing, building, and iterating on foundation model, frontier AI research, and agentic AI systems that address complex, real-world problems.
Apply deep expertise in model internals (e.g., tokenization, attention mechanisms, weight adaptation, and loss optimization) to customize and improve model performance for domain-specific applications.
Evaluate AI and agentic systems across multiple axes, including standard performance metrics, uncertainty quantification, generalization to out-of-distribution settings, and mission-specific assurance criteria.
Serve as a mentor to junior staff or interns within the team, fostering a collaborative and inclusive research environment.
Engage with stakeholders to understand project requirements and translate them into actionable technical approaches aligned with sponsor goals.
Support proposal development and business development my contributing to proposals and/or briefing sponsors.
Build effective working relationships within your immediate team, as well as across interdisciplinary teams at the group or division level.
Translate cutting-edge research papers and findings into mission-relevant insights, tools, and prototypes for stakeholders and operational users.
Maintain awareness of emerging trends in AI, AI security, and national security to shape future research directions and identify new opportunities for impact.

Benefits

Employees and their families are offered medical insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, robust telehealth care options, several mental health benefits, free wellness coaching, health savings account, flexible spending accounts, basic life insurance, disability insurance, employee assistance program, business travel insurance, tuition assistance, relocation, backup childcare, legal benefits, supplemental parental bonding leave, surrogacy and adoption assistance, and fertility support. Employees are automatically enrolled in our company-funded pension plan and may enroll in our 401 (k) savings plan with company match. Employees may accrue up to 120 vacation hours per year and may receive ten paid holidays per year.

Stand Out From the Crowd

Upload your resume and get instant feedback on how well it matches this job.

Upload and Match Resume