Postdoctoral Research Associate

Overview

The Data and AI Systems Research Section/Workflow Systems Group within the Computer Science and Mathematics Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is seeking a postdoctoral researcher with expertise in data management, workflow management, High Performance Computing (HPC), machine learning and artificial intelligence to enhance capabilities in making AI-ready scientific data. As a postdoctoral fellow at ORNL, you will collaborate with a dynamic team of scientists and engineers, leveraging cutting-edge resources, including the Frontier supercomputer, the world’s first exascale computing system.

This is a unique opportunity to engage in transformational research that advances the development of AI-ready scientific data, optimized workflows, and distributed intelligence across the computing continuum.

Requisition

• Design and implement system software to enable AI-readiness for scientific data by developing adaptive techniques capable of maintaining relationships between data and metadata.
• Collaborate on innovative solutions to automate and optimize the interplay between large scientific simulations, data ingestion, and AI processes (e.g., model training, inference).
• Develop agentic AI systems and AI harnessing techniques to enhance model quality, resource optimization, and adaptive execution in diverse workflows.
• Investigate strategies to balance performance and resilience across heterogeneous computational resources while addressing workflow requirements for scientific applications.
• Validate distributed intelligence algorithms at scale on ORNL’s computational resources, including the Frontier supercomputer.
• Communicate and coordinate experimental results with other domain experts to facilitate collaboration.
• Present and report research results and publish scientific results in peer-reviewed journals or conferences.

• A PhD in Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, Computational Science, or related discipline completed within the last five years.
• An excellent record of productive and creative research as demonstrated by publications in top peer-reviewed journals and conferences.
• Demonstrated research experience with HPC, AI/ML and/or distributed systems techniques.
• Proficiency in programming languages such as Python, C++, or similar, as well as experience with HPC environments and parallel computing.
• Demonstrated hands-on experience and understanding of developing scientific data management, workflows and resource management problems.
• Strong problem-solving and communication skills, with the ability to work collaboratively in a team setting.

• Experience with AI-readiness pipelines, particularly in integrating scientific data with AI workflows.
• Familiarity with concepts like metadata management, parameter space coverage, or agentic AI.
• Prior exposure to DOE workflows or national laboratory environments.
• Motivated self-starter with the ability to work independently and to participate creatively in collaborative and frequently interacting teams of researchers.

Applicants cannot have received their Ph.D. more than five years prior to the date of application and must complete all degree requirements before starting their appointment. The appointment length will be up to 24 months with the potential for extension. Initial appointments and extensions are subject to performance and availability of funding.

Please submit three letters of reference when applying to this position. You may upload these directly to your application or have them sent to Postdoc recruitment with the position title and number referenced in the subject line.

Instructions to upload documents to your candidate profile:

• Login to your account via jobs.ornl.gov
• View Profile
• Under the My Documents section, select Add a Document

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