Software Engineer, Machine Learning​/ ML Engineer, Data Scientist

Position: Software Engineer 2
** Overview*
* 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 Earth and Biological Sciences Directorate (EBSD) leads critical research in four areas:
Atmospheric, Climate & Earth Sciences, Biological Sciences, Environmental Molecular Sciences, and Global Change. Our vision is to develop a predictive understanding of biological and Earth systems in transition. We aim to understand energy and material flows within the integrated Earth system; to understand, predict, and control the response of biosystems to environmental and/or genomic changes; and to   Model the Earth system from the subsurface to the atmosphere. 

The Environmental Molecular Sciences Division is comprised of 18 interdisciplinary research teams focused on deciphering molecular-level interactions driving biological and environmental processes across temporal and spatial scales. Through computational analysis and modeling, these findings contribute to predictive understanding of how systems respond to environmental perturbations thus enabling solutions to the nation's energy, environmental, and human health challenges. The division also manages the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, a Department of Energy, Office of Science user facility housed on the PNNL campus that accelerates the research of scientists around the world by providing access to world-class expertise, instrumentation, and computational resources.

** Responsibilities*
* Designs, develops, documents, tests, and debugs new and existing software systems, hardware/software interfaces, and/or applications according to industry established software engineering principals and best practices. Works collaboratively within a team to execute on the full system development lifecycle including analyzing user needs to determine technical requirements; developing technical specifications based on conceptual design and requirements; developing well-crafted and documented source code;

integrating hardware using software; automating manual tasks; and consulting with the end user to prototype, configure, refine, test, and debug programs or systems to meet needs. Identifies and evaluates new technologies or methods for implementation and continuous improvement.

This  
** Software Engineer 2
** role will support the development of the EMSL Science Central technology platform with a focus on backend services, data infrastructure, and platform reliability. The successful candidate will design and develop RESTful APIs using Python and FastAPI, build and maintain Postgre

SQL databases, implement role-based access control (RBAC) across platform services, and contribute to the deployment of containerized services in Kubernetes environments. The team follows modern Dev Ops principles using Git Lab CI/CD and actively uses AI-assisted development tools - including Git Hub Copilot, Open Code, and Claude Code - to accelerate development and improve code quality. The candidate will work closely with a multidisciplinary team of scientists and engineers to deliver scalable, maintainable software that supports scientific research workflows iliarity with frontend technologies is a plus but is not a primary focus of this role.

** Qualifications*
* Minimum Qualifications:

+ PhD
-OR
- + MS/MA
-OR
- + BS/BA and 2 years of relevant experience

Preferred Qualifications:

+ Working knowledge of Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, and other deployment environments

+ API development using Python

+ Experience designing and implementing role-based access control (RBAC) for APIs and platform services

+

Experience with API gateways (e.g., Kong, AWS API Gateway, or similar) for routing, rate limiting, and authentication enforcement

+…