Senior​/Principal R&D S&E Cybersecurity - AI Systems, Onsite

About Sandia

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, 4/10 compressed workweeks, part‑time work, and telecommuting (a mix of onsite work and working from home)
• Generous vacation, strong medical and other benefits, competitive 401(k), 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://(Use the "Apply for this Job" box below)..gov

These benefits vary by job classification.

We are seeking a motivated R&D S&E Cybersecurity professional to work on teams addressing some of the nation’s most difficult challenges in the areas of information science, statistical analysis, cyber analytics, geospatial analytics, text analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning and software and firmware engineering.

• Develop and conduct performance benchmarking of AI software or hardware components
• Evaluate the security or reliability of an AI system
• Develop a local test environment for an AI system and get that system up and running in the test harness
• Conduct open‑ and closed‑source analysis/research on an AI system and draft a report
• Develop research proposals for AI security
• Conduct AI security research
• Develop AI security applications—such as tools to analyze and monitor the security and reliability of deployed AI
• Understand and address existing and emerging threats among a diverse customer set leveraging advanced data science tools and techniques
• Apply state‑of‑the‑art AI/ML techniques to diverse and complex data sets and implement them on national security systems

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

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

$117,500 – $235,700

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 and five (5) years of directly relevant experience, 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 position will likely require higher‑level clearance, which may require a polygraph test

• Graduate degree in Computer Science/Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Information Systems, Computer Forensics, Mathematics, or a directly related field where an independent research project was a graduation requirement (e.g., independent project, thesis, or dissertation)
• Experience in one or more of the following: reverse engineering, software vulnerability assessment, web application assessment, computer networking, computer architecture, compilers, or similar computer security topics
• Proficiency in scripting or high‑level programming
• Familiarity with secure system design principles and information assurance principles
• Excellent communication skills and a demonstrated ability to develop technical ideas and results and present them in oral and written form in a concise manner
• Familiarity with AI system hardware architectures and low‑level coding (C, C++, CUDA)
• Experience using LLMs and agentic models
• Experience implementing and engineering AI systems
• Computer network engineering experience
• Knowledge of the AI state of the art and a proven desire to keep that knowledge up to date
• Strong technical and people…