Research Engineer III – AI Building Energy Systems

Overview

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is a research institution dedicated to addressing national science, security, and energy challenges. Within the Lab, work is organized into Directorates, each with its own leadership, budget, and focus. The Energy and Environment Directorate provides science and technology solutions for the nation’s biggest energy and environmental challenges, including modernizing the power grid, advancing renewable energy technologies, and addressing nuclear science and environmental management.

The Electricity Infrastructure and Buildings Division, part of this Directorate, accelerates the transition to an efficient, resilient, and secure energy system through basic and applied research. The division’s Building Simulation and Design Group (BS&DG) focuses on building energy simulation, policy analysis, and tool development to support research and decision making.

The Research Engineer III – AI for Building Energy Systems will lead and conduct AI-enabled building energy systems research. The role stays on site in Portland, OR, Richland, WA, or Seattle, WA, and may accommodate hybrid arrangements as allowed by policy.

The successful candidate will serve as a technical lead for integrating AI into building energy research and engineering workflows to improve speed, consistency, scalability, and productivity for internal research teams and external stakeholders.

Key responsibilities include:

• Conduct independent research in AI-enabled building energy systems, including generative AI, large language models, and agentic systems.
• Develop, fine‑tune, test, evaluate, and apply AI methods for building research applications, with data curation and performance assessment.
• Lead development of analysis methods, modeling workflows, tools, and prototypes, integrating AI into software tools and technical workflows.
• Translate research findings into mission‑relevant tools and technical products supporting building research and decision making.
• Support and lead work on existing building research projects using AI‑enabled approaches.
• Lead major technical tasks or small‑to‑medium projects, managing scope, schedule, deliverables, and coordination of contributors.
• Engage sponsors and stakeholders, translating needs into technical solutions.
• Build working relationships across interdisciplinary teams and mentor junior staff, postdoctoral researchers, and students.
• Generate research ideas and shape technical approaches for proposals.
• Lead technical reports, publications, and conference presentations.
• Maintain awareness of emerging trends to shape future research directions.

• 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

• PhD in architectural engineering, building science, mechanical engineering, or a closely related field with at least 4 years of experience beyond the PhD, demonstrating progressive independence and responsibility.
• Experience analyzing building energy systems, including modeling, controls, and system performance, and leading development of complex analytical approaches.
• Experience developing, testing, and integrating AI or machine learning workflows into building energy modeling or engineering analysis systems.
• Strong programming and software development skills with experience in scalable computational workflows (automated pipelines, cloud computing, HPC, containerized environments).
• Experience leading projects or major technical tasks including scope, schedule, budget, and team coordination.
• Experience generating research ideas and shaping technical approaches for proposals, leading technical sections, and contributing consistently to proposal writing.
• Established technical reputation with consistent records of leading technical publications.
• Ability to represent technical work to sponsors, collaborators, and the broader research community.

Employees and families receive a comprehensive benefits package that includes medical, dental, vision, telehealth care options, mental health benefits, wellness…