Lead Software Engineer IV

Lead Software Engineer

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. 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 NSD, combines profound domain expertise and creative integration of advanced hardware and software to deliver computational solutions that address complex data and analytic challenges.

We are seeking an exceptional Lead Software Engineer to architect and build next-generation AI systems at PNNL, spanning agentic AI platforms, petabyte-scale data orchestration, and real-time intelligence processing that define the future of national security technology. This role blends deep technical leadership with hands-on AI/ML engineering, requiring both strategic vision and tactical excellence.

An experienced engineer who bridges infrastructure, AI/ML, and production software. You've built highly scalable systems from scratch, led initiatives that matter, and turned complex problems into solutions. You're as comfortable architecting distributed systems processing terabytes per hour as you are fine-tuning LLMs. You bring startup agility to mission-critical work.

AI-Native Systems:
Agentic AI with dynamic reasoning, LLM orchestration (Lang Chain, Llama Index, Lang Graph), MLOps platforms, and multi-modal reasoning pipelines

Scalable Infrastructure:
Microservices across security enclaves, real-time streaming (TB/hour), petabyte-scale ETL, data lake/mesh architectures, and Kubernetes/CI-CD for classified & edge environments

Production Systems:
Secure AI deployments, observability across enclaves, ethical AI compliance, and geospatial/time-series intelligence data fusion

Technical Leadership:
Lead engineers on high-impact ambiguous scope, drive architecture and strategy, build roadmaps from cutting-edge research, and mentor teams

Engineering Leadership:
Expert Python + another language (C#/.NET, Go, C++); proven track record establishing best practices, advanced CI/CD, and architecting distributed systems

AI/ML Architecture:
Production agentic AI experience; deep expertise with PyTorch/Tensor Flow/JAX and LLM orchestration; advanced LLM optimization (LoRA/PEFT, RAG, fine-tuning); end-to-end ML platform design

Cloud & Distributed Systems:
Enterprise-scale architecture across AWS/Azure/GCP;
Docker/Kubernetes/IaC; event-driven systems (Kafka, RabbitMQ); API design mastery (REST, GraphQL, gRPC); polyglot persistence (SQL/No

SQL/warehouses)

Data Platform Engineering:
Cloud-native pipelines & orchestration (Airflow, Prefect); data lakehouse architectures; distributed computing (Spark, Flink, Ray); petabyte-scale optimization and modern data formats (Parquet, Iceberg, Delta)

Leadership & Communication:
Mentoring teams, articulating strategy to executives & stakeholders, balancing delivery with technical excellence, and driving cross-functional collaboration

You will work at the intersection of cutting-edge AI research and production engineering, building platforms that process the nation's most sensitive intelligence data while mentoring teams and shaping technical strategy. Startup agility on problems of national importance.

This position is based in Richland, WA or Seattle, WA and requires an onsite presence Monday through Thursday, with Friday as required by business needs.

Minimum Qualifications:

• PhD and 3 years of Software Engineering experience
  -OR-
• MS/MA and 5 years of Software Engineering experience
  -OR-
• BS/BA and 7 years of Software Engineering experience
  -OR-
• AA and 16 years of Software Engineering experience in designing, architecting, programming, deploying, and automating software solutions in support of scientific research or consumer digital product development
  -OR-
• HS/GED and 18 years of Software Engineering experience in designing, architecting, programming, deploying, and automating software solutions in support of scientific research or consumer digital product development.
• Current, hands-on software development experience using Python.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Actively using Python and have been doing so for the previous five years
• Expert-level Python:
  Architecting production frameworks, libraries, and large multi-language codebases at scale
• Enterprise ETL/data platform leadership:
  Designing petabyte-scale ETL/ELT pipelines, orchestration (Airflow, Prefect, Step Functions), and data lakehouse architectures
• Advanced cloud architecture:
  Multi-cloud strategy across AWS, Azure, or GCP with Kubernetes and Infrastructure as Code at enterprise scale
• FFRDC or national laboratory experience:
  Prior work within a Federally Funded Research and Development Center or DOE national lab environment
• National security / intelligence experience:
  Supporting government, defense, or intelligence programs,…