Senior Software Engineer III

Overview

PNNL’s AI & Data Analytics Division, part of the National Security Directorate, develops science‑based, mission‑focused solutions to address complex real‑world threats using advanced hardware and software. The advanced AI engineering team builds next‑generation systems across agentic AI platforms, large‑scale data orchestration, and real‑time intelligence processing.

• Design scalable, mission‑critical software solutions.
• Mentor junior engineers and guide technical direction.
• Lead project components and support proposal development.
• Build and maintain agentic AI, LLM orchestration, MLOps pipelines, and multimodal data integration.
• Develop microservices, real‑time streaming pipelines, large‑scale ETL workflows, and Kubernetes deployments.
• Ensure production systems include monitoring, observing, security, and edge deployments.

• Agentic AI systems and LLM orchestration (Lang Chain, Llama Index).
• MLOps pipelines and multimodal data integration.
• Scalable microservices, real‑time streaming, large‑scale ETL, and Kubernetes deployments.
• Production systems for monitoring, secure edge deployments, geospatial and time‑series processing.

• Strong experience in Python and at least one additional language (C#/.NET, Go, C++ or Rust).
• Solid computer science fundamentals: object‑oriented design, design patterns, data structures, algorithms, and clean‑code practices.
• Experience with Git, testing (TDD), CI/CD, and AI‑assisted development tools.
• Understanding of the ML lifecycle, model serving, and production integration via APIs.
• Hands‑on experience with AWS, Azure, or GCP, Docker, Kubernetes, event‑driven and microservice architectures, REST, GraphQL, gRPC, and SQL/No
  
  SQL databases.
• Experience building ETL/ELT pipelines, distributed processing (Spark, Kafka, Flink, Ray), cloud storage, and data modeling at scale.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to collaborate with cross‑functional teams in Agile environments.

• PhD and 1 year of Software Engineering experience, OR MS/MA and 3 years, OR BS/BA and 5 years, OR 14 years of Selenium/automation experience for scientific research or consumer digital products, OR HS/GED and 16 years of experience.
• Current, hands‑on Python development experience.

• Three or more years of active Python development.
• Advanced Python expertise in building production‑grade applications or libraries at scale.
• Experience designing and optimizing large‑scale ETL/ELT workflows using cloud‑native tools (AWS Glue, Azure Data Factory, Step Functions) and distributed frameworks (Spark, Kafka).
• Deep cloud platform experience with multi‑cloud orchestrations and Kubernetes.
• Prior federated research or national laboratory work.
• Experience with national‑security mission‑driven projects and secure/compliance‑driven environments.
• Hands‑on agentic AI / LLM orchestration, RAG, or autonomous agent frameworks.
• Operationalizing ML models with experiment tracking, versioning, and production monitoring.

Applicants must be able to obtain and maintain a federal security clearance. The clearance investigation will consider employment, education, financial, and criminal history, as well as foreign connections and compliance with U.S. regulations. U.S. citizenship is required, and drug testing is mandatory for clearance positions.

PNNL is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. All applicants are evaluated fairly regardless of race, religion, color, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or other federally protected characteristics. Reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities are provided. Further information is available via careers.

Minimum Salary: USD  per year. Maximum Salary: USD  per year.