Early Career IT Solutions Architect - Applied AI Deployment - Hybrid

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 (work 80 hours every two weeks, with every other Friday off) and 4/10 (work 4 ten-hour days each week) compressed workweeks, part-time work, and telecommuting (a mix of onsite work and working from home)
• Generous vacation, strong medical and other benefits, competitive 401k, 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://www.sandia.gov

*These benefits vary by job classification.

Sandia's artificial intelligence (AI) team is building the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) next-generation AI Platform, an integrated scientific AI capability that delivers rapid, high-impact solutions for national security, science, and applied energy missions. The Platform is based on three pillars: Models, Infrastructure, and Data. As an IT Solutions Architect on Sandia's Applied AI Deployment team, you will translate the AI team's emerging Platform capabilities into robust, scalable enterprise solutions. You'll work across the Models, Infrastructure, and Data pillars to define end-to-end architectures that connect AI systems to enterprise data sources, dashboards, and collaboration tools. In this role, your technical leadership will ensure AI solutions for agile deterrence, autonomous energy operations, and critical-minerals discovery move seamlessly from prototype to production.

We anticipate multiple IT Solutions Architect hires that collectively span the set of responsibilities and skills described below. Likewise, new hires will be expected to work in conjunction with existing Sandia staff and teams from other DOE laboratories to deliver on this ambitious, fast-paced project. Importantly, we anticipate that while AI Platform development will leverage existing AI and data science tools extensively, success will also require considerable innovation and problem solving to address the unique needs of DOE applications. If this sounds like an exciting challenge to you, we look forward to reading your application!

Key Responsibilities:

AI Solution Development & Deployment

o Design, prototype, and deploy AI-driven applications that solve real organizational challenges.

o Integrate large language models (LLMs), computer vision, and other AI capabilities into production environments.

o Build and maintain APIs, pipelines, and interfaces that connect AI models to enterprise systems.

R&D Translation

o Evaluate emerging AI tools, frameworks, and research from academia and industry.

o Rapidly prototype promising technologies to assess feasibility and value.

o Operationalize proven concepts into robust, user-friendly systems.

Workflow & Automation Engineering

o Build intelligent workflows that automate data processing, analysis, and decision support.

o Leverage orchestration tools and MLOps practices for reliable AI lifecycle management.

o Design systems that integrate human feedback and oversight where needed.

Collaboration & Enablement

o Partner with data curators to ensure clean, context-rich data fuels AI solutions.

o Collaborate with domain experts to define use cases and success metrics.

o Provide guidance and templates that help other teams safely and effectively adopt AI tools.

Quality, Ethics, and Governance

o Implement responsible AI principles, including bias testing, explainability, and auditability.

o Document model assumptions, limitations, and operational dependencies.

o Ensure compliance with data protection and organizational security policies.

On any given day you may be called upon to:

• Design integration patterns for hybrid HPC's cloud-edge environments,
• Pilot production deployments of large language models, computer vision services, and agentic workflows.
• Author reference designs and secure deployment blueprints, incorporating enclaves, attribute-based access controls, and compliance guardrails
• Build reusable templates and APIs that accelerate adoption by mission teams
• Connect AI systems to enterprise data sources, dashboards, and collaboration tools
• Work with MLOps pipelines for deployment and monitoring.
• Collaborate with IT and cybersecurity teams to deploy AI tools securely.
• Create documentation, tutorials, and reusable components to scale adoption.

You will be part of a multi-disciplinary, mission-focused team delivering foundational data capabilities for transformative AI systems in national security, energy, and critical materials. Occasional travel may be required. If youre passionate about building the data backbone for next-generation AI at scale, we want to hear from you.

*The selected applicant can work a combination of onsite and offsite. The selected applicant must live within a reasonable distance for commuting to the assigned work location when necessary.

$114,000 - $227,500

*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.

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Statistics, or a related STEM field of directly relevant experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience
• Ability to obtain and maintain a DOE Q clearance

• Graduate degree (M.S. or Ph.D.) with a significant applied AI deployment component
• Ability to work effectively in a dynamic, interdisciplinary environment, guiding technical decisions and mentoring junior staff
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to present complex data concepts to diverse audiences
• Ability to obtain and maintain an SCI clearance, which may require a polygraph test.

Also, for this posting we are seeking individuals with the following experience:

• Demonstrated expertise in building production AI workflows
• Familiarity with integration patterns for hybrid HPC's cloud-edge environments
• Experience with pilot production deployments of large language models, computer vision services, and agentic workflows
• Familiarity with reference designs and secure deployment blueprints that incorporate enclaves, attribute-based access controls, and compliance guardrails
• Experience with building reusable templates and APIs that accelerate adoption by mission teams
• Experience with connecting AI systems to enterprise data sources, dashboards, and collaboration tools
• Familiarity with with MLOps pipelines (e.g., MLflow, Kubeflow, or Vertex AI) for deployment and monitoring.
• Experience with secure deployment of AI tools
• Familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and container orchestration (Kubernetes)
• Experience implementing data governance and metadata management tools (e.g., Apache Atlas, DataHub, Collibra)
• Familiarity with data policies for classified, export-controlled, or proprietary data

The Center for Computing Research (CCR) at Sandia creates technology and solutions for many of our nation's most demanding national security challenges. The Center's portfolio spans the spectrum from fundamental research to state-of-the-art applications. Our work includes computer system architecture (both hardware and software); enabling technology for modeling physical and engineering systems; and research in discrete mathematics, data analytics, cognitive modeling, and decision support materials.

This posting will be open for application submissions for a minimum of seven (7) calendar days, including the 'posting date'. Sandia reserves the right to extend the posting date at any time.

Sandia is required by DOE to conduct a pre-employment drug test and background review that includes checks of personal references, credit, law enforcement records, and employment/education verifications. Applicants for employment need to be able to obtain and maintain a DOE Q-level security clearance, which requires U.S. citizenship. If you hold more than one citizenship (i.e., of the U.S. and another country), your ability to obtain a security clearance may be impacted.

Applicants offered employment with Sandia are subject to a federal background investigation to meet the requirements for access to classified information or matter if the duties of the position require a DOE security clearance. Substance abuse or illegal drug use, falsification of information, criminal activity, serious misconduct or other indicators of untrustworthiness can cause a clearance to be denied or terminated by DOE, resulting in the inability to perform the duties assigned and subsequent termination of employment.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, or veteran status and any other protected class under state or federal law.

If you have a Medical Portable Electronic Device (MedPED), such as a pacemaker, defibrillator, drug-releasing pump, hearing aids, or diagnostic equipment and other equipment for measuring, monitoring, and recording body functions such as heartbeat and brain waves, if employed by Sandia National Laboratories you may be required to comply with NNSA security requirements for MedPEDs.

If you have a MedPED and you are selected for an on-site interview at Sandia National Laboratories, there may be additional steps necessary to ensure compliance with NNSA security requirements prior to the interview date.