Senior/Principal Computer Scientist – Space, Satellites, and Remote Sensing Syst

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.

We are seeking computer scientists to design and develop software and algorithms for high throughput, high volume data processing missions. Our team delivers creative solutions for sophisticated real-time decision support systems. Join our hard-working, multi-disciplinary team and start building the future today!

On any given day, you may be called on to:

• Be part of software teams that deliver solutions for remote sensing systems, including the capture, processing, exploitation, visualization, and distribution of real-time space-based sensor data
• Propose and lead image processing and data-centric research and development projects with a focus on computer vision algorithms for the detection, tracking, and classification of observational targets
• Architect, develop, and optimize high performance software for real-time, distributed systems that include compute environments with CPUs, GPUs, and/or FPGAs
• Engage with diverse specialists in areas such as data fusion, signal and image processing, analytics, cloud computing, machine learning, modeling and simulation, service architectures, data management and visualization

Due to the nature of this position onsite work is required.

$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 and SCI clearance.

The ideal R&D Computer Science candidate for Sandia National Laboratories will in addition possess the following:

• Graduate degree in Computer Science or a highly related field where an independent research project was a graduation requirement (e.g., independent project, thesis, or dissertation).
• Demonstrated software development skills and familiarity with modern software development practices and tools (e.g., Agile).
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, ability to work effectively in multidisciplinary teams, and a passion to improve and expand technical skills.

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

• Active DOE Q or DOD TS security clearance with the ability to obtain and maintain an SCI.
• Experience designing, training, evaluating, and deploying AI/ML-enabled computer vision solutions, including image processing, segmentation, object detection, classification, feature extraction, and related applications using neural networks, deep learning, or transformer-based architectures.
• Familiarity with advanced data exploitation, sensor/data fusion, signal or image analytics, algorithm optimization, edge processing, or high-performance computing techniques across CPU, GPU, FPGA, or heterogeneous computing environments.
• Demonstrated ability to translate mission or customer needs into effective technical solutions through strong problem-solving, collaboration, and communication skills.

The Real Time Data Processing Department develops software, algorithms, and distributed computer systems for real-time extraction of events in a remote sensing domain. Skills within the department include software engineering; signal and image processing; statistical inference; neural networks; data fusion; image registration; pattern recognition; radiometric calibration; compressive sensing; human-computer interfaces; data visualization; and design, implementation, deployment, operational user support, and maintenance of collaborative large complex software systems.

This posting will be open for application submissions for a minimum of three (3) 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 and SCI access, both of which require US citizenship. SCI access may also require a polygraph examination. If you hold more than one citizenship (i.e., of the U.S. and another country), your ability to obtain these levels of access 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 the 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.