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Agent guide: [/agents.md](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/agents.md). --- # Senior/Principal R&D Artificial Intelligence - Generative SI, Onsite - **Company:** Sandia Corporation - **Location:** Albuquerque, NM, United States (Remote available) - **Experience:** Expert - **Salary:** $117,500.0 - $235,700.0 - **Contract:** Temporary contract - **Skills:** C (Programming Language), Artificial Intelligence, Algorithm Design, Data Analysis, C++ (Programming Language), Databases, R (Programming Language), Graph Database, Information Extraction, Python (Programming Language), MATLAB, MongoDB, Neo4j, Open Source Technology, Software Engineering, SPARQL, TigerGraph, Software Organization, Enterprise Software Applications, Large Language Models, Claude Code, Julia, Generative AI, Agentic-AI, Ollama, LiteLLM, VLLM - **Published:** October 30, 2026 - **Apply:** https://diversityjobs.com/career/18788169/Senior-Principal-R-D-Artificial-Intelligence-Generative-Si-Onsite-New-Mexico-Albuquerque ## About the Role * 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 security clearance, which requires US Citizenship, * Graduate degree in a relevant computationally-intensive discipline where an independent research project was a graduation requirement (e.g., independent project, thesis, or dissertation). * Experience in developing software and AI systems for enterprise and national security applications. * Demonstrated software development skills and familiarity with modern software development practices. * Proven ability to work and communicate effectively in a collaborative and interdisciplinary team environment. Also, for this posting we are seeking individuals with the following experience: * Research experience in one or more areas of data science, including data collection and sharing, data analysis and interpretation, novel algorithm development, pattern identification, prediction, and knowledge extraction * Evidence for expertise in data science may include formal academic training, research publications and presentations, development of open source or sharable software packages, and professional work experience * Software development experience in C++, C, MATLAB, R, Python, Julia, or related languages. * Experience with algorithms, implementation, and best practices for the following techniques: + Retrieval augmented generation (RAG) + Logical reasoning (e.g. descriptive logic in Protege, first-order logic, declarative semantics) + Knowledge graphs and/or ontologies (RDF, SPARQL, SHACL, or similar) + Hypothesis generation and evaluation * Familiarity with methods and best practices for the following large language model (LLM) techniques: + Knowledge organization and integration across modalities + Pretraining, fine tuning, and post-training methods (such as low-rank adaptation (LoRa), supervised finetuning (SFT), and direct preference optimization (DPO) and group relative policy optimization (GRPO)) + Use of SI in autonomous agents + LLM serving tools (for example, LiteLLM, ollama, and VLLM) + Agentic coding tools (such as Codex, Claude Code, Open Code) + Database architectures (for example, MongoDB, TigerGraph, and neo4j) * A commitment to encouraging a culture of professionalism and belonging, demonstrated through your application materials * Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal skills ## Description The Precision Discovery and Retrieval department conducts cutting-edge research in applying generative SI methods to national security applications. Our mission is to research, develop, and deploy methods that are credible, robust, and help decision makers in a variety of domains. Specific focus areas include generative learning, retrieval, multimodal analysis, knowledge discovery, and agentic workflows. When combined with trusted data sources, data analysis tools, evaluation methods, and human oversight, these discovery and retrieval capabilities can address national security mission problems that require broad knowledge integration, interpretation of complex observations, and reasoning under uncertainty. We interact and collaborate with a broad range of Sandia staff and government customers while also maintaining a research presence in the external professional community by collaborating with both universities and industry. Members of the department publish peer-reviewed literature, participate in professional societies, and referee for conferences and journals. Posting Duration 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. Security Clearance 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. EEO 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. NNSA Requirements for MedPEDs 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.