Research Engineer (Scientist 1/2)

This position will be filled at either the Scientist 1 or Scientist 2 level, depending on the skills of the selected candidate.

About the role

The Analytics, Intelligence, and Technology Division (A-Division) - Advanced Research in Cyber Systems (A-4) group is seeking an early career Research Engineer to support the Trustworthy and Reliable AI Laboratory (TRAIL).

Responsibilities

• Contribute to the maturation of research prototypes into reliable, maintainable, and operationally deployable capabilities.
• Rapidly iterate on prototype systems based on research findings, stakeholder feedback, and evolving mission requirements.
• Prototype and evaluate emerging techniques in operationally relevant environments, balancing research objectives with mission, security, scalability, and usability constraints.
• Work in exploratory research environments where requirements may evolve as prototype capabilities mature and mission understanding develops.
• Support development, evaluation, and operational integration of LLM-based solutions, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines, and agentic AI workflows applied to mission problems.
• Develop and maintain modern web applications and software solutions using contemporary front-end and back-end frameworks, APIs, databases, and cloud-native technologies in support of mission-focused applications and services.
• Collaborate with researchers, engineers, cybersecurity professionals, and mission stakeholders to identify operational gaps, translate mission needs into prototype AI capabilities, and evaluate solutions in realistic operational contexts.
• Contribute to software development efforts in Linux-based environments utilizing Git, GitLab, Docker, and Kubernetes for on-prem, high-performance computing, and cloud architectures.
• Assist with implementation and maintenance of CI/CD pipelines supporting deployment and testing.
• Document technical work, communicate findings, and support presentations and reviews for technical and non-technical audiences.

Requirements

• Software Development Experience developing software within Unix/Linux environments using modern software development tools and workflows including Git, GitLab, containerization technologies, and CI/CD pipelines utilizing modern development standards and engineering best practices.
• Experience developing applications utilizing GPU-enabled local and distributed compute environments.
• Experience developing and deploying applications utilizing technologies such as large language models (LLMs), retrieval augmented generation (RAG), agentic workflows, model orchestration frameworks, or related AI technologies.
• Strong proficiency in Python with experience utilizing modern frameworks and libraries such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, Pandas, NumPy, SciPy, or similar technologies.
• Collaboration and Teamwork Demonstrated skill in building productive relationships with internal and external partners to ensure requirements align with mission objectives and customer expectations.
• Ability to work effectively within multidisciplinary technical teams consisting of software developers, engineers, analysts, and scientific staff.
• Communication Ability to effectively participate in research discussions and prototyping.
• Ability to communicate technical concepts and development activities to diverse audiences.
• Ability to effectively participate in stakeholder reviews including communicating requirement changes or exceptions.

Qualifications

• Minimum Job Requirements:
  • Software Development Experience developing software within Unix/Linux environments using modern software development tools and workflows including Git, GitLab, containerization technologies, and CI/CD pipelines utilizing modern development standards and engineering best practices.
  • Experience developing applications utilizing GPU-enabled local and distributed compute environments.
  • Experience developing and deploying applications utilizing technologies such as large language models (LLMs), retrieval augmented generation (RAG), agentic workflows, model orchestration frameworks, or related AI technologies.
  • Strong proficiency in Python with experience utilizing modern frameworks and libraries such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, Pandas, NumPy, SciPy, or similar technologies.
  • Collaboration and Teamwork Demonstrated skill in building productive relationships with internal and external partners to ensure requirements align with mission objectives and customer expectations.
  • Ability to work effectively within multidisciplinary technical teams consisting of software developers, engineers, analysts, and scientific staff.
  • Communication Ability to effectively participate in research discussions and prototyping.
  • Ability to communicate technical concepts and development activities to diverse audiences.
  • Ability to effectively participate in stakeholder reviews including communicating requirement changes or exceptions.
• Additional Job Requirements for Scientist 2:
  • Demonstrated experience developing and deploying purpose-built software applications in operational, research, or production environments.
  • Demonstrated experience designing or implementing scalable workflows and distributed application architectures.
  • Demonstrated experience leading technical implementation efforts within collaborative engineering teams.
  • Demonstrated experience evaluating hardware, software, and infrastructure requirements supporting application development and deployment.
  • Candidates that meet the degree requirement, but do not meet the two-year experience requirement, are encouraged to apply and may be considered for hire through an allowable variance.