Senior Data Scientist IV - AI Safety

At PNNL, our core capabilities are divided among major departments called Directorates, each focused on a specific area of scientific research or function. The National Security Directorate (NSD) drives science-based, mission-focused solutions to address complex, real-world threats. The AI and Data Analytics Division within NSD combines domain expertise with advanced hardware and software to deliver computational solutions for data and analytic challenges, connecting foundational research to engineering and operations.

About the role

The AI & Data Analytics division is seeking a Senior Data Scientist for AI Safety applied research. This role blends foundational research with real-world implementation to tackle challenges at the intersection of artificial intelligence and national security. Based in Richland, WA or Seattle, WA, this position requires onsite presence and may involve travel for stakeholder engagement or project events.

Responsibilities

• Set technical direction for projects developing and applying safety methods and pipelines that analyze model internals (e.g., attention, routing, memory, tokenization) and surface failure modes, capabilities, and risk profiles.
• Engage with stakeholders to translate mission needs and operational constraints into actionable safety requirements, test plans, and success criteria.
• Lead projects and programs to design, implement, and validate model evaluation for cutting-edge AI, including frontier AI systems (e.g., LLMs, LVMs, multimodal, agentic) or development/verification of safety controls and guardrails.
• Translate cutting-edge research into mission-relevant tools and prototypes; evaluate new techniques and standards in AI safety, algorithm or system evaluation, and trustworthy AI.
• Lead development of AI safety methods across robustness, uncertainty quantification, manipulation, autonomy and tool-use risks, stress testing, generalization, or reliability under distribution shift.
• Build effective relationships across teams and divisions; mentor junior and senior staff; cultivate an inclusive, collaborative research culture.
• Maintain awareness of emerging trends in AI safety, AI security, alignment, national security operations, and relevant standards to shape future research directions.

Requirements

• Ability to collaborate in multi-disciplinary, mission-driven teams and operate effectively in high-stakes environments.
• Demonstrated proficiency in leading proposals, writing technical reports, and communicating complex findings to diverse audiences (technical and executive).
• Knowledge of compute environments and cybersecurity concerns; familiarity with secure ML ops, access control, and model/data governance.
• Deep knowledge of the current ML research landscape, especially AI safety, adversarial machine learning, xAI/interpretability, uncertainty quantification, and the science of deep learning.
• Hands-on experience analyzing internal structures of deep learning models, particularly LLMs and large vision/multimodal models (tokenization, attention mechanisms, routing, weight adaptation, loss optimization) or modalities including hyperspectral imagery.
• Experience designing and executing T&E campaigns for AI systems, including test planning, dataset curation, metrics, statistical analysis, and reproducibility.
• Software engineering foundations: Python, ML frameworks (PyTorch/TensorFlow), experiment tracking, and data pipeline tooling.
• Strong stakeholder engagement skills and the ability to connect technical safety work to operational mission outcomes.
• Proven track record delivering AI safety/evaluation work products in complex domains, including National Security.
• Hands-on experience with LLM/LVM/Foundation Model and Frontier AI evaluation, red-teaming, uncertainty analysis, or safety control implementation.
• Experience leading federally funded R&D projects, with publications, open-source contributions, or deployable prototypes.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:

• BS/BA and 7+ years of relevant work experience, or
• MS/MA and 5+ years of relevant work experience, or
• PhD with 3+ years of relevant experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience serving as PI, technical lead, or project manager on multi-institution R&D efforts.
• Demonstrated impact in safe and trustworthy AI (e.g., peer-reviewed publications, recognized awards, contributions to community standards).
• Familiarity with agentic AI safety (tool-use governance, retrieval hygiene, autonomous decision workflows) and evaluation of multi-step reasoning systems.
• Experience with privacy-preserving ML (e.g., differential privacy, federated learning), robust training methods, and secure data lifecycle practices.
• Background working with or mapping to relevant frameworks/standards (e.g., AI safety/testing best practices, risk management frameworks) and translating them into test and evaluation plans.
• Prior work in national security environments, with an understanding of mission needs and operational constraints.
• Active DOE Q or TS/SCI clearance.

Additional Information

This position requires the ability to obtain and maintain a federal security clearance. Requirements include:

• U.S. Citizenship.
• Background investigation, including review of employment, education, financial, and criminal history, as well as interviews with personal references, neighbors, and co-workers.
• Drug testing: Pre-employment and random drug testing for illegal drugs, including marijuana. Applicants must demonstrate non-use of illegal drugs for the 12 consecutive months preceding completion of the requisite Questionnaire for National Security Positions (QNSP).

About PNNL

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is a world-class research institution powered by a highly educated, diverse workforce committed to the values of Integrity, Creativity, Collaboration, Impact, and Courage. PNNL offers an exciting research environment and excellent benefits, including health insurance and flexible work schedules. Located in eastern Washington State, PNNL provides stellar outdoor recreation opportunities and an affordable cost of living, with convenient access via the PSC airport.