Data Scientist Generative Ai Jobs in Bothell, WA

Job Summary:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is a world-class research institution focused on scientific research. They are seeking a Senior Data Scientist to lead innovative projects in generative AI and foundation model development, contributing to mission-focused applied R&D projects in national security.
Responsibilities:
• Lead innovative projects and programs developing and applying generative AI and foundation model development (pretraining, fine-tuning, agentic systems, and innovative training strategies) and evaluation (T&E, robustness) for key modalities such as:
• Drive breakthroughs in multi-int fusion—integrating diverse intelligence sources to deliver robust, mission-ready solutions that elevate operational capabilities and decision-making.
• Advance knowledge discovery, support decision intelligence, and enable robust analytical processes. This includes leveraging advanced AI techniques to extract, synthesize, and integrate insights from unstructured, semi-structured, or large-scale text and documents.
• Engage with stakeholders to understand project requirements and translate them into actionable technical approaches aligned with sponsor goals.
• Direct the design, development, and iteration on foundation model, frontier AI research, and agentic AI systems that address complex, real-world problems—especially those involving diverse data modalities such as remote sensing imagery, sensor fusion, and text.
• Apply deep expertise in model internals (e.g., tokenization, attention mechanisms, weight adaptation, and loss optimization) to customize and improve model performance for domain-specific applications.
• Lead evaluation and verification of AI and agentic systems across multiple axes, including standard performance metrics, uncertainty quantification, generalization to out-of-distribution settings, and mission-specific assurance criteria.
• Lead proposal development and business development through proposals and/or briefing sponsors.
• Serve as a technical resource and mentor to junior to senior staff within the team, fostering a collaborative research environment and mission awareness.
• Maintain awareness of emerging trends in AI, AI security, and national security to shape future research directions and identify new opportunities for impact.
Qualifications:
Required:
• 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
• Demonstrated proficiency in leading proposals, writing technical reports, and communicating complex findings to diverse audiences (technical and executive).
• Knowledge of compute environments and their cybersecurity concerns; familiarity with secure ML ops, access control, and model/data governance.
• Demonstrated impact in Generative AI, Frontier AI, or foundation model research (e.g., peer reviewed publications, recognized awards, contributions to community standards).
• 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.
• Hands on experience with LLM/LVM/Foundation Model and Frontier AI evaluation, red teaming, uncertainty analysis, or safety control implementation.
• Experience designing and executing T&E campaigns for AI systems, including test planning, dataset curation, metrics, statistical analysis, and reproducibility.
• Based in Richland, WA or Seattle, WA with onsite presence required.
• Clearance required (see below for details).
• Travel may be required for stakeholder engagement or project events.
Preferred:
• Degree in computer science, statistics, mathematics, or related fields.
• Experience serving as PI, technical lead, or project manager for federally funded R&D projects, with publications, open source contributions, or deployable prototypes.
• Knowledge of compute environments and their cybersecurity concerns; familiarity with secure ML ops, access control, and model/data governance.
• 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.
• Familiarity with agentic AI safety (tool‑use governance, retrieval hygiene, autonomous decision workflows) and evaluation of multi‑step reasoning systems.
• Prior work in national security environments, with an understanding of mission needs and operational constraints.
• Active DOE Q or TS/SCI clearance.
Company:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory operates as a government research laboratory. Founded in 1965, the company is headquartered in Richland, USA, with a team of 5001-10000 employees. The company is currently Late Stage.