Senior/Principal Cybersecurity - Software and AI Security, Onsite

About Sandia

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.

What Your Job Will Be Like

Sandia National Laboratories seeks an experienced cybersecurity professional to help safeguard our nation¿s most critical digital assets. In this role, you will lead efforts within the Software and SI Security team to architect, implement, and maintain scalable solutions across multidisciplinary software engineering teams.

You will focus on securing integrated digital environments, application software, large-language models (LLMs), hardware interfaces, and mission networks. Working alongside leading laboratory researchers, you will advance state-of-the-art resilient, automated security controls and proactive defensive capabilities.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the design, implementation, and maintenance of automated DevSecOps pipelines across the software development lifecycle.
• Evaluate, test, and integrate modern security tooling, including static and dynamic application security testing (SAST/DAST) and automated vulnerability detection systems.
• Partner with multidisciplinary development teams to establish secure coding standards, software assurance practices, and technical training.
• Advance research and development in cyber deterrence, focusing on vulnerability discovery, cryptography, reverse engineering, and threat intelligence.
• Design and implement guardrails for emerging technologies, including LLM agents and workflows.

*Due to the nature of the work, the selected applicant must be able to work onsite.

Salary Range

$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.

Qualifications We Require

• 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 Clearance.

Qualifications We Desire

The ideal R&D S&E Cybersecurity candidate for Sandia National Laboratories will in addition possess the following:

• Graduate degree in Computer Science/Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Information Systems, Computer Forensics, Mathematics or a directly related field where an independent research project was a graduation requirement (e.g., independent project, thesis, or dissertation).
• Experience in one or more of the following: reverse engineering, software vulnerability assessment, web application assessment, computer networking, computer architecture, compilers, or similar computer security topics.
• Proficiency in scripting or high-level programming.
• Familiarity with secure-system design principles and information assurance principles.
• Excellent communication skills and a demonstrated ability to develop technical ideas and results and present them in oral and written form in a concise manner.

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

• Software engineering practices and design patterns.
• Direct, hands-on deployment and management of Large Language Model (LLM) agents or tooling for software engineering and cybersecurity workflows.
• Containerization and orchestration platforms (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes, OpenShift).
• Architecting and securing cloud environments across major providers (AWS, Azure, or GCP).
• Federal security frameworks and compliance standards (e.g., NIST SP 800-53, FedRAMP, CIS Benchmarks).
• Core programming languages such as Python, C/C++, Java, Go, JavaScript, or C#/.NET.
• Data engineering and analytics platforms (e.g., SQL, Databricks).
• Vulnerability assessment, penetration testing, reverse engineering, or cyber threat intelligence.
• Secure software architecture, threat modeling, and cyber resiliency principles.
• Securing LLM systems, evaluating model robustness, and mitigating LLM-specific vulnerabilities (e.g., prompt injection, data poisoning).
• Preparing clear technical documentation, SAND reports, or peer-reviewed publications.
  

About Our Team

The Application and Super-Intelligence (SI) Security department plays a vital role in defending Sandia against internal and external cyber threats. The department leads the advancement of Sandia's Cybersecurity Program, establishing comprehensive controls and monitoring for data acquisition, storage, processing, and distribution. Additionally, the team develops layered security capabilities to detect malicious activity and inadvertent threats through anomalous behavior analytics across applications, data, LLM systems, and user operations.

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.

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.