Senior AI Architect

We have an opening for a Senior AI Architect to lead the design development deployment and operationalization of advanced generative AI applications and services that support mission and operational need within the National Ignition Facility. You will help translate emerging AI technologies into production-ready capabilities by building backend services APIs orchestration layers and integration patterns that enable AI applications to interact with existing operations technical and knowledge-based data sources. This position is in the National Ignition Facility Computing (NIFC) Division within the Computing Directorate.

This position offers a hybrid schedule blending in-person and virtual presence. You will have the flexibility to work from home one or more days per week. 

This position will be filled at either the SES.3 or SES.4 level based on knowledge and related experience as assessed by the hiring team. Additional job responsibilities (outlined below) will be assigned if hired at the higher level.

You will

• Lead the architecture design development deployment and lifecycle support of GenAI-enabled applications and services that address mission and operational needs.
• Design and implement scalable secure and maintainable AI solutions across cloud-based and on-premises infrastructure including Kubernetes-based environments and open-source or commercially supported AI toolchains.
• Evaluate use cases and determine appropriate technical architectures for retrieval-grounded GenAI applications semantic search LLM-enabled workflows RESTful APIs agentic integration patterns and related AI services.
• Develop and maintain backend services APIs orchestration layers and application integration components that enable AI applications to securely access transform and use operational technical and knowledge-based data sources.
• Drive engineering approaches that improve AI application quality and operational effectiveness including prompt design grounding strategies evaluation methods observability performance optimization cost-aware implementation and appropriate safeguards.
• Serve as a technical leader by guiding architectural decisions sharing best practices and helping build broader team capability in AI application development and support.
• Partner with customers domain experts developers and infrastructure teams to translate operational needs into production-ready AI solutions and reusable technical capabilities.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Additional responsibilities at the SES.4 Level

• Provide technical leadership and strategic direction for departmental GenAI architecture platform patterns and integration approaches ensuring solutions are scalable secure reusable and aligned with long-term organizational needs.
• Lead complex cross-functional AI initiatives; make high-impact technical decisions; and serve as a senior advisor to management and engineering teams on GenAI architecture implementation strategy platform evolution and technology selection.
• Serve as a mentor and help establish best practices in GenAI engineering API-first design platform portability and lifecycle management to strengthen team capability and enable successful delivery across multiple products and projects.

Qualifications :

• Ability to obtain and maintain a US DOE Q-level security clearance which requires U.S. Citizenship.
• Bachelors degree in a computer or engineering related field or the equivalent combination of education and related experience.
• Significant experience architecting developing deploying and supporting complex software systems including GenAI-enabled or large language model-based applications in production or operational environments.
• Advanced experience designing and implementing secure scalable solutions across cloud-based and/or on-premises environments such as containerized and/or Kubernetes-based platforms.
• Significant experience developing backend applications RESTful APIs service integrations and application workflows using languages and frameworks such as Python Java JavaScript or TypeScript.
• Advanced knowledge of GenAI application design patterns and techniques such as prompt engineering retrieval and grounding strategies semantic search evaluation methods model integration and safeguards for reliable and context-appropriate responses.
• Advanced verbal and written communication skills and a proven ability to lead technical efforts influence architectural decisions mentor engineers and collaborate effectively with customers developers infrastructure teams and management.

Additional qualifications at the SES.4 level

• Highly advanced experience leading complex multi team efforts.
• Expert experience defining architectural direction and platform patterns across cloud-based on-premises and containerized environments.
• Highly advanced experience leading design and implementation of reusable services and integration architectures.
• Expert experience providing strategic technical leadership and influencing organizational direction.

Qualifications We Desire

• Masters degree in a computer or engineering related field with an emphasis on Machine Learning or Artificial Intelligence.
• Experience evaluating and implementing open-source AI frameworks model-serving platforms semantic retrieval or vector-based search technologies and related tooling to support portable AI solutions across cloud and on-premises environments.
• Experience designing agentic integration patterns MCP-enabled services developer-facing APIs or related interfaces that support AI assistants automation tools and customer-developed applications.
• Experience establishing engineering practices for AI systems including CI/CD observability performance tuning security and lifecycle management in regulated mission-critical or high-availability environments.

Pay Range

$175530 - $267060 Annually

$175530 - $222564 Annually for the SES.3 level

$210.630 - $267060 Annually for the SES.4 level

This is the lowest to highest salary we in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting.  An employees position within the salary range will be based on several factors including but not limited to specific competencies relevant education qualifications certifications experience skills seniority geographic location performance and business or organizational needs.

Additional Information :

#LI-Hybrid

Position Information

This is a Career Indefinite position open to Lab employees and external candidates.

Why Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

• Included in 2026 Best Places to Work by Glassdoor!
• Flexible Benefits Package
• 401(k)
• Relocation Assistance
• Education Reimbursement Program
• Flexible schedules (*depending on project needs)
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  This position requires a Department of Energy (DOE) Q-level clearance.  If you are selected we will initiate a Federal background investigation to determine if you meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information or matter. Also all L or Q cleared employees are subject to random drug testing.  Q-level clearance requires U.S. citizenship. 

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  Remote Work :

  No

  
  

  Employment Type :

  Full-time