Postdoctoral Appointee - AI/ML for Solid Mechanics, Onsite

This postdoctoral position is a temporary position for up to one year, which may be renewed at Sandia's discretion up to five additional years. The PhD must have been conferred within five years prior to employment. Individuals in postdoctoral positions may bid on regular Sandia positions as internal candidates, and in some cases may be converted to regular career positions during their term if warranted by ongoing operational needs, continuing availability of funds, and satisfactory job performance.

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The Materials and Failure Modeling Department is seeking a highly motivated Postdoctoral Appointee to join our team and contribute to ongoing computational solid mechanics research, development, and analysis in the areas of scientific machine learning.

On any given day, you will have the opportunity to:

• Apply the principles of solid mechanics and advanced mathematics to support the research and
• Utilize advanced optimization methods, such as genetic algorithms, for discovering new material laws.
• Use state-of-the-art finite element codes and world class computational resources to support the
• Build and test agentic material modeling pipelines via pretrained large language models (LLMs).
• Develop a robust research portfolio through peer-reviewed journal publications, conference presentations, and participation in professional societies.

Applicants are requested to submit complete Curricula Vitae during the application process.

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

• PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Applied Mechanics, Aerospace Engineering, Civil Engineering, or related field
• Background in the foundations of solid mechanics, including strength of materials, continuum mechanics, and/or mechanics of materials
• Experience with a programming language such as C, C++, Julia, MATLAB, Python, and/or Rust
• Experience conducting research in scientific machine learning and implementing architectures, such as physics informed neural networks, graph neural networks and/or operator learning methods
• Communication skills as evidenced by a history of publication of results in peer-reviewed journals and external presentations at appropriate scientific conferences
• Ability to obtain and maintain a DOE Q clearance
  

• Experience performing mechanical finite element calculations
• Experience in constitutive model development, including viscoplastic materials
• Experience implementing material models in commercial finite element analysis codes
• Experience with agentic AI workflows using open and/or closed-source LLMs
• Knowledge of and/or experience with experimental methods for material characterization
• Experience with genetic algorithms (GAs) and specialized GA libraries

The Materials and Failure Modeling Department performs material mechanics R&D, develops advanced engineering models, and deploys state-of-the-art computational capabilities to enable physically credible prediction of material behavior and failure in support of Sandia's mission. Core capabilities developed and maintained by the department include adaptive material and failure models, robust computational material libraries covering events from aging to shock physics, effective model calibration methodologies, and quantification of margin and uncertainty of material models.

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.

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.

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.

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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.