Research Associate Jobs in Richland, WA

Employees and their families are offered medical insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, robust telehealth care options, several mental health benefits, free wellness coaching, health savings account, flexible spending accounts, basic life insurance, disability insurance*, employee assistance program, business travel insurance, tuition assistance, relocation, backup childcare, legal benefits, supplemental parental bonding leave, surrogacy and adoption assistance, and fertility support. Employees are automatically enrolled in our company-funded pension plan* and may enroll in our 401 (k) savings plan with company match*. Employees may accrue up to 120 vacation hours per year and may receive ten paid holidays per year.

• Research Associates excluded.

**All benefits are dependent upon eligibility.

• Designs and implements innovative GEOINT data science solutions, addressing complex technical challenges related to imagery analysis, object detection, data fusion, and geospatial workflows.
• Serves as a principal investigator (PI) or co-PI on projects or tasks contributing to the integration of multiple capabilities or interdisciplinary approaches.
• Leads efforts to develop and deploy ML pipelines to process and analyze large quantities of geospatial data in operational environments.
• Mentors and guides junior staff, fostering technical excellence and professional development within the team.
• Explores and generates new ideas for proposals and business opportunities by identifying emerging national security needs related to GEOINT analytics.
• Builds and maintains external partnerships to increase the technical reputation of the team and align project outcomes with sponsor priorities.
• Collaborates with multi-disciplinary teams, including software engineers, geospatial analysts, and operational mission specialists, to transition research outputs into usable, field-ready solutions.
• Ensures compliance with quality, safety, and security standards in all project tasks and serve as a role model for adhering to these standards.

This position is based in either Richland, WA or Seattle, WA and requires an onsite presence.

• BS/BA and 7+ years of relevant work experience -OR-
• MS/MA and 5+ years of relevant work experience -OR-
• PhD with 3+ year of relevant experience

• Advanced degree in data science, computer science, physics, mathematics, or a similar discipline.
• Expertise in GEOINT workflows, including experience with remote sensing platforms, multi-modal data fusion, and advanced geospatial analytics.
• Experience working with hyperspectral imaging data in the long-wave infrared, including:
  • Developing and validating machine learning–based detection, classification, and unmixing algorithms
  • Full product pipeline experience (radiometric calibration, atmospheric correction, geometric correction, etc.)
  • Strong spectral sensing fundamentals (radiative transfer, reflectance/emissivity, absorption features, SNR/noise modeling, sensor characterization)
  • Applying ML techniques to hyperspectral data fusion for geospatial intelligence applications
  • Proficiency with hyperspectral analysis and visualization tools (e.g., ENVI/IDL)
• Experience working with Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data (complex/IQ and formed products), including:
  • Developing and validating both traditional signal-processing and machine learning–based detection and classification algorithms
  • End-to-end SAR image product conversion pipeline experience
  • Proficiency with SAR rendering tools
  • Strong knowledge of SAR/RADAR theory fundamentals (wave propagation, scattering, speckle, Doppler/geometry, calibration, etc.)
• Hands-on experience and strong proficiency with geospatial analysis tools (e.g., GDAL, GeoPandas, Google Earth Engine) and machine learning frameworks (e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch).
• Experience training, fine-tuning, and applying deep learning models for remote sensing and GEOINT applications, including Automatic Target Recognition (ATR), object detection, and segmentation, using models and frameworks such as YOLO, Detectron2, DINOv2, Segment Anything Model (SAM), Vision Transformers, and geospatial foundation models.
• Experience deploying operational solutions, ensuring scalability and applicability in secure or mission-critical environments.
• Proven success in proposal development and securing external funding to support technical work or research programs.
• Experience working with or supporting national security mission sponsors such as the Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), or similar organizations.
• Strong communication and leadership skills, including the ability to present technical findings to diverse audiences and stakeholders and to collaborate effectively within multi-disciplinary teams.

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

A security clearance background investigation includes review of your employment, education, financial, and criminal history, as well as interviews with you and your personal references, neighbors, and co-workers to determine trustworthiness, reliability, and loyalty to the United States. The investigation also examines your foreign connections, drug and alcohol use, foreign influence, and overall conduct.

Requirements:

• U.S. Citizenship
• Background Investigation: Applicants selected will be subject to a Federal background investigation and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified matter in accordance with 10 CFR 710, Appendix B.
• Drug Testing: All Security Clearance positions are Testing Designated Positions, which means that the applicant selected for hire is subject to pre-employment drug testing, and post-employment random drug testing. In addition, applicants must be able to demonstrate non-use of illegal drugs, including marijuana, for the 12 consecutive months preceding completion of the requisite Questionnaire for National Security Positions (QNSP).

Note: Applicants will be considered ineligible for security clearance processing by the U.S. Department of Energy if non-use of illegal drugs, including marijuana, for 12 months cannot be demonstrated.

This position is a Testing Designated Position (TDP). The candidate selected for this position will be subject to pre-employment and random drug testing for illegal drugs, including marijuana, consistent with the Controlled Substances Act and the PNNL Workplace Substance Abuse Program.