Lead Software Engineer IV at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Richland, WA
$161,300–$255,000from the description
Jul 2, 2026
Richland, WA
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A senior engineering role focused on designing and building large-scale AI systems for national security applications, including agentic AI platforms, petabyte-scale data pipelines, and real-time intelligence processing. The position combines hands-on development in Python and related ML frameworks with technical leadership responsibilities such as mentoring engineers and setting architectural direction. It suits experienced engineers with a background spanning distributed systems, cloud infrastructure, and production AI/ML deployments.
Senior level · 7+ years · Kennewick-Richland, WA · Secret clearance · Full-time
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
Posted 2 times — it's one opening, so apply once.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $130,610 (middle half $99,920–$168,281). This posting is about at that midpoint.
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (8)
The title is 'Lead Software Engineer' — no seniority level word is embedded in the title itself, so advertised seniority is Unspecified. The scope and experience requirements (7–18 years depending on degree, end-to-end architecture, team leadership) firmly support a Senior classification.
The clearance language states the role 'requires the ability to obtain and maintain a federal security clearance' — it does not specify the level. Given the national security / classified-enclave context described throughout the posting, a Secret-level gate is the most conservative reasonable interpretation; the actual level may be higher.
Degree requirement is None: the JD offers a sliding scale of degree + experience equivalencies (PhD+3 yrs through HS/GED+18 yrs), meaning no specific degree is hard-required when equivalent experience is accepted.
Total years minimum is set to 7, reflecting the lowest-degree-equivalent path that does not require an advanced degree (BS/BA + 7 years). Paths with higher degrees require fewer years.
The role is based in Richland, WA or Seattle, WA with mandatory onsite Mon–Thu. The CBSA reported is Kennewick-Richland, WA (the primary PNNL campus location); Seattle is a secondary option.
All skills listed under 'What You'll Build' and 'What You Bring' are treated as preferred because those sections function as scope/stack narrative rather than a gated requirements block. Only Python is explicitly called out as a hard gate in the formal Minimum Qualifications section.
The alt SOC (15-2051 Data Scientists) is noted because a significant portion of the role involves ML/AI architecture, LLM fine-tuning, and data platform engineering — but the primary framing is production software engineering and system architecture, making 15-1252 the stronger fit.
Requires a Secret clearance — the cleared population is a small fraction of this occupation, so the real candidate pool is materially smaller than the estimate below, which does not model clearance.
Read the full posting
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