Machine Learning Engineer - Advanced AI and Cognitive Systems at HRL Laboratories
Calabasas, CA
$140,700–$175,950from the description
Jul 28, 2026
Calabasas, CA
Jul 29, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A research-focused role at HRL Laboratories building AI and machine learning systems that integrate neurophysiological, behavioral, and sensor data for cognitive-aware decision support. The position spans algorithm development for cognitive state estimation, multimodal AI, and human-machine collaboration, with contributions to software prototypes, proposals, and publications for government-funded R&D programs. Best suited to candidates with a background in applied ML/AI and cognitive science or a related interdisciplinary field.
Mid level · 3+ years · Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA · Master's required · Secret clearance · Full-time
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“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
Posted 2 times — it's one opening, so apply once.
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How this req sits in the market our data
Rare in this occupation — lead with these, and say what you built with them.
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $132,593 (middle half $93,359–$172,124). 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 29, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (7)
The Required Qualifications section is structured as 'experience in one or more of the following areas,' making it genuinely ambiguous whether every listed technology is a hard gate or a broad menu. Skills have been marked required based on their placement within that section, but in practice a candidate strong in a subset of these areas may still be competitive.
PyTorch, TensorFlow, and JAX are listed together as alternatives for the ML framework requirement; PyTorch is used as the primary name with the others in alternatives.
Experience with government-funded R&D programs (DARPA/IARPA/ARPA-H) is explicitly called 'a plus' and is marked preferred accordingly.
The clearance requirement states 'ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government Security Clearance' without specifying a level; Secret is assumed as the baseline for defense/aerospace R&D at this type of facility, but the actual level required may differ.
The degree requirement states 'MS or Ph.D.' with no 'or equivalent experience' language, so Masters is set as the minimum hard-required degree.
The role blends research science (cognitive modeling, ML) with software engineering (APIs, Docker, Kubernetes), making the SOC classification genuinely ambiguous between Data Scientists (15-2051) and Software Developers (15-1252); the research and modeling emphasis is the primary signal for 15-2051.
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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