Senior/Principal R&D Mechanical Engineer – Firing & Embeded Systems, Onsite

Sandia National Laboratories is the nation’s premier science and engineering lab for national security and technology innovation, with teams of specialists focused on cutting-edge work in a broad array of areas. Some of the main reasons we love our jobs:

• Challenging work with amazing impact that contributes to security, peace, and freedom worldwide
• Extraordinary co-workers
• Some of the best tools, equipment, and research facilities in the world
• Career advancement and enrichment opportunities
• Flexible work arrangements for many positions include 9/80 (work 80 hours every two weeks, with every other Friday off) and 4/10 (work 4 ten-hour days each week) compressed workweeks, part-time work, and telecommuting (a mix of onsite work and working from home)
• Generous vacation, strong medical and other benefits, competitive 401k, learning opportunities, relocation assistance and amenities aimed at creating a solid work/life balance*

World-changing technologies. Life-changing careers. Learn more about Sandia at: http://www.sandia.gov

*These benefits vary by job classification.

Are you passionate about your work and want to utilize state-of-the-art facilities to explore solutions? Do you want to join a dynamic team that solves challenging issues for the nation’s security? If so, you could be one of the highly motivated Mechanical Engineers we seek.

The Firing & Embedded Systems group (7620) has a portfolio that covers diverse opportunities across Sandias Nuclear Deterrence mission and various Strategic Partnership Programs supporting work across the U.S. government.

To this end, we seek to fill multiple positions in our technical staff for designing, developing, testing, qualifying, and monitoring firing subsystems and other high-consequence embedded systems. Our systems are used every day in U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force nuclear weapons and other national security programs.

We provide opportunities for leadership, travel, training, and collaboration across the laboratory.

On any given day, one may be called upon to:

• Collaborate on multidisciplinary teams, providing ownership and direction for mechanical designs.
• Coordinate with customers, production agencies, and stakeholders to support design, testing, development, qualification, and production activities.
• Analyze performance against requirements, build prototypes, and refine designs.
• Perform modeling and simulation of design performance using tools such as PTC Creo, SOLIDWORKS, ANSYS, and MATLAB/Simulink.
• Communicate technical information and project status effectively to team members, customers, and management.
• Utilize tools and software to perform configuration management and issue engineering authorizations.

Travel to partner and customer locations as required (generally less than 5 days per month).

Applicants chosen for an interview will be asked to provide an overview briefing of an example that illustrates relevant design experience.

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

$114,000 – $227,500

*Salary range is estimated, and actual salary will be determined after consideration of the selected candidate’s experience and qualifications, and Application of any approved geographic salary differential.

• A Bachelor’s degree in a relevant discipline and five (5) years of directly relevant experience, or an equivalent combination of directly relevant education and engineering or scientific experience that demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and ability to perform independent research and development.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a DOE Q clearance
• Ability to obtain and maintain Sigma 15 access

The ideal R&D S&E Mechanical Engineer candidate for Sandia National Laboratories will in addition possess the following:

• Graduate degree in Mechanical Engineering or a highly related field where an independent research project was a graduation requirement (e.g., independent project, thesis, or dissertation).
• Experience with mechanical engineering and product realization in the NNSA complex.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, ability to work effectively in multidisciplinary teams.

Also, for this posting we are seeking individuals with the following experience:

• Experience in one or more of the following areas: mechanical design, environmental (e.g., climatic, vibration, mechanical shock) testing, Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T) principles and application, mechanical inspection and measurement techniques, electronics packaging design, structural analysis, thermal analysis, root cause analysis, statistical data analysis, design-for-manufacturing.
• Experience working in Nuclear Deterrence mission spaces including design, development, production, or surveillance.
• Experience working in a production or manufacturing environment.
• Demonstrated attention to detail.
• An active DOE Q-level security clearance; or other equivalent active security clearance such as DOD Top Secret with CNWDI.

The Firing & Embedded Systems group (7620) is a recognized leader in realizing safe, secure, and reliable products. We research, design, develop, and deliver highly reliable, trusted systems and high consequence hardware and software products to serve our National Security customers today, tomorrow, and always.

Our technical backgrounds are diverse. Some of us have spent years focusing on the fine details of particular technologies and are recognized as nation-level specialists. Some of us are generalists and support multiple projects keeping things connected and developing new skills.

Our teams are comprised of specialists and generalists working together, and it is easy to shift between projects and technical roles over time.

This posting will be open for application submissions for a minimum of seven (7) 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.

If you have a Medical Portable Electronic Device (MedPED), such as a pacemaker, defibrillator, drug-releasing pump, hearing aids, or diagnostic equipment and other equipment for measuring, monitoring, and recording body functions such as heartbeat and brain waves, if employed by Sandia National Laboratories you may be required to comply with NNSA security requirements for MedPEDs.

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.