Civil Engineer – AI and Automation

Search Jobs - INL Professional Careers; Idaho Falls (ID); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Idaho National Laboratory seeks a Civil Engineer – AI and Automation to design, deploy and support digital and agentic AI systems across mobile, embedded, desktop, and web platforms for nuclear energy applications.

You will work at the intersection of AI and structural design to automate engineering workflows, including design checks, safety analysis, and licensing documentation, collaborating with experienced engineers and domain experts.

Qualifications

• PhD in Civil or Mechanical Engineering.
• Experience with BIM/IFC.
• Knowledge of Finite Element Analysis.
• Familiarity with agentic programming.

Responsibilities

• Perform structural engineering analysis and design for buildings and structures housing nuclear processing equipment.
• Develop and maintain BIM/IFC models to support multidisciplinary design coordination.
• Build and validate FEM to evaluate structural/ mechanical behavior.
• Design Python tools to automate engineering tasks (code checks, load calcs, data extraction).
• Develop agentic AI systems to automate design checks, safety analysis, and licensing workflows.
• Translate domain knowledge into AI/ML requirements for autonomous agents.
• Integrate BIM/IFC data into AI/automation pipelines for quantity takeoff and design reviews.
• Contribute to peer‑reviewed publications and technical conferences.

Skills

Python scripting

AI systems design

Engineering workflows

Education

PhD in Civil or Mechanical Engineering

Tools

BIM/IFC

FEA

Job description

Idaho National Laboratory needs a Civil Engineer – AI and Automation professional to develop, deploy, and support innovative technical solutions across platforms including mobile, embedded, desktop, and web-based capabilities supporting programmatic goals. We are seeking a Civil Engineer to join our team at the intersection of artificial intelligence and structural design for nuclear energy applications. In this role, you will contribute to the design, development, and integration of digital and agentic AI systems that automate and accelerate engineering workflows across design, safety, and licensing domains. Working alongside experienced engineers and domain experts, you will gain hands‑on experience applying cutting‑edge AI and machine learning techniques to some of the most technically demanding challenges in the energy sector.

Essential Job Functions and Responsibilities

• Perform structural engineering analysis and design for buildings and structures that house nuclear processing equipment.
• Develop and maintain structural, mechanical, and piping models using Building Information Modeling (BIM) platforms and IFC-based data schemas to support multidisciplinary design coordination and data interoperability across engineering teams.
• Build, run, and validate Finite Element Models (FEM) to evaluate structural and mechanical component behavior.
• Design and develop Python-based software tools, scripts, and workflows to automate and accelerate structural, mechanical, and piping engineering tasks such as code-compliance checks, load calculations, drawing/model data extraction, and design iteration.
• Design, build, and deploy agentic AI systems that automate portions of the engineering lifecycle, including design checks, safety analysis support, and licensing documentation workflows.
• Translate civil/structural and mechanical engineering domain knowledge (codes, standards, calculation methods) into requirements and logic that can be encoded into AI/ML models and autonomous agents.
• Integrate BIM/IFC model data into AI and automation pipelines to enable use cases such as automated quantity takeoff, structural code compliance screening, and model-based design review.
• Contribute to the publication of research findings in peer-reviewed journals and technical conference proceedings.

Required

• PhD in Civil or Mechanical Engineering.
• Experience with in BIM/IFC.
• Knowledge with Finite Element Analysis.
• Familiarity with agentic programming.