R&D Engineer – Advanced Welding Materials & Processes (EI/EII)

General Dynamics Electric Boat; Groton (CT); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

The Electric Boat Welding Engineering Advanced Concepts Team is hiring for R&D and production innovation in welding, additive manufacturing, and robotic welding for submarine programs. You will work on metallurgy, process development, and welding consumables, with high visibility across Electric Boat, Navy, and research partners.

Key activities include leading projects, developing test plans, and implementing solutions in shipyards and labs.

Qualifications

• Bachelor or higher in metallurgy or welding engineering; metals focus preferred.
• 0–5 years postgraduate engineering experience.
• Ability to read specs, procedures, and drawings.
• Strong problem solving and solution implementation abilities.

Responsibilities

• Investigate new/modified base materials for welding and additive manufacturing.
• Develop welding consumables for fabrication of base materials.
• Ensure weld consumable procurement yields reliable weld properties and no cracking.
• Conduct R&D to test new fabrication processes and consumables.
• Investigate and qualify additive manufacturing technologies.
• Support design efforts and address metallurgical weld concerns.
• Evaluate new welding/additive processes for application.
• Lead projects and technical tasks, internal or external.
• Design test programs and prepare technical reports; implement in shipyard.

Skills

Team player

Clear communication

Author test plans

Technical writing

Project management

Education

Bachelor of Science or higher in Metallurgy/Metallurgical Engineering, Materials Engineering (metal focus preferred), Welding Engineering or equivalent

Tools

Microsoft Office Suite

Job description

Overview

The Electric Boat Welding Engineering Advanced Concepts Team has multiple openings in support of research and development and production innovation from project initiation to implementation into our product – nuclear submarines. This recently formed group is in the process of building a dynamic team responsible for emerging and innovative R&D on welding materials, additive manufacturing, and process technologies, including robotic welding, at Electric Boat. Projects principally involve welding metallurgy, advanced/novel material process development, or both. This high visibility position involves interaction with a number of other organizations within Electric Boat, suppliers of equipment and welding consumables, the Navy customer, and various national and international research laboratories and organizations.

This challenging, fast paced position involves development and follow through of projects to further enhance the capabilities of our submarine force, while ensuring the final product and technologies will reliably meet or exceed the performance and quality requirements set forth by the Navy. Project focus areas include, but are not limited to, the metallurgical approach to design and develop welding materials (including those used in additive manufacturing), control of weld mechanical properties and cracking, shipyard and procurement viability of newly developed welding consumables and advanced processes, characterizing weld metal and heat affected zone mechanical properties, and consistent and repeatable weld quality.

Work conducted by this team will have significant influence on the design and performance of the next generation submarine, and will also influence submarine classes already under construction. Many projects are long term with many interconnected technologies and requirements due to the expectations for service performance and increased capabilities over the life of the submarine. These projects have high visibility within Electric Boat and in the Navy community, and offer the potential for significant personal, technical, and project management growth to those on the team.

This position has the following specific functions:

• Investigate new or modified base materials with respect to welding, additive manufacturing, robotic welding, and fabrication effects.
• Investigate and/or develop new welding or additive manufacturing consumables for fabrication of new or modified base materials.
• Responsibility for the quality, operability, and suitability of newly developed welding consumable procurement to operate successfully in the shipyard, providing consistent attainment of weld metal mechanical properties and freedom from cracking.
• Conduct research and development investigations to develop and test new structural fabrication processes, design concepts, procedures, and various process consumables.
• Investigate, characterize, and potentially qualify and implement additive manufacturing technologies.
• Conduct research and development to support design efforts, modify requirements, and provide methods to address metallurgical concerns with welds.
• Evaluate new developments in the welding and additive manufacturing fields (such as processes and equipment) for possible application to current welding problems or production processes.
• Serve as project lead and/or technical lead on both in-house and externally funded development and process improvement/cost reduction tasks.
• Design test programs and prepare technical reports as a result of testing, research and development, and investigations.
• Implementation of projects into the shipyard.
• Typical work week – Approximately 30% laboratory observation/evaluation (working alongside developmental welders), 70% analysis, test plan/report writing, solution development and problem adjudication. Attend and present at conferences, technical meetings and vendors as needed for specific projects.

Qualifications

Required:

• Bachelor of Science or higher in Metallurgy/Metallurgical Engineering, Materials Engineering (focus on metals preferred to non-metallics), Welding Engineering or equivalent engineering field.
• 0-5 years of postgraduate Engineering experience
• The ability to understand basic principles of welding and non-destructive testing
• Must be able to read and interpret specifications, procedures, drawings and other documents
• The ability to critically analyze problems and to develop and implement solutions

Preferred:

• Experience in an industrial environment, shipbuilding, or other heavy fabrication
• Mechanical aptitude and hands-on laboratory experience
• Familiarity or experience with basic arc welding processes
• Prior experience in project management including idea initiation to implementation
• Previous project management experience
• Familiarity with Microsoft Office Suite
• Basic familiarity with data analysis and the application of statistics and regression
• Familiarity with Military and Commercial Specifications with regards to Welding and Brazing Procedure Qualification and Fabrication of pipe and structure, Tech Pub 248, Tech Pub 1688, Tech Pub 278, AWS, and ASME

Skills

Skills:

• Team player, comfortable working and communicating with all levels
• Ability to communicate clearly and concisely, both verbally and in writing.
• Ability to author test plans, technical reports and other correspondence