Senior/Principal R&D Mechanical Engineer - Environments Engineering & Integration, Onsite

Sandia National Laboratories; New Mexico; On-site; USD 139,000 - 236,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible work arrangements

Relocation assistance

Generous vacation

Job summary

Sandia National Laboratories is seeking a Senior/Principal R&D Mechanical Engineer for the Environments Engineering & Integration Department. The role is onsite and focuses on loads and dynamics, with opportunities for research, development, and collaboration across Sandia programs.

The candidate will lead teams, develop environmental specs, and work with modeling, testing, and analysis to support weapons, space, and related systems.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant discipline and five years of directly related experience.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a DOE Q clearance.
• Graduate or professional research experience is a plus.
• Strong communication and leadership skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead a diverse team of staff to support programmatic needs.
• Develop and qualify shock and vibration environments for weapons systems and space instruments.
• Analyze data from field and lab tests to derive specifications.
• Collaborate with internal and external stakeholders and teams.

Skills

MATLAB

Python

C++

Leadership

Project management

Education

Bachelor's degree in a relevant discipline

Tools

MATLAB

Python

C++

Job description

Senior/Principal R&D Mechanical Engineer - Environments Engineering & Integration, 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.

What Your Job Will Be Like:

Our team is ready to welcome a highly motivated, experienced, and productive R&D Mechanical Engineer to join the Environments Engineering & Integration Department as a loads and dynamics engineer. Our work encompasses a wide range of applications in structural dynamics and signal processing and offers many opportunities for research and development. The position involves a challenging mix of engineering analysis, modeling, model validation, data analysis, signal processing, and product performance evaluation for a wide range of Sandia products. There are significant opportunities to team with in‑house (high‑fidelity, multi‑physics) analysis teams, testing teams, as well as daily opportunities to work on very challenging problems utilizing world‑class computational and testing resources.

On any given day, you may be called on to:

Team with project, test, and analysis engineers at Sandia and with Sandia's external stakeholders.

Lead a diverse team of staff to support our programmatic needs.

Lead or be a member of a shock and vibration environments qualification team.

Support shock and vibration specification development for weapons systems, wind/water turbines, missile payloads, and space instruments.

Support the development of field testing to collect environments data.

Work with the modeling and simulation analysis community to derive and assess environmental specifications and test specifications.

Analyze data from field and laboratory tests to derive and assess environmental specifications and test specifications.

Work closely with systems team and individual component leads to advise on all topics related to shock and vibration qualification.

Represent environments team to LLNL, NNSA, military branches, KCNSC, missile vendors and other stakeholders.

Participate in applied research to improve shock and vibration data analysis and specification development.

Join our team and achieve your goals while making a difference!

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

Salary Range:

$138,600 - $235,700

*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.

Qualifications We Require:

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

Qualifications We Desire:

The ideal R&D 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:

PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Civil Engineering, or a relevant field

Graduate or professional research experience

Experience analyzing aerospace systems

Experience with developing laboratory shock and vibration specifications and supporting testing

Experience performing structural dynamic analysis and testing

MatLab, Python, C++ or other programming experience

Experience as a Principle Investigator

Experience in a leadership role

Experience using MATLAB for structural dynamics analysis and processing of measured data

Experience in mechanical shock analysis

Experience building trusted relationships between analysts, test teams, management, and customers

A strong track record of scientific and/or technical achievements through publication, as evidenced by peer‑reviewed journals and external presentations at appropriate scientific conferences

Experience leading and participating in large multi‑disciplinary teams

About Our Team:

The Environments Engineering & Integration Department is in the Solid Mechanics and Structural Dynamics Group of the Engineering Sciences Center. The department is responsible for leading integration of complex environmental test operations with computational simulation activities in structural dynamics and solid mechanics supporting fundamental research, model validation, development, qualification and acceptance for nuclear weapons, satellites, national missile defense, and other applications. In addition to planning and integration activities, the department directly supports several experimental capabilities, including: multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) vibration and shock testing and analysis methodologies, centrifuge, thermal conditioning, humidity, altitude, and corrosive atmosphere capabilities. We partner with Sandia product designers to predict and define mechanical environments for the entire design life‑cycle. We assist product engineers in optimizing testing of their designs early in a development program and to fully explore the product's performance space during final design qualification. Our department develops state‑of‑the‑art tools for characterizing and analyzing mechanical environments.

Posting Duration:

This posting will be open for application submissions for a minimum of three (3) calendar days, including the 'posting date'. Sandia reserves the right to extend the posting date at any time.

Security Clearance:

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.

EEO:

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.

NNSA Requirements for MedPEDs:

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.

• Affordable housing, reasonable cost of living


• Minimal traffic congestion compared to larger cities