Weapon Systems Surveillance Engineer (R&D Engineer 3)

Los Alamos National Laboratory; Los Alamos (NM); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental and vision insurance

401(k) matching

Paid parental leave

Tuition assistance

Job summary

Los Alamos National Laboratory seeks a Weapon System Surveillance Engineer to oversee the W88 system's surveillance activities, ensuring national defense reliability.

This position demands a Master's Degree in Engineering and encompasses planning, executing, and evaluating surveillance tests, with the opportunity for significant technical independence.

Join us in a pivotal role contributing to the safety of our nation's nuclear stockpile.

Qualifications

• 6 years of related experience or equivalent education/experience.
• Proven record of working effectively in teams and seeking technical input.

Responsibilities

• Plan and execute surveillance for W88 system components.
• Lead qualification of surveillance tests and evaluate data.
• Prepare annual surveillance summaries and communicate results.

Skills

Engineering principles

Technical leadership

Data evaluation

Technical documentation

Communication

Teamwork

Education

Master's Degree in Engineering

Job description

What You Will Do

The Weapon Systems Engineering (W) Division provides systems engineering, technical leadership, and program management to ensure the safety, reliability, and security of our nation’s nuclear stockpile throughout its life cycle. Within W Division, the Weapon Systems Surveillance Group (W‑9) supports stockpile surveillance and assessment by establishing test requirements, coordinating surveillance activities across the Nuclear Security Enterprise, evaluating results, and communicating technical findings that inform annual assessment and long‑term health decisions.

It is important to note that this position is open for external candidates only to apply.

The successful candidate will serve as a Weapon System Surveillance Engineer for the W88 system. In this role, you will help plan and execute surveillance activities for stockpile‑return components and materials, coordinate with production agencies and design stakeholders, evaluate surveillance data, and communicate results to engineering, physics, programmatic, and federal partners. This position offers a high degree of technical independence, broad interaction across LANL and the Nuclear Security Enterprise, and the opportunity to contribute directly to decisions that support the continued safety and reliability of the nuclear stockpile. Additional responsibilities include:

• Translate Design Agency surveillance requirements into executable test direction, sample‑selection instructions, engineering authorization documents, and production agency guidance.
• Lead or support qualification of new and existing surveillance tests, including development of test requirements, experimental methods, procedures, work packages, and supporting documentation.
• Evaluate surveillance data from components, materials, production agency reports, and other data streams to assess system health, identify aging trends, and support engineering judgment.
• Prepare annual surveillance summaries, briefings, and inputs to the W88 Annual Assessment process, including communicating technical results to engineering, physics, management and federal stakeholders.
• Lead or support investigations of anomalous observations reported during surveillance.
• Coordinate with component surveillance engineers and program partners to identify knowledge gaps, evaluate new diagnostic or test capabilities, and recommend improvements to surveillance methods.
• Represent the surveillance program in technical meetings, planning committees, reviews, and stakeholder briefings, including advocating for recommendations.
• Maintain and improve surveillance program requirements, documentation, schedules, and records to ensure a healthy, comprehensive, and defensible surveillance program.

What You Need

Minimum Job Requirements

• Engineering Experience: Demonstrated knowledge of engineering principles relevant to complex systems, components, materials, testing, reliability, production, or surveillance. Relevant experience may include nuclear weapon systems, aerospace, defense, nuclear, high‑consequence operations, manufacturing, quality, or other regulated technical environments.
• Technical Leadership: Demonstrated ability to lead technical tasks or projects, coordinate contributors across organizations, manage milestones and deliverables, risks and recommendations.
• Data Evaluation and Problem Solving: Demonstrated ability to evaluate technical data, identify trends or anomalies, integrate information from multiple sources, and develop defensible conclusions or recommendations.
• Technical Documentation and Requirements: Experience developing, reviewing or maintaining technical requirements, procedures, work instructions, test plans, reports or other formal technical documentation.
• Communication and Teamwork: Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively through written documentation, briefings, and technical discussions with coworkers, management and customers. Proven record of working effectively as a team member. Demonstrated ability to seek technical input from experts.
• Education/Experience: Position requires a Master’s Degree in Engineering from an accredited institution and 6 years of related experience; or an equivalent combination of education and experience directly related to the occupation. A Ph.D. may be preferred.

Desired Qualifications

• General knowledge of the engineering authorization system and document management systems.
• Experience with surveillance, reliability, sustainment, aging, qualification, or lifecycle management programs.
• Experience with anomaly resolution, nonconformance evaluation, causal analysis, or risk assessment processes.
• Working experience at one or more of the NNSA design labs or production plants.
• Working experience with classified computing systems and classified documents.

Location

The work location for this position is onsite and located in Los Alamos, NM. All work locations are at the discretion of management.

Position Commitment

Regular appointment employees are required to serve a period of continuous service in their current position in order to be eligible to apply for posted jobs throughout the Laboratory. If an employee has not served the time required, they may only apply for Laboratory jobs with the documented approval of their Division Leader. The position commitment for this position is 1 year.

Benefits

Our generous benefits package includes:

• PPO or high deductible medical insurance with a large nationwide network.
• Dental and vision insurance.
• Free basic life and disability insurance.
• Paid childbirth and parental leave.
• Award‑winning 401(k) (6% matching plus 3.5% annually).
• Learning opportunities and tuition assistance.
• Flexible schedules and time off (PTO and holidays).
• Onsite gyms and wellness programs.
• Extensive relocation packages (outside a 50‑mile radius).

Clearance

Position will be cleared to Q level. Selected applicants must obtain a Q clearance and may require additional authorization to access classified information. U.S. citizenship is required except in limited circumstances.

Drug Test

Successful applicants must complete a new‑employment drug test. A positive test for marijuana will result in termination of employment.

Equal Opportunity

Los Alamos National Laboratory is an equal opportunity employer. All employment practices are based on qualification and merit, without regard to protected categories such as race, color, national origin, ancestry, religion, age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status or spousal affiliation, physical or mental disability, medical conditions, pregnancy, status as a protected veteran, genetic information, or citizenship within the limits imposed by federal, state, and local laws and regulations. The Laboratory is also committed to making our workplace accessible to individuals with disabilities and will provide reasonable accommodations, upon request, for individuals to participate in the application and hiring process.

Federal Eligibility

Citizens of the People's Republic of China (including Hong Kong and Macau), the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), and the Russian Federation who are not lawful permanent residents are prohibited from accessing facilities that support the mission, functions, and operations of national security laboratories and nuclear weapons production facilities, which includes Los Alamos National Laboratory.