staff engineer

staff scientist

scientist

research associate

software engineer

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

The experience here depends on the division and directorate you're hired into.

Technical growth is heavily project dependent, and most of the time we feel more like a job shop employee rather than a developing engineer. Winning project proposals bring in the resources/charge codes/work, but with a limited pool this can create internal conflicts and non-collaborative environments.

Most of management seems to have been selected/promoted based on technical skills over actual management capability. This can create teams of inefficient managers trying to manage efficient team members, killing morale and productivity.

The work load is great. There are moments where deadlines are critical, and the completion of tasks make you feel valuable and accomplished. Then there are moments of slow work, where the freedom allows you to research and explore ideas. However, and this is a BIG however, being able to implement those ideas is difficult if there is no funding source and if the work may "infringe" upon another person's/team's historical domain.

Overall this place feels great for a new engineer to be exposed to engineering designs (albeit not cutting edge) that support scientific research (which is cutting edge), or a more senior engineer looking for a laid-back role. I do not recommend this place for an engineer who is in the middle of their career focused on learning, collaborating, designing, and producing at a predictable, non-stop pace.

I was only at SLAC for a temporary position as a visiting scientist/student, so I did not have (or care for) a lot of the long-term benefits (I already had health/dental/vision so I did not explore Stanford's offerings, and other benefits only set in after 6 months or a year), but SLAC/Stanford offers a lot of good benefits. After 5 years they offer hefty grants towards your children's college educations. They subsidize public transport. They offer funds (called STAP funds) so you can take classes to help you with your job or help you with your life (like nutrition classes or meditation or a class on using software of a class on management).
There is a large emphasis on work-life balance, and Stanford gives you money for doing things like getting a health check-up, and they offer subsidized workout classes. At SLAC most people seemed to set their own schedule, and they are very understanding of needing to work from home if you need to. Everyone seemed fairly relaxed and happy. I did not keep tabs, but it seemed the place was mostly empty before 8 or after 6. 
The one major issue with working there is the housing situation. The Bay Area is expensive, and even though you'll get paid well, you probably won't be able to afford a house nearby. Also Stanford seems to offer better housing benefits (loans) to faculty but not to the SLAC staff. Hopefully this can change!

SLAC is a wonderful place to work.  SLAC is a DOE laboratory operated by Stanford University, meaning employees get the perks of being Stanford staff and can also enjoy being part of the global accelerator community.  

Employees generally stay around for many years, even decades, since they love the work, publishing papers, and attending international conferences.  Operating an accelerator 24-7 creates a job culture where people want to work long hours and often don't notice they're working late when they're working together to setup the beam for an experiment.

However, affordable housing and childcare is difficult to find in the area, pushing more young families to commute long distances or move on to other laboratories.  The waiting lists for infant care often exceeds a year and long commutes put a substantial strain on the work-life balance.

The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory conducts cutting-edge research into particle accelerator design, X-ray radiation production (synchrotron and free-electron laser) and usage.  The laboratory also participates in other types of projects like the LSST camera which is being installed on a mountain top in Chile.  The work environment is generally laid-back so that work/life balance is not a problem.  Occasionally though, work does need to proceed at a faster pace to meet deadlines.  Management competence is okay, but not excellent.  The hardest part of the job was keeping up with all the safety guidelines and other types of training.  The most interesting part of the job was working with the wide selection of materials and parts designs that they use.  

I enjoyed working at the SLAC laboratory at Stanford University, both at a personal and at a professional level. I was member of a large international particle physics experiment with many participating institutions from around the world and of which SLAC has taken on a leading role. At SLAC I worked on the design and development of data acquisition system, which required a thorough knowledge of the the many subsystems of the detector. I wrote the code in C++ on a linux platform and used python for testing purposes. I profited immensely from the knowledge and experience and team-oriented spirit at SLAC to make fast progress and deliver time-critical projects. I enjoyed being part of a team but also having the freedom to choose my own projects.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The people I worked with, the environment and being apart all the amazing projects that went on .

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Getting the layoff notice after just starting to understand all the going's on and safety protocols in the different sectors.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
It is a team environment, all projects or travel through the pep ring or linear accelerator require 2 people minimum for safety reasons. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Meet up with your team in the morning, go over safety protocols, receive instructions for all new projects, get shuttled to the site daily until project is completed.

It is a good environment to come to work everyday. I've learned new things which the physicists had discovered during their experiences such as new atoms. My co-workers are very friendly. We have  gone out for lunch and talked about our social life. We have had a big gym in the lab. We can sign up for exercise classes or do on our own time during break, lunch, or after work. The hard part of the job is the funding from the government. If the DOE will not give us enough funding there will be some laid off. Over all, it is a nice place to work.

Work with very creative and intelligent persons in my team.
High performance team that has a good work-life balance.

Very good Stanford benefits such as a free gym onsite, incentives to participate in BeWell Program for physical and mental wellness.

Opportunity to take courses/training for professional development.

There are stems being taken to improve DEI.
A new DEI office has been formed and staffed.


What is the best part of working at the company?
Interesting and challenging work

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Lack of transparency in decision making

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Great personalities..Some of them talk too loud and it prevents concentration while thinking

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Couple meetings a day, other time is devoted to calculations, drawing, modeling

A very cool place to work around cool, intelligent people, but your day-to-day work and satisfaction relies heavily on your team and your boss. Culture is very inclusive and diverse. On-site perks are variable (gym can sometimes be closed randomly, gates can go down, on-site cafeteria is terrible).

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Staff engineer 3 salaries reported	$161,500 per year
Staff scientist 3 salaries reported	$157,000 per year
Scientist 5 salaries reported	$99,800 per year
Research associate 3 salaries reported	$82,000 per year
Software engineer 8 salaries reported	$132,375 per year

Working at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory: Company Overview and Reviews

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory Ratings

Popular jobs at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected