What You Will Do
This position is open for external candidates only to apply.
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.
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 may 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:
R&D Engineer 3 ($128,000 - $215,900):
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 at lower level: 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. At this level 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
Work 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.
Note to Applicants:
- Please submit a detailed cover letter with your resume addressing all required and desired skills. (Please save cover letter with job number and name).
- Candidates from a variety of technical backgrounds are encouraged to apply. While direct nuclear weapons or stockpile surveillance experience is valuable, we recognize that relevant experience may also come from aerospace, defense, nuclear energy, manufacturing, quality, reliability, systems engineering, test engineering, production support, or other highly regulated technical environments. If you have experience coordinating complex technical work, evaluating data, solving ambiguous engineering problems, and communicating recommendations to stakeholders, we encourage you to describe that experience in your cover letter.
- Applicants must currently hold a Q Clearance with Sigma 15 authorization, or have the ability to obtain a Q clearance and Sigma 15 authorization.
Due to federal restrictions contained in the current National Defense Authorization Act, citizens of the People's Republic of China-including the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau-as well as citizens of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), and the Russian Federation, who are not Lawful Permanent Residents ("green card" holders) 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.
Where You Will Work
Located in beautiful northern New Mexico, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is a multidisciplinary research institution engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security. Our generous benefits package includes:
- PPO or High Deductible medical insurance with the same 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)
Additional Details
Directive 206.2 - Employment with Triad requires a favorable decision by NNSA indicating employee is suitable under NNSA Supplemental Directive 206.2. Please note that this requirement applies only to citizens of the United States. Foreign nationals are subject to a similar requirement under DOE Order 142.3A.
Clearance: Q (Position will be cleared to this level). Selected applicants will be subject to a background investigation conducted by or on behalf of the Federal Government, and must meet eligibility requirements* for access to classified matter. This position requires a Q clearance, and obtaining such clearance requires US Citizenship except in extremely rare circumstances. Dependent upon the position, additional authorization to access classified information may be required, which may or may not be available to dual citizens. Receipt of a Q clearance and additional access authorization ultimately is a decision of the Federal Government and not of Triad.
- Eligibility requirements: To obtain a clearance, an individual must be at least 18 years of age; U.S. citizenship is required except in very limited circumstances. See DOE Order 472.2 for additional information.
New-Employment Drug Test: The Laboratory requires successful applicants to complete a new-employment drug test and maintains a substance abuse policy that includes random drug testing. Although New Mexico and other states have legalized the use of marijuana, use and possession of marijuana remain illegal under federal law. A positive drug test for marijuana will result in termination of employment, even if the use was pre-offer.
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. To request such an accommodation, please send an email to
[email protected] or call (505)-664-6947.
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