Electrical Mechanical Engineer; R&D Engineer

What You Will Do

The Nuclear Materials Science Group (MST‑16) is seeking a highly motivated Electrical or Mechanical R&D Engineer (R&D Engineer 1/2) to support the 40mm Impact Test Facility. This role centers on implementing and optimizing diagnostics systems for velocity measurement of materials subjected to shock events. You will work in multidisciplinary teams alongside technicians, scientists, and engineers to maintain, upgrade, and lead impact test operations in secure nuclear facilities.

MST‑16 supports national security missions through engineering innovation, system development, and materials testing in support of Pit Surveillance, Plutonium Modernization, and other core programs.

The successful candidate will work with high-performance oscilloscopes and PDV diagnostics fibers, VISAR, and lasers. This includes installation, maintenance, troubleshooting, and upgrades for dynamic experiments in plutonium environments. Key responsibilities include developing engineering solutions for mechanical and electronic systems integration, controlling experimental conditions, managing instrumentation and data acquisition, and supporting the safe and efficient execution of tests. The selected candidate will ensure alignment with facility infrastructure and compliance with safety requirements, including the Design Safety Analysis (DSA).

A major focus will be on modernizing system components, control systems, and data acquisition capabilities to enhance performance and reliability. This role requires close collaboration with scientists and subject matter experts (SMEs) for dynamic experimentation to enable broader experimental efforts. The selected candidate will also contribute to technical documentation, system readiness, and milestone execution across programmatic and R&D activities.

This position will be filled at either the R&D Engineer 1 or R&D Engineer 2 level, depending on the skills of the selected candidate. Additional job responsibilities (outlined below) will be assigned if the candidate is hired at the higher level.

The successful candidate will:

• Assist in the research, design, testing, analysis, verification, and validation of engineering and technology solutions to support programmatic work.
• Assist in the development of new methods, techniques, or approaches to address critical technical problems.
• Contribute to the completion of milestones associated with specific projects and directly contribute to the achievement of programmatic objectives.
• Take responsibility for understanding tasks and own contributions to deliverables, set direction and goals for assigned tasks, and manage their own assignments.
• Continuously develop technical expertise and knowledge within the discipline and acquire new skills in related disciplines.
• Potentially contribute to the development of technical products such as journal papers and reports.
• Assure safety and security compliance, maintain required training, and integrate safety and security into every task, including stopping work if it is unsafe or compromises security.
• May receive general instructions and technical guidance, with objectives defined and both in-process work and results subject to supervisory review and may direct the work of junior staff.

In addition to the duties outlined at the lower level, the successful candidate will:

• Develop new methods or techniques, using creativity in applying standard practices and procedures, which lead to new or improved capabilities.
• Contribute to the development of technical products such as journal papers, reports, and intellectual property.
• Set direction and goals for well-defined tasks involving more than one person, scope tasks within a project, and lead specific project tasks to meet scope, schedule and budget.
• Develop mentoring skills to guide junior staff and peers in technical and professional growth.
• Receive occasional oversight on specific objectives and complex problems, with completed work subject to supervisory review, and provide technical coordination and guidance to junior staff and peers as needed.