What Your Job Will Be Like

We are seeking a Mechanical or Aeronautical Engineer with composites expertise to join our team at either the entry or mid-career level. Our team focuses on the design and manufacturability of composite hardware for a variety of national security applications. The position requires work across Sandia and the broader DOE and DOD complexes to prototype hardware for ground and flight testing, model and simulation validation, and deployment. Applications could include re-entry vehicles, high strength turbine blades, light-weight transportation pieces, or hybrid composite/electrical products. Our responsibilities are primarily R&D but occasionally we are called upon to support fielded hardware in the interest of national security missions. The ideal candidate will have an academic training in the fundamentals of composite materials and hands-on practical experience working with pre-impregnated composite fibers, resin-transfer molding, composite machining, design of and failure analysis of composite structures. Candidates with experience writing proposals, leading teams, publishing and presenting at conferences are strongly encouraged to apply.

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

• Work with partners across Sandia and external agencies to plan and execute on projects related to composite manufacturing
• Use design of experiments (DOE) methodology to evaluate process-structure-property relationships in materials
• Conduct literature surveys to understand the state-of-the-art in unfamiliar fields and learn about new materials or processes with the goal of standing up capabilities beneficial to Sandia missions
• Work directly with other staff and technologists making composite structures, including hands-on work in our lab space
• Design fixtures or tooling needed as part of the composite manufacturing process using CAD software
• Develop composite layup schedules for tooling with complex geometries
• Find and coordinate suppliers and machine shops to procure raw material and to have parts made
• Use finite element methods (or FEA) to analyze composite structures

Due to the nature of this work the selected candidate will need to work onsite.

Salary Range

$117,500 - $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 a DOE Q clearance

Qualifications We Desire

The ideal R&D S&E Mechanical Engineering 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:

• Knowledge of mechanical and materials' properties of polymers, plastics, foams, adhesives commonly used in composite manufacturing
• Experience with production methods used in aerospace/composite manufacturing
• Design and development of fixtures, tooling or structural supports for composites
• Modeling of composite performance, defect characterization and quantification
• Proven track-record publishing in peer-reviewed journals (List of publications should be included in the CV)
• Efficient and amicable communication and organizational skills
• Successful experience working on multiple projects simultaneously
• Instrumentation and data acquisition and processing
• Proficient with CREO and/or Solidworks
• Experience with Composite Finite Element software packages like ANSYS or Abaqus
• Experience with 2D and 3D engineered textile based composite CAD definitions
• Experience with fiber reinforced composite thermal protection systems
• Experience with creating engineering drawings and GD&T

About Our Team

The Polymers and Composites Department develops processes, builds prototypes, and deploys hardware in support of mission activities at Sandia National Laboratories and partners. We specialize in adhesives, encapsulants, foams, paints and coatings, plus carbon fiber and glass-reinforced composite materials. Our team is also responsible for retaining the technical competency for legacy materials used throughout Sandia. Our staff of scientists and engineers work closely with other departments to understand and improve materials found in a myriad of applications and environments. We routinely employ advanced manufacturing techniques to supplement traditional subtractive or machining practices. Our applications include components and widgets deployed in extreme thermal, mechanical or electrical environments. We rely on extensive historical knowledge and experiences to make decisions but push the boundary of possibilities through creative thinking, experimentation, and sound application of the scientific method.

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.