What Your Job Will Be Like

Sandia's Lethality and Threat Department, Organization 5477, is seeking an experienced R&D Analyst and Program Lead to support DOE and DoD national security programs through physics-based analysis, modeling and simulation, test interpretation, and threat engineering activities. In this role, you will provide technical and programmatic leadership for efforts involving shock physics, hydro-structural interactions, high-rate structural response, and lethality/vulnerability assessments.

The selected candidate will work with multidisciplinary teams to define technical approaches, lead modeling and simulation efforts, plan and interpret tests, evaluate computational and experimental results, and communicate findings to project teams, customers, and program leadership. This role is well suited for someone with strong technical judgment, experience leading complex analysis efforts, and interest in mentoring others while advancing physics-based analysis, computational simulation, and national security mission objectives.

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

• Lead technical analyses in areas such as shock physics, hydro-structural interactions, high-rate structural mechanics, and lethality/vulnerability evaluations.
• Provide subject matter expertise and technical direction for modeling, simulation, test, and analysis activities supporting national defense needs.
• Develop and implement scientific and engineering approaches using shock physics, hydrocodes, finite element, or engineering-level assessment tools.
• Guide the development of scripts, workflows, and post-processing methods to evaluate and visualize computational or experimental results.
• Lead or coordinate multidisciplinary teams involving experimental, computational, and programmatic partners to assess system performance and technical risks.
• Provide programmatic and technical leadership, including support for cost, schedule, deliverables, and direct customer interactions.
• Lead the development of briefings, reports, technical recommendations, and decision-support materials for internal teams, external customers, and program leadership.
• Shape threat engineering activities, including the development and evaluation of technical information used to understand current and emerging threats.
• Mentor early-career staff and help develop departmental capabilities in modeling, simulation, testing, threat engineering, and lethality/vulnerability assessment

*Due to the nature of the work, the selected applicant must be able 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.
• The ability to obtain and maintain a DOE Q-level security clearance.

Qualifications We Desire

The ideal R&D S&E Mechanical Engineer 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:

• Experience using physics-based computational tools such as hydrocodes, finite element analysis codes, or coupled hydro-structural analysis tools, including CTH, PRESTO, ZAPOTEC, or comparable codes, and experience running analyses on large-scale parallel computing platforms.
• Experience planning, leading, and delivering technical products with multidisciplinary teams, including coordinating contributors, managing cost and schedule, tracking deliverables, and working directly with customers.
• Experience developing analysis workflows, code capabilities, or post-processing tools using MATLAB, Fortran, Python, or similar programming languages.
• Experience with engineering-level lethality, vulnerability, or weaponeering tools such as AFTES, BALAGAN, AJEM, ETB, or JTCG/ME products.
• Experience with kinetic warhead concepts, nuclear weapon systems, conventional munitions, penetrators, high explosives, submunitions, reentry vehicle structures/materials, or weapon effects.
• Experience planning, supporting, or interpreting experimental tests used to validate computational models or assess system performance.
• Experience working with DOE, DoD, or other national security sponsors to define technical needs, communicate results, and deliver project outcomes.
• Familiarity with the Missile Defense Agency or the Missile Defense System.
• Experience or interest in threat engineering, including developing threat characterization packages for current and emerging threat systems; experience with computer-aided design/drafting tools would be beneficial.
• Experience applying machine learning, AI tools, or data-driven methods to national security analysis problems.
• An active DOE Q-level security clearance, or an equivalent active security clearance such as DoD Top Secret.

About Our Team

Our department provides technical and programmatic leadership in lethality, vulnerability, and threat assessment for national security missions. The department supports the Missile Defense Agency and other DOE and DoD customers by delivering technically defensible, decision-quality analyses for defensive and offensive applications, from endgame lethality through post-intercept outcomes.

Our work focuses on extreme engagement environments, including hypervelocity kinetic impacts, high-explosive shock loading, nuclear blast loading, and high-rate structural response. We use Sandia's capabilities in shock physics, advanced solid mechanics, coupled hydro-structural analysis, high-fidelity simulation, and engineering-level assessment tools to evaluate weapon effectiveness, target response, survivability, and lethality/vulnerability criteria. Our work brings together analysts, modelers, experimentalists, systems engineers, and program leads to solve technically challenging problems with direct national security impact.

The department also supports threat engineering efforts by integrating expertise across Sandia, the Intelligence Community, and mission partners to develop comprehensive threat packages for current and emerging threats. These efforts may include computer-aided design/drafting, aero-thermal analysis, trajectory analysis, uncertainty characterization, and other specialized technical areas needed to support robust lethality and threat assessments.

Through this work, our team helps customers and decision-makers better understand current and emerging threats, characterize and bound uncertainty, and make informed decisions about weapon effectiveness, target response, and survivability across a broad range of engagement scenarios.

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.