Cleared Test Operations Engineer, Polymers & Composites - Onsite

Sandia National Laboratories is the nation's premier science and engineering lab for national security and technology innovation, with teams of specialists focused on cutting-edge work in a broad array of areas. Some of the main reasons we love our jobs:

• Challenging work with amazing impact that contributes to security, peace, and freedom worldwide
• Extraordinary co-workers
• Some of the best tools, equipment, and research facilities in the world
• Career advancement and enrichment opportunities
• Flexible work arrangements for many positions include 9/80 (work 80 hours every two weeks, with every other Friday off) and 4/10 (work 4 ten-hour days each week) compressed workweeks, part-time work, and telecommuting (a mix of onsite work and working from home)
• Generous vacation, strong medical and other benefits, competitive 401k, learning opportunities, relocation assistance and amenities aimed at creating a solid work/life balance*

World-changing technologies. Life-changing careers. Learn more about Sandia at: http://www.sandia.gov

*These benefits vary by job classification.

We are seeking a Test Operations Engineer to support operations in the Polymers and Composites Department. This role includes the implementation of operational, maintenance, and administrative procedures to support polymers and composites operations. The polymers and composites team consists of permanent R&D technologists and staff with support from interns. We support a wide suite of customers with variable schedules and levels of design maturity. Work includes foam and epoxy encapsulation, electronics underfill and conformal coating, adhesives testing, rapid prototyping, and composite structures creation.

As a Test Operations Engineer, you will have both daily operational and regular customer interfacing responsibilities as well as key safety roles. In the operations role, you will be responsible for the user-interaction for incoming Polymers requests. You will be the primary scheduler and job request point-of-contact. As the initial stakeholder interface, you will work intimately with the Polymers team, with organizational staff, and directly with customers and stakeholders. In the safety operations role, you will have the opportunity to oversee the development of the safety paperwork needed to ensure the safe operations of the entire lab space including operating procedures, pressure safety data packages, work control authorizations, etc. This may include the development of new processes for preventative maintenance. You will also be in a position to create and review process documentation for polymers operations. Here you will work hand in hand with ES&H professionals, key staff, and technologists from the Polymers team.

On any given day you may be called upon to:

Operations Role

• Act as primary scheduler for Polymers operations, working directly with customers, stakeholders, and staff to appropriately prioritize competing demands against Polymers capabilities and resources.
• Interface with the customers to ensure customer expectations are met.
• Maintain relationships with owners and users of other polymers laboratories within the national security enterprise, including KCNSC.
• Maintain data management and lessons-learned for Polymers requests.
• Act as the primary point of contact and scheduler for the local analytical laboratory.
• Serve as a Vault Custodian including managing access lists and maintaining the security requirements.

Safety Role

• Act as Laboratory Owner to include responsibilities related to ensure lab safety is maintained
• Prepare work planning and control documentation, to include failure mode analyses and safety cases, for work being conducted at the Polymers labs.
• Aid in design and development of new polymers preparation and evaluation needs.
• Interface with the customers to ensure customer expectations are met.
• Organize and lead regular clean-up efforts.
• Serve as the point-of-contact within the lab for Hazardous Material Disposal.

Due to the nature of the work, the selected applicant must be able to work onsite.

$87,400 - $168,800

*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.

• A Bachelor's degree in a relevant discipline and 2 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.
• Certified Pressure Safety Installer
• Active DOE Q clearance

• Strong preference for individuals with prior experience with polymer, adhesive, or coating preparation and application.
• Experience with negotiation schedules, deliverables, and deadlines. Familiar with project planning, project management, and activity coordination.
• Certification as a Pressure Safety Advisor.
• Prior experience working with both internal Sandia users and external users.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to work well as part of a team.
• Good time management skills.
• Prior experience supporting a wide range of customers with competing priorities and deadlines
• Prior experience with writing and reviewing safety technical work documents including operating procedures, pressure safety documents, etc.
• Energetic, hard-working person who is excited about problem solving

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.

This posting will be open for application submissions for a minimum of seven (7) calendar days, including the 'posting date'. Sandia reserves the right to extend the posting date at any time.

Position requires a Department of Energy (DOE) Q security clearance to start, or equivalent active security clearance with another U.S. government agency (e.g., DOD). Sandia is required by DOE directive to conduct a pre-employment drug test and background review that includes checks of personal references, credit, law enforcement records, and employment/education verifications. Applicants for employment need to be able to maintain a DOE Q-level security clearance, which requires U.S. citizenship. If you hold more than one citizenship (i.e., of the U.S. and another country), your ability to obtain a security clearance may be impacted.

Applicants offered employment with Sandia are subject to a federal background investigation to meet the requirements for access to classified information or matter if the duties of the position require a DOE security clearance. Substance abuse or illegal drug use, falsification of information, criminal activity, serious misconduct or other indicators of untrustworthiness can cause a clearance to be denied or terminated by DOE, resulting in the inability to perform the duties assigned and subsequent termination of employment.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, or veteran status and any other protected class under state or federal law.

If you have a Medical Portable Electronic Device (MedPED), such as a pacemaker, defibrillator, drug-releasing pump, hearing aids, or diagnostic equipment and other equipment for measuring, monitoring, and recording body functions such as heartbeat and brain waves, if employed by Sandia National Laboratories you may be required to comply with NNSA security requirements for MedPEDs.

If you have a MedPED and you are selected for an on-site interview at Sandia National Laboratories, there may be additional steps necessary to ensure compliance with NNSA security requirements prior to the interview date.