Senior​/Principal R&D Mechanical Engineer - Nuclear Safety Assurance, Onsite

Location:

Albuquerque, NM

Job Type: Full‑Time, Regular

Join our dynamic team as an R&D Mechanical Engineer, where your expertise will play a crucial role in shaping the future of nuclear weapon safety and security. In this role, you will be at the forefront of innovative engineering solutions, collaborating with a talented group of professionals dedicated to ensuring the safety of critical systems.

You will have the opportunity to guide complex nuclear safety decisions across the lifecycle phases of nuclear weapon systems and components, assuring high confidence in nuclear safety implementation through engineering analyses, design of experiments, modeling and simulation.

• Use engineering analysis tools to evaluate safety margins and support the development and qualification of components or systems to assure nuclear safety.
• Analyze the capability of components and systems to meet nuclear safety requirements, particularly their ability to withstand stress from conditions such as temperature, load, motion, shock, and vibration, pressure, and humidity.
• Engage with engineering drawings and CAD tools such as CREO/Solid Works and PDMLink to support design and analysis efforts.
• Develop expertise in the design and functionality of safety‑critical components and systems such as strong links, LACs, and firing subsystems, to fully evaluate component performance across normal and abnormal environments.
• Utilize your expertise to identify safety‑critical features and ensure that designs meet assured safety standards.
• Collaborate with and serve as a liaison to Advanced and Exploratory (A&E) concepts teams and new weapon programs.
• Write nuclear safety specifications and prepare documentation for requirements outlined in various RPPs (Realized Product Procedures), which are essential for the weapon realization life cycle.
• Partner with subject matter experts to create the technical basis from analyses and test data to assure safety‑critical components meet requirements for their intended environments.
• Work closely with the nuclear safety system lead, design and production teams, and other key partners across the Nuclear Security Enterprise (e.g., Kansas City NSC, Pantex) to develop solutions for a wide range of technical challenges.
• Help develop nuclear safety fault trees for components and systems, applying research to the design, development, analysis, and testing of mechanical, electromechanical, and piezoelectric systems.

$117,500 – $235,700

* Salary range is estimated; 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 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 and maintain a DOE Q clearance.

The ideal R&D 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 knowledge, skills, and experience:

• Proven ability to navigate ambiguous problems and situations, demonstrating resourcefulness in solving deeply complex technical challenges.
• Experience in weapon design, testing, simulation, and/or production, particularly with respect to nuclear safety, along with familiarity with nuclear weapon design and development processes.
• Knowledge of hazard, safety, and failure analysis techniques, such as fault tree analysis and failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA).
• Strong…