Engineering Technician V - PCS Maintenance; NWS

Job Title:
Engineering Technician V - PCS Operations & Maintenance (NWS 00810)

North Wind Services (NWS), is actively seeking individuals who can contribute to national security within the science, technology, and engineering fields as part of our supplemental labor team at vital federal research and development installations supporting the Department of Energy. NWS has an established history of contributing to the success of their customer's mission. Available employment opportunities may range from administrative and logistical support to advanced technical positions.

Qualified applicants must be a US citizen, at least 18 years of age, and able to meet pre‑employment requirements including any required physicals, drug screen, and/or background investigation to satisfy clearance requirements from the Department of Energy.

Successful candidates will be employees of NWS, a premier government contractor charged with employing highly motivated and well‑qualified personnel who can advance the missions of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, CA. Though employed by NWS, the employee will take day‑to‑day direction from technical personnel employed directly by the research laboratories. Administrative functions such as pay, benefits, Human Resource, and Employment Management are provided by NWS.

This position supports the National Ignition Facility (NIF) which is the world's largest and most energetic laser facility ever built. NIF is also the most precise and reproducible laser as well as the largest optical instrument. The giant laser has nearly 40,000 optics, which precisely guide, reflect, amplify, and focus 192 laser beams onto a fusion target about the size of a pencil eraser.

NIF has an opening for an Engineering Technician V. The NIF laser is the world's most powerful laser system, capable of producing over 2 MJ of optical energy. The successful candidate will operate the Power Conditioning System (PCS) and the Plasma‑Electrode Pockels Cell (PEPC) systems through the high‑level computer control system following detailed procedures. The PCS employs one hundred ninety‑two high voltage (24 KV), high‑energy (1.7 MJ per module) capacitor bank modules used to power the large flash lamps in the NIF solid‑state laser amplifiers.

The PEPC system employs high voltage electronics and sophisticated controls hardware and software to implement an optical switch topology for the 192 beams of the NIF main laser. These systems include: high voltage power supplies, pulsed power hardware and circuits, analog, and digital controls hardware and software, embedded computers and diagnostics. The successful candidate will be expected to operate both systems remotely using Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) and perform site maintenance including electrical distribution, high voltage equipment, digital circuits analog circuits, vacuum controls, compressed air controls and/or major system configurations across multiple engineering disciplines.

Primary interactions will be with the lead operators, shot directors, system managers and electrical engineering support personnel.

NIF is a 24/7 operational facility, and operators typically work a 12‑hour shift to support operations, with the last two hours of each shift being overtime. The dayshift working hours are from 6:30AM‑7:30PM and the owl shift hours are from 6:30PM‑7:30AM. Dayshifts work either Sunday‑Tuesday and ending every other Wednesday, or Thursday to Saturday and starting every other Wednesday. Owl shifts work either Sunday to Tuesday and start every other Saturday night or Wednesday to Friday and end every other Saturday night.

12‑hour shifts are not guaranteed and may change in the future.

The successful candidate will be required to pass various on‑site training modules to pursue work assignments.

• Operate the Power Conditioning System (PCS) and Plasma‑Electrode Pockels Cell (PEPC) using high‑level computer controls to support the world's most powerful laser at the National Ignition Facility.
• Diagnose and resolve issues with high‑voltage modules, analog and digital circuits, and control systems using state‑of‑the‑art diagnostic…