Senior​/Principal R&D Systems Engineer - Special Programs, Onsite

About Sandia

Sandia National Laboratories is a premier science and engineering laboratory for national security and technology innovation.

Our teams have access to world‑class tools, equipment, and research facilities.

• Flexible work arrangements, including 9/80, 4/10, part‑time, and telecommuting options.
• Generous vacation, strong medical and other benefits, competitive 401k, learning opportunities, relocation assistance, and amenities to support a healthy work/life balance.

We seek mission‑focused individuals who can identify the key technical characteristics that drive system performance and mission impact, and who are committed to rigorous design, testing, integration, and implementation. The ideal candidate values precision, technical excellence, and meaningful behind‑the‑scenes contributions to critical sponsor missions.

• Develop mission‑supporting tactics, techniques and procedures.
• Utilize creativity and technical expertise to drive an idea from concept to operational capability, including creation of requirements, cost estimates, schedules, project plans, development, implementation, and testing.
• Lead and collaborate with multi‑disciplinary teams—information technology, software development, and other technical disciplines—to influence development and meet project requirements.
• Drive requirements and methodology for software testing and improve automated testing capabilities.
• Partner with other project groups to improve and develop collaborations and capabilities that create efficiencies and guide future projects.
• Analyze complex data sets, creating elegant representations of the data to evaluate system performance.

Work onsite 100% of the time at the Livermore, CA facility. Occasional travel may be required.

Applicants may be interviewed by multiple organizations at Sandia National Laboratories.

$139,900 – $280,600

• A Bachelor’s degree in a relevant discipline and five (5) years of directly relevant experience, or an equivalent combination of education and engineering or scientific experience demonstrating the knowledge, skills, and ability to perform independent research and development.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a Q‑level security clearance with SCI.

• Graduate degree in Engineering or a highly related field where an independent research project was a graduation requirement (e.g., independent project, thesis, or dissertation).
• Experience working with Nuclear Security Enterprise (NSE) laboratories and plants, including Pantex, Kansas City National Security Campus (KCNSC), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Kansas City National Security Campus/New Mexico Operations (KCNSC/NMO).
• Experience working on engineering design, qualification, production, or related modeling/simulation projects.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills; ability to work effectively in multidisciplinary teams.
• Active DOE Q or SCI level security clearance.
• Background in IT systems, across multiple classifications, used by the USG.
• Experience working with the DoW.
• Strong leadership, delegation, teamwork, negotiation, conflict resolution, and coaching/mentoring skills.
• Experience with architecting IT systems and experience with data processing/analysis.
• Expertise in one or more of the following areas: project management, developing requirements and concepts of operation, performing trade studies, generating technical documentation, leading system design activities, developing and testing prototype systems, overseeing operational activities creating Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTPs), qualifying systems, assessing system reliability and performance, operationally fielding and supporting capabilities, software quality assurance or system testing.
• Experience realizing products and leading teams.

The Special Programs Organization develops high‑impact and high‑consequence national security projects supporting a broad range of U.S. government sponsors. Projects revolve around CONOPS creation, traditional systems engineering, and development of…