Metals Manufacturing Research Technologist

What You Will Do

The Thermal Mechanical Processing Science Team in the Fabrication Manufacturing Science Group (Sigma-1) is seeking a research technologist to support a wide variety of metals forming and heat treating projects. Our Team works on metals forming and heat treating projects using rolling mills, hydraulic presses, and vacuum heat treating furnaces. We support a wide variety of programs with an emphasis on identifying creative solutions to meet our customer's needs.

Our work is a key step in advancing manufacturing for difficult to process materials from a revolutionary idea to an understood production process.

For this position, you should be able to work effectively on both independent projects and as part of a team to assist on projects in metal forming including developing solid models and drawings using CAD. The role will include hands‑on work including deep drawing, forging, rolling, wire drawing & swaging, and heat treating of metals and alloys. Previous experience in one of the above areas is strongly desired but is not required.

In this position you will help develop new procedures, processes, or specifications to perform work on a variety of tasks and projects and will be expected to work with a minimum amount of supervision. Common tasks for this job include:

• Lead small projects under the supervision of senior technologists or engineers
• Operate metal fabrication equipment including shears, vacuum heat treatment furnace systems, rolling mills, and hydraulic presses
• Create solid models, engineering technical drawings and coordinate associated machining actives
• Document your work and report the results to principal investigators on the Team
• Develop and assemble mechanical systems, test assemblies, and experimental hardware
• Perform routine maintenance of furnaces, vacuum systems, water lines, and hydraulic systems including maintaining supplies for the equipment in these areas
• Hands‑on work in a radiological controlled areas or with hazardous materials

This can be an entry‑level position for recent graduates, to provide hands‑on exposure to multiple projects and provide you with mentorship and project‑management experience, or can be a growth opportunity for established technicians seeking independence on small projects and additional responsibility while working on larger projects.

• Hands on laboratory or shop experience demonstrating an attention to detail and commitment to safety
• Some experience with hands‑on metal forming, heat treating, fabrication, finishing, or characterization technologies
• Experience working with software or analysis packages that could include solid modeling programs (Creo, Solidworks, Catia, etc.), instrumentation and control software (PLC systems, Lab View, etc.), or other process control and instrumentation packages
• Demonstrated experience working independently and as a member of a team
• Working knowledge of Microsoft programs, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. or equivalents
• Demonstrated verbal and written communication skills

• Extensive hands on experience with deep drawing, forging, rolling, wire drawing & swaging, and/or heat treating of metals and alloys and/or other fabrication techniques, or characterization technologies.
• Experience in a manufacturing environment and/or with common fabrication tools (waterjet, lathe, mill, welding, 3D printing/additive manufacturing, etc.)
• Use of common programming languages (R, Python, C++, etc.)
• Demonstrated experience designing and assembling mechanical hardware and applying engineering concepts to mechanical designs.
• Comfort working in Computer Aided Design (CAD) or Finite Element Analysis (FEA) of multicomponent systems

Lifting 30+ pounds, standing, walking, domestic/foreign travel.

The work location for this position is onsite and located in Los Alamos, NM. All work locations are at the discretion of management.

Regular appointment employees are required to serve a period of continuous service in their current position in order to be eligible to apply for posted jobs throughout the Laboratory. If an…