Power Systems Electrical Engineer; R&D Engineer

What You Will Do

The Technology Applications Group (A-3) is searching for a technical leader who wants to positively impact on national security. The group has a reconfigurable micro-grid that is being leveraged for a variety of work, and needs a power systems engineer to design experiments, manage operations on the microgrid, validate experiments designed by other scientist/engineers for safety and relevance, and lead program development efforts.

The ideal R&D Engineer or Scientist will have a broad experience/knowledge base across power generation, transmission, and distribution. They will also have experience with applied experimentation and deep expertise in one or many areas of power systems. Research will be conducted up to the Q and SCI levels within the Group, which consists of approximately 40 full-time staff from various educational backgrounds including electrical and mechanical engineers, designers, technicians, technologies, physicists, and students.

This staff member will be expected to work across the breadth of Laboratory resources and expertise to most effectively execute on mission.

This position requires an experienced engineer who is capable of independently executing on projects or leading a team to advance work associated with the microgrid and/or other relevant areas for the group. The candidate must possess expertise in power generation, transmission, or distribution, and have excellent communication skills interacting across all levels of staff. They must also be interested in program development.

In addition to level-3 requirements, the R&D Engineer 4 will independently develop and direct projects, build teams across the group or laboratory while providing technical guidance to other engineers and technicians, and communicate at the highest levels with sponsor organizations and internal to LANL. They must also have demonstrated experience securing funding through a proposal process.

• Familiarity with Utility and Facility power infrastructure
• Knowledge of medium and high voltage distribution and monitoring equipment (SCADA, networking, load balancing)
• Ability to design experimental setups for real world application of theoretical ideas
• Experience working in a lab environment (knows what a screwdriver is, not just CAD)

• Extensive knowledge of Utility and Facility power infrastructure
• Independent planning and execution of experimental goals
• Broad knowledge of power electronics including solid state inverters, battery backup arrays, solar conversion systems, and power monitoring equipment
• Advanced experience in leadership as demonstrated through the proven ability to develop proposals and reports of major importance, by prioritizing and tracking cross-functional progress, and through frequent interactions with sponsors while serving as a role model for effective and creative technical leadership

Position requires a Master's Degree in Engineering from an accredited institution and 6 years of related experience; or, an equivalent combination of education and experience directly related to the occupation. At this level a Ph.D. may be preferred.

Position requires a Master's Degree in Engineering from an accredited institution and 12 years of related experience; or, an equivalent combination of education and experience directly related to the occupation. At this level a Ph.D. may be preferred.

• Experience with the following:
• Design, synthesis, routing, simulation, testing, and technical documentation of digital circuits and digital communication systems/digital signal processing
• Debugging & troubleshooting circuits/prototypes, including fault analysis
• Complex network interfacing and design
• Field collection, signal processing, and data analysis for RF measurements from kHz to GHz
• High voltage AC and DC practical application
• Demonstrated ability to develop and implement advance algorithms enabling real-time analysis and response to…