Metallurgy Team Lead; R&D Engineer

Position: Metallurgy Team Lead (R&D Engineer 3/4)
** What You Will Do*
* MST-15 (Plutonium Microstructure and Mechanics) is seeking an experienced R&D Engineer to serve as the Metallurgy Team's Front-Line Manager. The team performs metallographic specimen preparation, microstructural characterization, technical evaluation, and reporting in support of national security programs, including plutonium manufacturing, surveillance, and applied materials research.

In this role, you will provide day-to-day line management and operational leadership for a multidisciplinary team of engineers, scientists, and technicians working in nuclear and laboratory environments. Your primary responsibility will be the performance, development, and well-being of the team and the safe, secure, compliant, and timely execution of its work. You will partner with technical leads, capability leaders, project managers, and program stakeholders so that technical authority and line-management accountability work together effectively.

The successful candidate will set clear expectations, make timely decisions, address performance and conduct issues directly, and build an environment characterized by professional respect, ownership, candid communication, collaboration, and continuous learning. This position requires a leader who is regularly present in the work areas, understands the conditions affecting the work, and helps employees convert problems into practical solutions.

This position will be filled at either the R&D Engineer 3 or R&D Engineer 4 level, depending on the skills and experience of the selected candidate. Additional scope and organizational leadership responsibilities will be assigned at the higher level.

** Key Responsibilities*
* + Provide direct supervision for assigned personnel, including performance management, regular feedback, recognition, career development, and timely resolution of employee concerns.

+ Set and consistently reinforce clear expectations for safety, security, professional conduct, accountability, communication, and teamwork.

+ Ensure personnel are trained, qualified, authorized, and fit for duty; approve time, maintain appropriate staffing coverage, and designate acting leadership during absences.

+ Maintain a visible presence in laboratories and facility work areas, understand the conditions affecting employees, remove or elevate barriers, and exercise pause- or stop-work authority when needed.

+ Serve in assigned nuclear-facility supervisory roles, which may include Operations Responsible Supervisor, Fissile Material Handler supervisor, and Human Reliability Program supervisor, with responsibility for operational control, criticality safety, authorization, and compliance.

+ Recruit, retain, and develop employees and participate as an active member of the MST-15 management team in decisions affecting workforce capability, organizational performance, and future mission needs.

** R&D Engineer 3 ($128,000 - $215,900)*
* At the R&D Engineer 3 level, the successful candidate will:

+ Lead the ongoing activities of the Met team and remain accountable for results in terms of personnel performance, technical quality, cost, schedule, safety, security, and compliance.

+ Evaluate issues of diverse scope, set practical objectives, determine how to use available resources, and make timely decisions that protect both mission delivery and the workforce.

+ Lead cooperative efforts across disciplines and organizations, gain commitment to shared priorities, and resolve conflicts at the working and management levels.

+ Develop and administer team schedules and performance requirements and contribute to budget and staffing plans.

+ Provide credible engineering judgment on materials-characterization work and ensure the team engages the appropriate technical authorities for complex or novel decisions.

** R&D Engineer 4 ($153,600 - $266,500)*
* In addition to the duties outlined at the lower level, the successful candidate will:

+ Provide highly experienced leadership for a broad and technically complex work portfolio with significant programmatic, operational, and organizational consequences.

+ Establish longer-range operational objectives and improvement strategies for the team, anticipate future capability and staffing needs, and integrate those plans with group and program priorities.

+ Lead resolution of sensitive or unforeseen issues that require negotiation, influence, and sound judgment across organizational boundaries and with senior management.

+ Sponsor major improvements to work execution,…