Technical Professional - Better Plants Diagnostic Equipment Program

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The Manufacturing Energy Efficiency Research and Analysis (MEERA) Group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is seeking a Technical Professional to support the U.S. Department of Energy's Better Buildings, Better Plants Program. This position will operate and continuously improve the Better Plants Diagnostic Equipment Program, which provides industry partners with access to energy measurement and diagnostic tools that support energy efficiency, reliability, and competitiveness goals.

The selected candidate will serve as the primary technical and operational point of support for diagnostic equipment requests. The role will combine hands‑on instrumentation, partner-facing technical assistance, inventory and calibration management, equipment readiness, field measurement support, and documentation. The candidate will work closely with ORNL researchers, technical account managers, DOE program staff, energy system experts, and manufacturing partners to help partners collect reliable energy and operational data and apply those data to identify practical improvement opportunities.

Major Duties/Responsibilities:

Program operations and partner support

• Serve as the day‑to‑day coordinator for Better Plants Diagnostic Equipment Program requests, including intake, request clarification, equipment selection, scheduling, shipment, return, closeout, and follow‑up.
• Communicate with Better Plants partners to understand measurement objectives, facility constraints, safety requirements, schedule needs, and required equipment capabilities.
• Support partners in selecting appropriate diagnostic tools for common industrial energy systems, including compressed air, steam, process heating, pumps, fans, motors, refrigeration, HVAC, electrical systems, and water/wastewater systems.
• Develop and maintain user guides, quick‑start instructions, checklists, request forms, frequently asked questions, and other partner‑facing resources that improve safe and effective equipment use.
• Track program activity and prepare periodic summaries of equipment utilization, partner requests, response times, calibration status, lessons learned, and program improvement opportunities.

Engineering measurement and technical assistance

• Provide basic engineering support to partners before, during, and after equipment loans, including measurement planning, instrument setup guidance, data collection approaches, and troubleshooting.
• Help partners define measurement objectives, select measurement points, estimate required measurement duration, identify data quality concerns, and document assumptions and limitations.
• Support development of simple measurement plans, test protocols, and data collection templates for partner use and for ORNL technical assistance activities.
• Review collected data for completeness, reasonableness, and quality; assist with basic data reduction, visualization, and interpretation using Excel and other engineering tools.
• Provide on‑site or virtual support for selected partner measurement activities, in‑plant trainings, energy bootcamps, field validation efforts, and other Better Plants technical assistance activities as needed.

Equipment inventory, calibration, and quality management

• Manage the diagnostic equipment inventory, including asset records, availability, loan status, location, accessories, manuals, firmware/software, replacement parts, and consumables.
• Establish and maintain a calibration and verification schedule for applicable instruments; coordinate calibration services and maintain calibration certificates and records.
• Inspect, test, clean, configure, and package equipment before shipment and after return to ensure instruments are complete, functional, calibrated, and ready for use.
• Troubleshoot equipment issues, coordinate repairs, evaluate replacement needs, and support procurement of new or upgraded diagnostic tools.
• Maintain standard operating procedures for equipment checkout, shipping, return inspection, calibration, damage/loss reporting, data security, and partner support workflows.
• Promote safe equipment…