Operations Research Engineer

LLNL•Livermore, CA

8d•Onsite

About The Position

Join us and make YOUR mark on the World! Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has turned bold ideas into world-changing impact advancing science and technology to strengthen U.S. security and promote global stability. Our mission spans four critical national security areas nuclear deterrence, threat preparedness, energy security, and multi-domain defense empowering teams to take on the toughest challenges of today and tomorrow. With a culture built on innovation and operational excellence, LLNL is a place where your expertise can make a real impact. We have an opening for an Operations Research Engineer with expertise in energy systems simulation and management, electricity markets, capacity expansion planning, stochastic optimization, interdiction and defender-attacker-defender models and experience integrating different datasets into coherent inputs for optimization models. Initially, you will join ongoing efforts in strategic capacity expansion planning and infrastructure interdiction. You will also support other research and analysis initiatives under investigation by the Department of Energy, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defense and/or other U.S. Government partners. You will work with experienced LLNL scientists and engineers and contribute to new numerical methods and analysis tools that provide insights to inform near and long-term strategy and technology decisions. This position is in the Computational Engineering Division (CED) within the Engineering Directorate. This position will be filled at either level based on knowledge and related experience as assessed by the responsibilities (outlined below) will be assigned if hired at the higher level.

Requirements

Ability to secure and maintain a U.S. DOE Q-level security clearance which requires U.S. citizenship.
Master's degree in physical science, engineering, operations research, economics or a related field, or equivalent combination of education and related experience.
Ability to use and apply of standard technical and/or business principles, theories, concepts, and techniques.
Demonstrated competence in one or more scientific programming languages, such as Python, Julia, C++, R, Matlab, or Rust.
Demonstrated ability to implement mathematical optimization problems using at least one algebraic modeling language, such as Pyomo (preferred), Gurobipy, JuMP, AMPL, GAMS, among others, and use standard solver packages—such as Gurobi, CBC, HiGHS, or Ipopt, among others—to solve them.
Proficient verbal and written communication skills necessary to effectively collaborate in a team environment and present and explain technical information.
Demonstrated ability to process data from multiple sources into coherent datasets.
Familiarity with decomposition techniques in stochastic optimization, such as Benders, ADMM, Progressive Hedging, SDDP.
Ability to effectively manage concurrent technical tasks with competing priorities and meet deadlines that are important to project success.

Nice To Haves

PhD in physical science, engineering, operations research, economics or a related field, or equivalent combination of education and related experience.
Demonstrated ability to design specialized algorithmic approaches for challenging mathematical optimization problems.

Responsibilities

Perform defined work in supporting of development of optimization models for energy networks, including formulation, implementation, solution, analysis and communication.
Support the construction of coherent datasets to feed long-term optimal capacity expansion models of energy systems, including technology costs, geographical characteristics (solar irradiance, wind speeds, wildfire propensity, etc.), regulatory frameworks, human factors, climate and extreme weather events, among others.
Contribute to cross-functional and multi-disciplinary teams to solve technical problems.
Provide solutions to limited-complex problems related to modeling and simulation, or other technical analyses.
Contribute information, fulfillment and findings from studies.
Perform other duties as assigned.
Perform defined work of moderate complexity aiding with contribution to the development of analytical frameworks providing insight to customers on various challenges.
Work under limited direction to design and implement numerical methods, techniques and evaluation criteria while exercising independent judgment.
Explore a variety of approaches within generally established methods.
Make recommends improvements/processes as appropriate.
Contribute to the overall fulfillment of project and organizational goals.