Plutonium Metallurgist- Active Clearance Required

LLNL•Livermore, CA

12h•Onsite

About The Position

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is seeking a Metallurgist to lead the planning and execution of projects that enable world-class metallurgy research and development in the Superblock Plutonium Facility. The successful candidate will assess stakeholder needs, apply materials processing and characterization expertise, and define technical requirements for state-of-the-art instrumentation and oversee advanced equipment upgrades. This role will manage recapitalization and renovation projects in plutonium and radiological laboratories, ensuring new capabilities comply with nuclear safety and security requirements, and are delivered on schedule and within budget.

Requirements

Active Department of Energy (DOE) Q-level clearance or active Top Secret clearance issued by another U.S. government agency at the time of hire.
Current Certified or Senior Certified Fissile Material Handler qualification with experience mentoring scientists and engineers in safe nuclear materials operations.
M.S. in Materials Science & Engineering or a closely related discipline and relevant experience working in a DOE Nuclear Facility.
Demonstrated ability to lead teams in the execution of plutonium metallurgy or characterization campaigns, with successes documented in reports and presentations.
Experience shepherding projects successfully through the Nuclear Materials Change Control Process.
Experience developing Work Control Documents for fissile material processing activities in a nuclear facility as a Responsible Individual.
Proficient interpersonal skills necessary to interact with a diverse set of scientists, engineers, and other technical and administrative staff within a collaborative environment.

Responsibilities

Collaborate with subject matter experts in physics, chemistry, and metallurgy to translate requirements into technical specifications for analysis instruments that can be installed and deployed in a Nuclear Facility.
Define and document instrument and equipment specifications to meet programmatic and experimental needs in metallurgy and materials science, ensuring selected technologies meet maintainability, repairability, and reliability requirements.
Determine how plutonium characterization throughput can be increased 4x in 10 years through the use of novel techniques, equipment upgrades, practical applications of automation, optimized glovebox/laboratory design, and other workflow improvements.
Coordinate activities between engineering, operations, maintenance, procurement, and safety teams for programmatic equipment installation projects, ensuring alignment with project schedules and budgets.
Work closely with facility safety disciplines (e.g., fire protection, electrical safety, radiation protection, industrial hygiene) to identify and plan controls for hazards associated with new metallurgical processes and equipment.
Lead at least one major plutonium characterization campaign per year to maintain scientific expertise and remain intimately connected to operational and technical challenges.
Devise solutions to these challenges.
Perform other duties as assigned.