Principal Optical Engineer

Mission Support and Test Services, LLC (MSTS) manages and operates the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) for the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).  Our MISSION is to help ensure the security of the United States and its allies by providing high-hazard experimentation and incident response capabilities through operations, engineering, education, field, and integration services and by acting as environmental stewards to the Site’s Cold War legacy.  Our VISION is to be the user site of choice for large-scale, high-hazard, national security experimentation, with premier facilities and capabilities below ground, on the ground, and in the air. (See NNSS.gov for our unique capabilities.) Our 2,750+ professional, craft, and support employees are called upon to innovate, collaborate, and deliver on some of the more difficult nuclear security challenges facing the world today.   

• MSTS offers our full-time employees highly competitive salaries and benefits packages including medical, dental, and vision; both a pension and a 401k; paid time off and 96 hours of paid holidays; relocation (if located more than 75 miles from work location); tuition assistance and reimbursement; and more.  
• MSTS is a limited liability company consisting of Honeywell International Inc. (Honeywell), Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (Jacobs), and HII Nuclear Inc.

The Stockpile Experimentation and Operations, Technology and Operations (SEO T&O) Directorate is seeking a highly motivated individual with a strong work ethic and willingness to learn to join the Radiography and Imaging Systems Team within the Dynamic Instruments Section of SEO T&O. Dynamic Instruments is comprised of approximately 35 scientists, engineers, and technicians, and is the core for innovative diagnostic design, simulation, fabrication, characterization, and fielding in support of the NNSS’ stockpile stewardship mission. 

The Radiography and Imaging Systems Team is specifically responsible for providing novel optical designs based on scientific requirements, making improvements/adjustments to current optical designs, diagnostic development for both visible and radiographic imaging, developing and characterizing all parts of the imaging chain, and participating in fielding efforts for stockpile stewardship experiments and other applications across the NNSA complex.

We are seeking to hire an established principal engineer who would strengthen NNSS leadership in all aspects of optical design and optical engineering in our Nevada National Security Sites (NNSS) Los Alamos Office, located in Los Alamos, NM. 

The successful applicant will work as part of a small team designing, assembling, testing and characterizing, and providing fielding support on complex optical diagnostic systems for a wide variety of scientific experiments conducted at locations within the NNSS complex and national laboratory facilities. The successful candidate will employ broad knowledge and expertise in areas of optical design, optical testing and alignment, optical layout, optical metrology, stray light evaluation, detailed tolerance analysis, Monte Carlo analysis, hands on optical laboratory expertise, and a systems level approach to design projects. They will support diagnostic development capabilities in areas as diverse as high-speed imaging, high power laser relay systems, optical velocimetry, holography, and spectroscopy.

The successful applicant will work in close collaboration with scientists, engineers, and technicians across disciplines, organizations, and geographic locations to develop innovative solutions to customer needs; they will be expected to work well in a dynamic and interdisciplinary team framework. This individual will work to translate science and physics needs into engineering requirements, create optical diagnostic systems to meet these requirements, test-built systems to ensure the diagnostic requirements are met, and field the completed diagnostic systems. 

Key Responsibilities

• Devises integrated solutions to the most complex technical problems of broad scope.
• Serves as Technical Lead for major projects and startups. Initiates collaboration with partners external to the NNSS. Leads collaboration to achieve mission execution.
• Develops new initiatives for additional scopes of work.
• Serves as an advisor to other personnel and management on difficult and critical technical issues.
• Provides guidance to project management regarding strategic development opportunities using NNSS technologies and capabilities.
• Encourages development of intellectual property and publishing in established journals.
• Mentors scientist and engineering staff and technical management in methods, processes, and best practices.
• Participates in business development by defining customer needs, developing proposals, and plannin