Job Description

Bidder Eligibility:

This postdoctoral position is a temporary position for up to one year, which may be renewed at Sandia\'s discretion up to five additional years. The PhD must have been conferred within five years prior to employment. Individuals in postdoctoral positions may bid on regular Sandia positions as internal candidates, and in some cases may be converted to regular career positions during their term if warranted by ongoing operational needs, continuing availability of funds, and satisfactory job performance.

Employees must remain in their current position for one year before applying for a new position, with the exception of student interns. Application of this requirement will not supersede collective bargaining agreements. See collective bargaining labor agreements for represented bidder eligibility requirements for represented employees.

About Sandia:

Sandia National Laboratories is the nation’s premier science and engineering lab for national security and technology innovation, with teams of specialists focused on cutting-edge work in a broad array of areas. Some of the main reasons we love our jobs:

• Challenging work with amazing impact that contributes to security, peace, and freedom worldwide
• Extraordinary co-workers
• Some of the best tools, equipment, and research facilities in the world
• Career advancement and enrichment opportunities
• Flexible work arrangements for many positions include 9/80 (work 80 hours every two weeks, with every other Friday off) and 4/10 (work 4 ten-hour days each week) compressed workweeks, part-time work, and telecommuting (a mix of onsite work and working from home)
• Generous vacations, strong medical and other benefits, competitive 401k, learning opportunities, relocation assistance and amenities aimed at creating a solid work/life balance*

World-changing technologies. Life-changing careers. Learn more about Sandia at: http://www.sandia.gov*These benefits vary by job classification.

What Your Job Will Be Like:

We are seeking a Postdoctoral Researcher to work with a multi-disciplinary team to develop aero-servo-hydro-elastic (fluid structure interaction) software and conduct related analysis. The work will center around the Offshore/Onshore Wind/Water Energy Simulator (OWENS) open-source software and include adding key physics for new applications, improve the usability and documentation of the software, improve numerical stability and performance, develop automatic gradient safe workflows, and leverage the capabilities to conduct and publish on cutting edge research.

On any given day, you may be called on to:

• Own and execute a computational modeling workflow to answer questions relevant to the wind energy and water power industries
• Work with a dynamic team of researchers and commercial stakeholders to support the rapid development and realization of advanced concepts
• Add, debug, and improve software features spanning aerodynamics, composite structures, structural dynamics, floating dynamics, controls, and numerical methods for both unsteady simulations and gradient based optimization
• Help with or lead proposals and publications on next generation and cutting-edge research

The selected applicant can work a combination of onsite and offsite work. The selected applicant must live within a reasonable distance for commuting to the assigned work location when necessary.

Qualifications We Require:

• Ph.D. in engineering, computer science, or physics
• Demonstrated experience developing software packages

Qualifications We Desire:

• Cover letter demonstrating relevant education, skills, and projects related to this position
• A strong desire and ability to lead multi-disciplinary collaborative cutting-edge research
• Demonstrated proficiency in both physics-based modeling and software development
• Demonstrated package development experience in the Julia programming language and Fortran
• Prior aero-servo-hydro-elastic modeling experience, or experience developing and using a similarly complex multi-disciplinary software
• Practical experience related to electric generators/motors, wings/propellers/turbines, composites, and basic controls
• Ability to efficiently debug across multiple coupled software languages both compiled and interpreted
• Demonstrated experience with best practices for software version control, unit and regression testing, and repository management
• Familiarity with gradient based optimization and propagating analytic gradients
• Ability to visualize complex 3D flow fields and structures to produce publication quality images
• Experience using high performance computing resources and schedulers
• Basic meshing and CFD experience
• Demonstrated ability to balance attention to detail with efficient work completion
• Desire to positively contribute to team culture in and out of the office as appropriate

About Our Team:

The Wind Energy Computational Sciences department performs research and development to improve performance, lower costs, and accelerate the deployment of wind technologies. This department is responsible for instrumentation development, modeling and simulation of wind turbine physics, data analytics, wind turbine grid integration, floating offshore platform design, and circular economy lifecycle analysis.

Posting Duration:

This posting will be open for application submissions for a minimum of seven (7) calendar days, including the ‘posting date’. Sandia reserves the right to extend the posting date at any time.

Security Clearance:

This position does not currently require a Department of Energy (DOE) security clearance.

Sandia will conduct a pre-employment drug test and background review that includes checks of personal references, credit, law enforcement records, and employment/education verifications. Furthermore, employees in New Mexico need to pass a U.S. Air Force background screen for access to Kirtland Air Force Base. Substance abuse or illegal drug use, falsification of information, criminal activity, serious misconduct or other indicators of untrustworthiness can cause access to be denied or terminated, resulting in the inability to perform the duties assigned and subsequent termination of employment.

If hired without a clearance and it subsequently becomes necessary to obtain and maintain one for the position, or you bid on positions that require a clearance, a pre-processing background review may be conducted prior to a required federal background investigation. Applicants for a DOE security clearance need to be U.S. citizens. If you hold more than one citizenship (i.e., of the U.S. and another country), your ability to obtain a security clearance may be impacted.

Members of the workforce (MOWs) hired at Sandia who require uncleared access for greater than 179 days during their employment, are required to go through the Uncleared Personal Identity Verification (UPIV) process. Access includes physical and/or cyber (logical) access, as well as remote access to any NNSA information technology (IT) systems. UPIV requirements are not applicable to individuals who require a DOE personnel security clearance for the performance of their SNL employment or to foreign nationals. The UPIV process will include the completion of a USAccess Enrollment, SF-85 (Questionnaire for Non-Sensitive Positions) and OF-306 (Declaration of for Federal Employment). An unfavorable UPIV determination will result in immediate retrieval of the SNL issued badge, removal of cyber (logical) access and/or removal from SNL subcontract. All MOWs may appeal the unfavorable UPIV determination to DOE/NNSA immediately. If the appeal is unsuccessful, the MOW may try to go through the UPIV process one year after the decision date.

EEO:

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, or veteran status and any other protected class under state or federal law.

NNSA Requirements for MedPEDs:

If you have a Medical Portable Electronic Device (MedPED), such as a pacemaker, defibrillator, drug-releasing pump, hearing aids, or diagnostic equipment and other equipment for measuring, monitoring, and recording body functions such as heartbeat and brain waves, if employed by Sandia National Laboratories you may be required to comply with NNSA security requirements for MedPEDs.

If you have a MedPED and you are selected for an on-site interview at Sandia National Laboratories, there may be additional steps necessary to ensure compliance with NNSA security requirements prior to the interview date.

Job ID: 693907

Job Family: 92

Regular/Temporary Position: T

Full/Part-Time Status: F

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.