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Senior/Principal R&D Electronics Engineer - National Security Products Center, NM/CA, Onsite

Sandia National Laboratories · Albuquerque, NM, US

Spotted 8h ago

Job details

Pay
$139,900 – $280,600 a year
Work mode
Hybrid
Level
Staff / principal
Education
Bachelor's degree
Posted
Nov 5, 2026
Last confirmed open
Nov 6, 2026
Job description

About this role

About Sandia

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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 vacation, 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

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Our products support national security. Our hardware must work when it matters. Our engineers help deliver high-consequence electrical and electronic systems that provide confidence in some of the nation¿s most important missions.

We are seeking experienced R&D Electronics Engineers to design, develop, qualify, deploy, and sustain advanced electrical and electronic systems for nuclear deterrence programs. This is hands-on, mission-connected engineering across the full product lifecycle¿from early concepts and requirements definition through design, integration, testing, qualification, production support, and fielded-system sustainment.

We are hiring across multiple departments and selected candidates may support a broad range of mission-focused technical areas, including telemetry systems, handling and test gear, gas transfer systems, use-control systems, situational awareness technologies, high-assurance electronic products, embedded digital and analog electronics, experience designing printed wiring boards (PWBs), printed circuit boards (PCBs) and related assemblies, weapon subsystem electronics, test systems, legacy product support, and anomaly resolution.

You will work closely with multidisciplinary teams that may include electrical, mechanical, firmware, software, systems, test, production, quality, and program partners. This role offers the opportunity to build technical depth while seeing your work become real hardware that supports real national security missions.

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

  • Design, analyze, test, and troubleshoot analog, digital, mixed-signal, FPGA, ASIC, microcontroller-based, or embedded electronic systems.
  • Develop schematics, support printed wiring board / printed circuit board layouts, and work with ECAD designers to finalize manufacturable designs.
  • Perform benchtop, system-level, qualification, and environmental testing of electronic assemblies and subsystems.
  • Develop and execute test plans, test procedures, qualification plans, and test reports.
  • Use laboratory equipment such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, spectrum analyzers, network analyzers, function generators, pulse generators, and data acquisition systems.
  • Conduct modeling, simulation, and analysis to validate electrical designs and support technical decisions.
  • Develop or support test equipment, automated test capability, portable testers, or data acquisition subsystems.
  • Define, verify, and document electrical interface requirements with systems, mechanical, firmware, and test teams.
  • Support product realization activities, including design reviews, peer reviews, documentation, configuration management, procurement, vendor coordination, and manufacturability planning.
  • Troubleshoot hardware issues discovered during development, qualification, production, or fielded-system support.
  • Support anomaly resolution, failure investigations, unsatisfactory reports, significant finding investigations, or stockpile / legacy product assessment activities.
  • Mentor junior engineers, contribute to technical decision-making, and communicate results to technical and programmatic stakeholders.

In this role, you will help transform ideas into reliable products, support technologies that operate in demanding environments, and contribute to systems central to national security.

Due to the nature of the work, selected applicants must be able to work onsite 100% of the time. We are primarily hiring for positions located in Livermore, CA, with a limited number of select opportunities available in Albuquerque, NM.

Applicants on this requisition may be interviewed by multiple organizations at Sandia National Laboratories.

The position requires an ability to travel (typically less than 25%) to support the mission.

Salary Range

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$139,900 - $280,600

  • Salary range is estimated, and actual salary will be determined after consideration of the selected candidate's experience and qualifications, and application of any approved geographic salary differential.

Qualifications

We Require

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  • A Bachelor's degree in a relevant discipline and five (5) years of directly relevant experience, or an equivalent combination of directly relevant education and engineering or scientific experience that demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and ability to perform independent research and development.
  • Ability to obtain and maintain a DOE Q-level security clearance.

Qualifications

We Desire

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The ideal R&D S&E Electronics Engineer candidate for Sandia National Laboratories will in addition possess the following:

  • Graduate degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a highly related field where an independent research project was a graduation requirement (e.g., independent project, thesis, or dissertation).
  • Demonstrated experience with analog and digital circuit design and analysis.
  • Hands-on experience testing and de-bugging circuitry, with clear mastery of tools such as oscilloscopes, logic/network/spectrum analyzers, function/pulse generators, etc.
  • Proven experience with design and analysis tools (e.g., Matlab and LabVIEW), analog simulation codes (e.g., LTSpice), and HDL simulation codes (e.g.,ModelSim).
  • Strong verbal and written communication skills, ability to work effectively in multidisciplinary teams.

Also, for this posting we are seeking individuals with the following experience:

  • Analog, digital, or mixed-signal circuit design and analysis.
  • Design, develop, and test electronic printed wiring boards (PWBs), printed circuit boards (PCBs), and printed wiring assemblies (PWAs).
  • Electrical test planning, execution, troubleshooting, or qualification.
  • Experience with product realization, high-assurance electronics, nuclear deterrence systems, telemetry systems, use control systems, or other mission-critical electronic systems.
  • Design, develop, and support embedded electronic systems and subsystem integration involving FPGAs, ASICs, microcontrollers, memory, peripherals, firmware interfaces, and communications interfaces.
  • Familiarity with ECAD and electrical design tools such as Mentor Graphics / Siemens EDA, Altium Designer, OrCAD, Cadence, HyperLynx, or similar tools.
  • Experience with modeling, simulation, and analysis tools such as MATLAB, LabVIEW, LTspice, PSpice, ModelSim, or similar environments.
  • Experience with HDL or software languages such as VHDL, Verilog, C, C++, Python, or scripting languages used for test automation.
  • Experience developing test equipment, test fixtures, portable testers, or data acquisition systems.
  • Conduct laboratory testing and debugging of electrical and electronic hardware, including benchtop, automated, environmental, functional, qualification, and assembly-level testing.
  • Experience with design for manufacturability, production processes, vendor coordination, procurement support, or fabrication of electronic assemblies.
  • Experience with quality management systems, configuration management, requirements management, or formal design documentation.
  • Experience with failure analysis, anomaly resolution, unsatisfactory reports, significant finding investigations, or support of fielded/legacy systems.
  • Experience with statistical analysis or data aggregation tools such as JMP, MATLAB, Python, or similar tools.
  • Familiarity with electromagnetic compatibility, signal integrity, power integrity, reliability, environmental effects, materials aging, or chemical compatibility considerations.
  • Active DOE Q-level clearance, DOE L-level clearance, or other transferable U.S. Government security clearance.
  • Demonstrated technical leadership, mentoring, planning, coordination, or project execution experience.
  • Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to communicate technical information clearly to diverse audiences.

About Our Team

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The California National Security Products Center provides design engineering, qualification, product realization, sustainment, and advanced development for a suite of national security products including Nuclear Deterrence. Our work supports the Laboratories¿ purpose of developing advanced technologies to ensure global peace.

The Center¿s portfolio includes the following systems:

  • Telemetry systems for Joint Test Assemblies (JTAs).
  • Handling gear used for weapon operations.
  • Gas transfer systems (GTS) for CA weapons.
  • A variety of use-control subsystems.
  • Situational Awareness for National Security.

The Center¿s work is enabled by partnerships with organizations throughout Sandia and the Nuclear Security Enterprise, especially those that provide a deep scientific understanding of weapon system performance throughout the lifecycle.

Posting Duration

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This posting will be open for application submissions for a minimum of three (3) calendar days, including the 'posting date'. Sandia reserves the right to extend the posting date at any time.

Security Clearance

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Sandia is required by DOE to conduct a pre-employment drug test and background review that includes checks of personal references, credit, law enforcement records, and employment/education verifications. Applicants for employment need to be able to obtain and maintain a DOE Q-level security clearance, which requires U.S. citizenship.

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.

Applicants offered employment with Sandia are subject to a federal background investigation to meet the requirements for access to classified information or matter if the duties of the position require a DOE security clearance.

Substance abuse or illegal drug use, falsification of information, criminal activity, serious misconduct or other indicators of untrustworthiness can cause a clearance to be denied or terminated by DOE, resulting in the inability to perform the duties assigned and subsequent termination of employment.

EEO

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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

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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.

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