Principal Scientist

Job Description

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.

Responsiblities

Key Responsibilities

The Remote Sensing Laboratory – located at Joint Base Andrews outside of Washington, DC – is searching for an enthusiastic and energetic individual looking to join our dynamic emergency response organization that is responsible for supporting several national-level radiological and nuclear emergency response assets. The selected candidate will be expected to:

• Collect and analyze radiological data from a variety of platforms and advise public safety officials on the consequences of a radiological incident.
• Utilize specialized tools and applications to calculate potential impacts to the public, workers, and the environment to support radiological emergencies.
• Attain and maintain qualification as an emergency responder.
• Serve rotating, on-call duty for approximately a third of the year, typically in one-week increments.
• Ability to deploy worldwide for exercises and responses, with as little as two-hour notice when on call.
• Maintain training and ensure job-specific qualifications remain current; as well as attend onsite and off-site training as necessary to maintain competency.
• Assist in the development of company and emergency response guidelines, manuals, procedures, etc.
• Develop and implement corrective actions and lessons learned.
• Develop training materials and train emergency responders accordingly across the DOE community.
• Assist with the preparation of technical reports and recommendations.
• Organize, evaluate, and interpret data by comparison against standards and guidelines.
• Plan and conduct work requiring judgment in the evaluation, selection, application, adaptation, and modification of standard techniques, guidelines, procedures, and criteria.
• Maintain the ability to present analysis results to a technical or non-technical audience.
• Conduct testing and evaluation of radiation detection equipment and acquisition/analysis software.
• Provide expertise, feedback, and input into the development of improved radiation detection systems and analysis algorithms.
• Provide scientific guidance on projects involving an interdisciplinary team of engineers, software developers, scientists, and technicians.
• Operate radiation detection equipment in field operations.
• Maintain subject matter expertise and proficiency on detection equipment to instruct during courses or offer troubleshooting during operations or events.
• Develop and design scientific and technical content for training exercises.
• Perform other duties as assigned by Supervisor/Manager.
• In addition to fulfilling basic ESH&Q obligations:
  • Must address all aspects of safety in design and execution of work.
  • Work may affect public health and safety.
  • May help formulate ESH&Q protocols.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in health physics, nuclear engineering or a similar calculus-based (STEM) field, plus at 9 years' relevant experience. Skill building experience must demonstrate either deeper technical specialization or additional cross-disciplinary knowledge. Graduate research experience may be recognized.
• Experience with one or more of the following is highly desired: gamma-ray spectroscopy, operational health physics, and customer service and/or training development and delivery.
• Additional enhanced experience includes radiation detection, algorithm development, transport codes, programming, prototype design and testing, and training design or delivery.
• Must have strong written and oral communications skills and must show a demonstrated ability to work on complex applied projects in a group atmosphere.
• Must have the ability to interface effectively with technical personnel from other MSTS organizations, outside organizations, and government agencies.
• Must be willing and able to perform work during non-standard hours, take on-call duty, and deploy worldwide on short notice.
• Must be able to perform critical job functions while under high stress environments such as those presented in real world deployments.
• Must be able to meet Company requirements for worldwide travel including completing a medical physical and immunizations.
• Ability to work independently or in a team environment on a wide variety of tasks.
• Working knowledge of Office365, Word, Excel, Adobe Acrobat, and Outlook is required.
• Must be fitted for and qualify for use with various respiratory protection and personal protective equipment.
• Must be able to lift 50 lbs.
• Must be able to participate in National Response Asset Deployment activities, including flight onboard government aircraft for missions and deployments.
• Candidate must be able to obtain and maintain SCI accesses.
• The primary work location will be at the Remote Sensing Laboratory-Andrews on Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
• The selected candidate can choose from the following work schedules: 4/10s, (Monday through Thursday); 9/80 (off every other Friday); 5/8s, (Monday through Friday) (subject to change)
• Pre-placement physical examination, which includes a drug screen, is required. MSTS maintains a substance abuse policy that includes random drug testing.
• Must possess a valid driver’s license.

Annual salary range for this position is: $121,867.20 - $185,848.00.

Starting salary is determined based on the position market value, the individual candidate education and experience and internal equity.