Development Foundry Technical Lead

What You'll Do

As a Development Foundry Technical Lead, the candidate will be responsible for leading the other Foundry technicians in executing laboratory experiments and operating metallurgical equipment with specific applications to the Metallurgical Engineering and Processing group. The candidate participates in process development activities supporting technology insertion in manufacturing areas and Research and Development (R&D) activities for new and existing experimental processes. The candidate will ensure that daily work activities are aligned with customer needs and that work execution is properly scheduled, prioritized, resourced, and tracked to completion to meet project schedules. The candidate will perform hands on work in the laboratory with minimal supervision and have a strong background in metallurgical operations and theory. The candidate must have strong communications skills with regard to stakeholders and participate in technological discussions with engineers, scientists, customers, and the Foundry team personnel.

The candidate will actively participate in training activities designed to fully train manufacturing personnel on prototype systems. Candidate must also be willing to conduct housekeeping and clean-up activities and assist Scientists and Engineers in Development with physical tasks.

Participates with technical personnel (in maintenance, operations, production, R&D activities and other related functions) analyzing and evaluating technical problems, developing experimental outlines, scheduling procedural steps, and establishing priorities. Independently conducts tests, experiments, and analyses. Operates and troubleshoots equipment and gathers, reduces, evaluates and interprets data. Prepares reports and procedures, and may direct the work of others.

The candidate will be assigned full time (40 hours weekly) to support Development hands-on activities involving uranium process development from bench to pilot scale. Other activities involve housekeeping, lab clean-up, and rudimentary experiments during periods of project downtime. Candidate will maintain a high standard for safety and housekeeping.

Routine tasks will include melting and casting, sawing, shearing, drilling, coating of crucibles and molds, cleaning of materials (solvent, acid, and caustic), pressing and swaging, and heat treating of depleted uranium and depleted uranium alloys to support general research and development activities. Other work type activities include taking inventory of materials (i.e. uranium, chemicals, equipment, etc.), handling/packaging of wastes (radiological/non-radiological), driving forklifts, using fixtures, hoists, etc., handling gas cylinders, and housekeeping and/or cleaning of work areas. Cleaning the inside of the furnaces, replacing thermocouples, replacing sensors and gauges, and furnace leak checking are other routine tasks.

What You Can Expect

Minimum Job Requirements

• Bachelor's degree.


• OR Associate's degree with 4 years of relevant experience


• OR Eight or more years of relevant education, training and/or progressive experience may be considered to satisty educational and year of experience for this posting.  

Preferred Job Requirements

• Familiar with Research and Development environment


• Experience with Foundry equipment for metal casting and fabrication


• Familiarity with principles of chemical laboratory safety and operation


• Willing to work with beryllium and radiological hazards


• Proficiency in the use of computer applications/systems to record and manipulate data, access technical and information resources, and create correspondence as necessary


• Completion of training in processing and/or handling hazardous materials

Why Y-12?

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