Sensor Development Engineer

The Leidos Research Support Team supporting the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) is seeking a Sensor Development Engineer to join our team in Pittsburgh, PA. This opportunity will allow side by side execution of research with world-class scientists and engineers using state of the art equipment to contribute to new areas of basic and applied research.

The successful candidate will collaborate on an interdisciplinary team spanning industry, academic, and national laboratory partners that seeks to develop wireless sensors for infrastructure sensing.  The development cycle spans conceptual development through field demonstration.  Knowledge of passive microwave sensor devices, sensor device fabrication, and hands-on experience working with functional materials for harsh environment sensing are highly desired. Publications in high-quality scientific peer-reviewed journals, presentations at national and international technical meetings, and the development of new intellectual property are all expected outcomes of the research to be performed.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Design, simulate, and optimize Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) devices based on sensing stimuli of interest.
• Work with functional material scientists to design and develop sensor devices capable of detecting gas, corrosion, and other pipeline environmental factors.
• Select suitable SAW device substrates and design fabrication schemes. Work with Nanofabrication Lab to complete a variety of SAW sensor devices.
• SAW device surface treatment/cleaning to best integrate sensing materials to optimize sensor performance.
• Test SAW sensors in different gas and solution conditions.
• Characterize SAW sensor properties such as impedance and phase changes with micromanipulators.
• Design & develop wireless multi-SAW sensor interrogation methods without any interference.
• Implementation of efficient digital signal processing (DSP) algorithms for real-time SAW sensor data processing. Use RF and microwave systems to wirelessly interrogate SAW sensors and measure changes in infrastructure conditions at desired locations.
• Implement real-time wireless data acquisition, synchronization, and secure communication protocols for SAW sensors array.
• Plan and participate in field test demonstrations of developed technologies.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary group of science researchers to accomplish project tasks.
• Create and deliver oral, poster presentations of results in meetings and at technical conferences/workshops.
• Effectively document and communicate scientific results through peer-reviewed journal manuscripts and technical reports.

Requirements:

• Master’s degree in electrical engineering, engineering physics, mechanical engineering, materials engineering, or other related fields with 2 years related experience.
• Experience with device fabrication and testing (ideally in harsh environments).
• Experience leveraging analytical models, finite element analysis (COMSOL experience preferred), and other simulation tools for device modeling, sensor network development, and instrumentation automation.
• Hands-on familiarity with laboratory equipment such as vector network analyzers, arbitrary waveform generators, oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, data acquisition and processing systems using Python, LabVIEW, MATLAB, or other programming languages.
• Must be able to meet the requirements for gaining access to work on the NETL campus.

Preferred Qualifications:

• PhD in related field.
• Experience with design and development of surface acoustic wave sensors.
• Semi-conductor, MEMS sensor and/or clean room experience.

Salary Range for this position: $100K to 105K

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Original Posting:

Pay Range:

The Leidos pay range for this job level is a general guideline only and not a guarantee of compensation or salary. Additional factors considered in extending an offer include (but are not limited to) responsibilities of the job, education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity, alignment with market data, applicable bargaining agreement (if any), or other law.