Research Engineer

Job Overview

The AFRL Materials and Manufacturing Directorate seeks to hire a motivated Mechanical or Materials Engineer with aerospace materials predictive modeling experience to serve as a Research Engineer in the Metals Branch of the Composite, Ceramic, Metallic and Materials Performance Division. This post closes at 1600 hrs on 6 Dec 24.  

Position duties include, but are not limited to:
• Develop, adapt, and refine material constitutive and deformation models that can be implemented in finite element method (FEM) codes for advanced aerospace metal components to support fundamental research and exploratory studies
• Develop custom scripts, subroutines, or plugins with FEM software (e.g., ANSYS, Abaqus, FEniCS) to implement material models, streamline workflows, and improve modeling efficiency
• Deploy FEM models for further understanding of inhomogeneous metals characteristics (composition, microstructure, stress) to explore and design advanced structural components for aerospace use
• Use FEM to advance understanding of conventional and new material processing techniques, including thermal transport and solidification in additive manufacturing, to assess their impact on material performance
• Develop and apply microstructure-based, physics-driven materials property models across multiple length scales, ensuring seamless integration and linkage between these scales
• Validation of models by applying appropriate material properties, including nonlinear behaviors, anisotropy, and thermal-mechanical interactions
• Collaborate with in-house and external partners to utilize machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to develop reduced-order, predictive performance models
• Explore and integrate emerging FEA techniques to expand analysis capabilities
 

This position will be filled at the DR-2 (GS-12/13 equivalent) or DR-3 (GS-14 equivalent) level and is located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, OH.  This position may be filled as a 5-year Flexible Length Term appointment (new government hires, current government term employees, etc.) with the option to later extend or convert to a permanent appointment.

NOTE: Must use MM/DD/YYYY date format for experience entries on resume.

For resume writing tips, facts about the federal hiring process and additional resources, visit: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/faq/application/documents/resume/what-to-include/

At a minimum, an unofficial transcript of the highest relevant degree must be uploaded with application

Telework

Yes, this position is eligible for situational telework; as determined by agency policy

Remote Work (CONUS)

No, this position is not approved for remote work.

Eligible for a Referral Bonus?

No

Required Qualifications

• US Citizen
• Must be able to obtain and maintain a Secret security clearance
• Possess a professional science or engineering (S&E) degree, in a relevant technical field, from an accredited (or ABET accredited for engineering) academic institution; if the highest earned S&E degree is a Bachelor's.
• The applicant must also have one year of experience at the DR-01 (GS-11 equivalent) level to be hired as a DR-02 and one year of specialized experience as a DR-02 (GS-13) to be hired as a DR-03.
•  Specialized experience includes aerospace materials predictive modeling.
• This is an Acquisition Professional Development Program (APDP) position requiring Level II certification in the Science and Technology Manager (N) functional stall.  
• Applicants must list all completed APDP certifications on their resume.   
• Selectee will have 24 months to meet the APDP certification requirements for the position. 
   

Desired Qualifications

• Masters or PhD in Materials (Metallurgical) Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related
• Experience in Finite Element Modeling, coding and application
• Basic knowledge of programming languages (python and/or c/c++) to develop and integrate in-house research codes with other research tools as well as with commercial engineering codes and tools
• Experience with codes such as Abaqus, ANSYS, FEniCS for thermal and mechanical analysis
• Experience with (Deform, Thermocalc, Dictra, Prisma, etc) and open source frameworks (MOOSE) for understanding microstructural evolution and response
• Good communication skills and ability to glean technical requirements from SMEs to build AF relevant programs
• Strong interpersonal and collaboration skills with a proven ability to build positive working relationships, communicate effectively, and collaborate across diverse teams to achieve common goals 

(Requisition No. 71335)

Series

0801

0806

Other