Career Areas
Be indispensable
to our nation's
security.
Your challenge awaits.
Many think you need to be a scientist to work at Los Alamos National Laboratory. While we couldn't do our work without scientific and technical expertise, we offer a vast array of career opportunities for hundreds of supports staff with a variety of skillsets.
Explore each of our directorates below and see where you might fit.
Operations
Operations is made up of five Associate Laboratory directorates and two offices, including: Business Management; Infrastructure and Capital Projects; Facilities & Operations; Environment, Safety, Health and Quality; Defense Protection Program; Mission Assurance & Prime Contracts Office; and Human Resources. The dedicated individuals who comprise the vast Operations team strive to enable mission success and execute sustained operations that are reliable and responsive to mission needs.
Business Services
The Business Management directorate drives seamless solutions with timely, technology-driven, performance-based results — utilizing the imagination, creativity, superior service, pride, and talent of great people.
Areas of Opportunity:
- Accounting, Finance, Payroll, and Benefits
- Human Resource Professionals
- Document Controls Professionals
- Infrastructure Engineers
- Network Engineers
- Records Management Professionals
- Software Applications Engineers
Defense Protection Program
The Defense Protection Program protects our special nuclear material, property, information, and personnel. This group provides expertise, support, and guidance in all areas of security, safeguards, and emergency response — from classification to personnel security, hazard response, and nuclear material control and accountability.
Areas of Opportunity:
- Chemical Engineers
- Data Analysts
- Emergency Management
- Health Physicists
- Material Accountability Specialists
- Material Control Specialists
- Nuclear Engineers
- Physical Security
- Radiation Physicists
- Security Systems Analysts
- Statisticians
Environment, Safety, Health, and Quality
The Environment, Safety, Health, Quality, Safeguards, and Security directorate provides expertise in environmental protection and stewardship, radiation protection, industrial hygiene, and waste management. We provide mission-enabling services by protecting people, resources, and the environment.
Areas of Opportunity:
- Environmental Engineers
- Health Physicists
- Industrial Hygienists
- Metrology Technicians / Engineers
- Occupational Health and Safety Professionals
- Radiation Control Technicians
- Waste Management Specialists
Facilities and Operations
The dedicated individuals who make up the Facilities and Operations directorate support all Laboratory facilities that encompass nuclear and accelerator operations, explosives, chemical and biological laboratories, manufacturing facilities, treatment plants, and other supporting infrastructure, covering more than 40 square miles.
Areas of Opportunity:
- Criticality Safety Engineers
- Designers/Drafters
- Electrical Engineers
- Engineering Technologist
- Facility Engineers
- Field Engineers
- Fire Protection Engineers
- Maintenance Managers
- Maintenance Support
- Mechanical Engineers
- Nuclear Engineers
- Operations Management
- Operations Support
- Pressure Safety Engineers
- Procurement Engineers
- Project Engineers
- Structural Engineers
- Superintendents
- Systems Engineers
- Utilities Engineers
- Work Control Planners
Infrastructure and Capital Projects
The experienced and committed members of the Infrastructure and Capital Projects team deliver high-quality, cost-effective projects safely, on time, and within budget. This group strategically engages and collaborates with project owners, team members, and key stakeholders throughout the Laboratory in the delivery of each capital project.
Areas of Opportunity:
- Construction Managers
- Infrastructure Strategic Planners
- Project Controls Professionals
- Project Co-op Specialists
- Project Interns
- Project Management Professionals
- Project Specialists
- Superintendents
Science, Technology, and Engineering
Our Science, Technology, and Engineering division is committed to delivering mission success and innovative solutions to national security problems through the agile, rapid application of our transformational scientific capabilities. Integrating and applying these capabilities rapidly and effectively to meet new challenges — across the Laboratory and with our strategic partners — is a key advantage for the nation in an increasingly urgent security landscape.
Chemical, Earth, and Life Sciences
The Chemistry, Bioscience, and Earth and Environmental Sciences divisions have key capabilities that directly support critical outcomes of the Lab agenda. Our researchers push the bounds of scientific understanding to advance initiatives in biosecurity, climate and clean energy, and computational methods. With a commitment to simultaneous excellence, we deliver scientific discoveries and technical innovations that advance research frontiers.
Areas of Opportunity:
- Biomedical Engineers
- Chemists and Scientists
- Computational Scientists
- Ecologists
- Field Research Experts
- Geoscientists
- Hydrologists
- Labware LIMS Developers/Software Developers
- Operations Support Specialists
- Professional Staff Assistants
- Technical Project Managers
- Technicians
- Technologists
Global Security
The Global Security directorate is committed to protecting our nation against emerging, prolific, and unconventional nuclear threats, regardless of origin. Global Security's line and program offices concentrate on nuclear nonproliferation, nuclear counterproliferation, and counter terrorism focusing on known and emerging threats, including bio, cyber, and space.
Areas of Opportunity:
- Computer Scientists
- Cybersecurity Professionals
- Electrical Engineers
- Hardware Engineers
- Nuclear Engineers
- R&D Engineers
- Scientists
- Software Architects
- Systems Administrators
- Technical Project Managers
- Windows Administrators
Physical Sciences
Physical Sciences operates within our research and experimental facilities spanning a broad range of complex scientific areas. We focus our efforts on developing and applying capabilities in materials science, manufacturing, experimental physics, and accelerator ST&E to programs and problems of national importance.
Areas of Opportunity:
- Accelerator Operators
- Accelerator Technicians
- Cybersecurity Engineers
- Fabrication Technicians
- Fluid Dynamics Researchers
- Hydride Engineers
- Linux Engineers
- Machinists
- Manufacturing Engineers
- Materials Chemists
- Material Scientists
- Nuclear Physicists
- Particle Physicists
- Plasma Physicists
- Pulsed Power Engineers
- Research Technicians
- Research Technologists
- RF Engineers
- Welders
Simulation and Computation
The Simulation & Computation directorate advances the frontiers of modeling, simulation, and computation essential to LANL's science and security missions. Our simulation and computation work is central to improved understanding, control, and prediction of complex natural and engineered systems. Through multidisciplinary co-design, we engage theory, experimentation, and observation to explore, develop, and deploy cutting-edge, robust computational tools, infrastructure, and capabilities.
Areas of Opportunity:
- Applied Mathematicians
- Computer Scientists
- IT Specialists
- Linux Engineers/Linux Administrators
- Physicists
- Postdoctoral Researchers in Chemistry, Biology, Engineering, and Theoretical Physics
- Statisticians
- Storage and Archive Administrators (with Linux background)
Weapons
The Laboratory's Weapons Programs help ensure the safety, security, and effectiveness of the U.S. nuclear deterrent — specifically the B61 family of bombs, the W78 warhead, the W76 family of warheads, and the W88 warhead. Los Alamos designed and currently maintains these systems through science-based stockpile stewardship. Weapons Programs is composed of four organizations: Weapons Physics, Weapons Engineering, Weapons Production, and Plutonium Infrastructure.
Plutonium Infrastructure
The Plutonium Infrastructure group rigorously executes the capital projects required to meet plutonium pit production goals. We accomplish this by modernizing the Laboratory's capabilities and supporting infrastructure.
Areas of Opportunity:
- Program Managers
- Project Directors
- Project Managers
- System Engineers
Weapons Engineering
Weapons Engineering integrates the stockpile stewardship program and executes weapons engineering and testing in support of the Laboratory's critical mission.
Areas of Opportunity:
- Designers/Drafters
- Electrical Systems Engineers
- Engineering Technologists
- Experimental Design Engineers
- Flight Test Engineers
- High Explosive Engineers
- Mechanical Engineers
- Process Engineers
- Structural Engineers
- Systems Engineers
Weapons Production
Weapons Production enables credible and sustainable strategic deterrence for the nation through the production of plutonium pits, detonators, and non-nuclear components, along with the necessary evaluation that ensures safe and reliable products. The directorate's programs support multiple aspects of the national security mission, including plutonium processing and disposition, manufacturing for NASA deep space missions, surveillance, materials management, and waste operations.
Areas of Opportunity:
- Manufacturing Managers
- Materials Engineers
- Mechanical Engineers
- QA/QC Inspectors
- Quality Engineers
- R&D Engineers
- Research Technologists
- Technical Project Managers
- Welding Engineers
Weapons Physics
The Weapons Physics group is dedicated to sustaining the stockpile, providing options for the future stockpile, and assessing global nuclear security threats. To execute our mission, we develop and apply cutting-edge theory, computational models, and multi-physics simulation codes, as well as design, execute, and analyze complex experiments.
Areas of Opportunity:
- Computational Physicists
- Mechanical Engineers
- Nuclear Engineer/Radiation Transport Analysts
- Software Developers
- Software Scientists
