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Early Career Electrical Engineer, Onsite

Sandia National Laboratories

Albuquerque, NMFull-time$102–200K/yrSeen 6 days agoSeen in employer's feed 6 days ago

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At a glance

Compensation
$102–200K/yr
Location
Albuquerque, NM
Schedule
Full-time
Work Authorization
US work authorization required

Olive lists jobs from US employers, including remote roles you can work from the United States.

Requirements

Credentials this posting asks for.

Top Secret clearance

Job overview

Sandia National Laboratories seeks an electrical engineer to help design, build, integrate, test, and demonstrate electrical flight and ground systems for national defense programs. The role supports experimental missile, rocket, hypersonic, and other aerospace systems, including flight-test campaigns. The selected applicant must work onsite and be able to obtain and maintain a DOE Q-level security clearance.

Skills & qualifications

RequiredNice to have

Skills

Electrical Systems DesignSystems AnalysisSystems IntegrationSystems TestingTest and Instrumentation MethodsSoftware DevelopmentAutomationHardware-in-the-LoopSoftware-in-the-LoopCC++PythonJavaMATLABIndependent ResearchTeam CollaborationVerbal CommunicationWritten CommunicationPresentation Skills

Qualifications

Bachelor's Degree or EquivalentDOE Q-Level Clearance or Ability to ObtainGraduate Degree With Independent ResearchMS or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Computer Engineering, or Relevant STEM FieldActive DOE Q-Level or Similar Security ClearanceU.S. Citizenship

Benefits

Paid Time Off
Medical Insurance
401(k) Match
Tuition Assistance
Relocation Assistance

Full job description

About Sandia:

Sandia National Laboratories is the nation’s premier science and engineering lab for national security and technology innovation, with teams of specialists focused on cutting-edge work in a broad array of areas. Some of the main reasons we love our jobs:

  • Challenging work with amazing impact that contributes to security, peace, and freedom worldwide

  • Extraordinary co-workers

  • Some of the best tools, equipment, and research facilities in the world

  • Career advancement and enrichment opportunities

  • Flexible work arrangements for many positions include 9/80 (work 80 hours every two weeks, with every other Friday off) and 4/10 (work 4 ten-hour days each week) compressed workweeks, part-time work, and telecommuting (a mix of onsite work and working from home)

  • Generous vacation, strong medical and other benefits, competitive 401k, learning opportunities, relocation assistance and amenities aimed at creating a solid work/life balance*

World-changing technologies. Life-changing careers. Learn more about Sandia at: http://www.sandia.gov

*These benefits vary by job classification.

What Your Job Will Be Like:

This is an opportunity for an electrical engineer to join a team that designs, builds, and flies experimental missile, rocket, and other flight systems. The Electrical Systems Integration department within the Missile and Strike Systems Group of the Integrated Military Systems Center seeks an electrical engineer to help advance electrical flight and ground systems for National Defense Programs.

In this role you may be called on to:

  • Design, analyze, integrate, test, and demonstrate electronics and avionic flight and ground systems for a variety of advanced aerospace applications such as hypersonic vehicles, rockets, missiles, and reentry body payloads

  • Present design, analysis, and test results to internal and external stakeholders

  • Develop and execute test plans, assembly procedures, and other work instructions for flight system components, assemblies, and other hardware/software

  • Work as a member of high-performing, multi-disciplinary teams

  • Travel to support integration and test campaigns at off-site locations including launch facilities, production partners, and system integrators

Due to the nature of the work, the selected applicant must be able to work onsite.

Salary Range:

$102,400 - $199,700

*Salary range is estimated, and actual salary will be determined after consideration of the selected candidate's experience and qualifications, and application of any approved geographic salary differential.

Qualifications We Require:

  • Bachelor's degree in a relevant discipline, or an equivalent combination of directly relevant education and engineering or scientific experience that demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and ability to perform independent research and development.

  • Ability to obtain and maintain a DOE Q-level security clearance

Qualifications We Desire:

The ideal R&D S&E Electrical Engineer candidate for Sandia National Laboratories will in addition possess the following:

  • Graduate degree in Electrical Engineering or a highly related field where an independent research project was a graduation requirement (e.g., independent project, thesis, or dissertation).

  • Ability to work independently and collaborate well in a multidisciplinary team of designers and test engineers.

  • Outstanding verbal and written skills, including the ability to develop and present briefings that are clear and compelling.

Also, for this posting we are seeking individuals with the following experience:

  • An advanced degree (MS or PhD) in electrical engineering, electronics engineering, computer engineering, or a relevant STEM field is preferred

  • Experience in the design, integration, and testing of complex electronic systems or components

  • Experience designing, integrating, and operating flight-grade electronics and avionics systems or other high-consequence systems

  • Experience developing and implementing test and instrumentation methods to include software and application design and development, automation, or system test applications to assess and evaluate complex electronic systems

  • Experience in designing, implementing, and/or system-level testing with Hardware-In-The-Loop or Software-In-The-Loop systems

  • Experience using high-level programming languages such as C, C++, Python, or Java

  • Experience using MATLAB for data analysis

  • An active DOE Q-level security clearance; or other similar active security clearance such as DOD Top Secret

About Our Team:

The Electrical Systems Integration department provides expertise and technical leadership in the design, development, testing, and demonstration of pathfinder aerospace flight systems. These systems include missiles, rocket systems, hypersonic flight vehicles, and associated electrical ground support equipment. Our staff members play integral roles as flight test project team members. They actively engage in multi-disciplinary mission planning, system integration, testing, flight test execution, and post-test analysis of flight vehicles and technology development/maturation payloads.

Our work encompasses assembly, integration, and testing of electrical/avionics systems and ground support systems. These efforts contribute to the development of next-generation flight concepts. The flight systems developed by our team serve as pathfinders for hypersonic technologies. Additionally, they demonstrate advanced and prototypical launch vehicles and reentry system capabilities. Our sponsors include the U.S. Department of Energy Defense Programs, U.S. Department of Defense, Missile Defense Agency, DARPA, NASA, and industry partners.

Example videos and news:

High Operational Tempo Sounding Rocket Program: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa\_AtKtidjw

"It Really Is Rocket Science!": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koQfwHgOuMo&t=3s

News Release: Sandia supports hypersonic flight test: https://newsreleases.sandia.gov/hypersonic\_launch/

Posting Duration:

This posting will be open for application submissions for a minimum of three (3) calendar days, including the 'posting date'. Sandia reserves the right to extend the posting date at any time.

Security Clearance:

Sandia is required by DOE to conduct a pre-employment drug test and background review that includes checks of personal references, credit, law enforcement records, and employment/education verifications. Applicants for employment need to be able to obtain and maintain a DOE Q-level security clearance, which requires U.S. citizenship. If you hold more than one citizenship (i.e., of the U.S. and another country), your ability to obtain a security clearance may be impacted.

Applicants offered employment with Sandia are subject to a federal background investigation to meet the requirements for access to classified information or matter if the duties of the position require a DOE security clearance. Substance abuse or illegal drug use, falsification of information, criminal activity, serious misconduct or other indicators of untrustworthiness can cause a clearance to be denied or terminated by DOE, resulting in the inability to perform the duties assigned and subsequent termination of employment.

EEO:

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, or veteran status and any other protected class under state or federal law.

NNSA Requirements for MedPEDs:

If you have a Medical Portable Electronic Device (MedPED), such as a pacemaker, defibrillator, drug-releasing pump, hearing aids, or diagnostic equipment and other equipment for measuring, monitoring, and recording body functions such as heartbeat and brain waves, if employed by Sandia National Laboratories you may be required to comply with NNSA security requirements for MedPEDs.

If you have a MedPED and you are selected for an on-site interview at Sandia National Laboratories, there may be additional steps necessary to ensure compliance with NNSA security requirements prior to the interview date.

Job ID: 699477

Job Family: RD

Regular/Temporary Position: R

Full/Part-Time Status: F

How this job compares

Set against the 10,302 open Electrical Engineer jobs on Olive Jobs, counted November 4, 2026.

Pay
  • This posting$102–200K/yr
  • New Mexico median$105–184K/yr55 salary ranges
  • US median$106–165K/yr6,613 salary ranges

This range's midpoint, $151K, is 4% above the New Mexico median midpoint ($145K) — in the middle half of Electrical Engineer salary ranges in New Mexico.

Openings
Olive Jobs lists 88 open Electrical Engineer jobs in New Mexico and 10,302 across the US. 3% of them nationwide are listed as remote or flexible.
Hiring the most in New Mexico
Experience
Electrical Engineer postings that state a minimum ask for 5 years of experience at the median; the middle half ask for 3 to 8 years (8,613 postings).
Education
6,798 of the 10,302 open Electrical Engineer jobs (66%) ask for a bachelor's degree or higher.

Counted across the open, public US postings on Olive Jobs on November 4, 2026. Pay medians are the middle values of the low ends and of the high ends of postings that list both ends of a range in the same cadence (a yearly salary or an hourly rate); a range's midpoint is halfway between its ends. Pay and experience figures resting on fewer than 20 postings are left out.

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