Job description:
This position offers a unique opportunity to contribute to forefront research in experimental nuclear physics, in alignment with the NSAC 2023 Long Range Plan for Nuclear Science. The successful candidate will join a vibrant research environment on the UW Seattle campus, collaborating closely with scientists, engineers, technicians, and students at CENPA.
We seek an instrumentation and detector hardware specialist with the expertise and leadership skills to develop custom equipment for CENPA’s experimental campaigns. Areas of focus in order of importance include: Detector development and advanced electronics, specialized work with vacuum and cryogenics, and magnetometry.
The immediate priority of this position will be the design and construction of a state-of-the-art 5D silicon tracking detector package, a central component of the PIONEER rare pion decay experiment at the Paul Scherrer Institute (Switzerland), led in major part by the University of Washington team. Additional responsibilities include contributions to the on-site He-6 beta decay experiment, and, as time permits, involvement in Project 8, which aims to directly measure the neutrino mass. The candidate is also encouraged to engage with other CENPA experiments as opportunities arise and to initiate new technical proposals that enhance the lab’s research portfolio and attract external funding. This position naturally includes supervisory responsibilities over the electronics shop staff, including strategic planning, recruitment, and long-term team development. Mentorship and training of both staff and students are integral and essential components of the role.
CENPA is a DOE Office of Nuclear Physics Center of Excellence, dedicated to advancing research in fundamental symmetries and neutrinos with an emphasis on discovering physics beyond the Standard Model. The Center hosts a broad program including LEGEND, He6-CRES, Project 8, Selena, PIONEER, and others. Our professional engineering and technical teams provide world-class expertise in instrumentation, prototyping, detector development, and experiment execution.
Duties and Responsibilities
- (Manage design and construction of a state-of-the-art 5D silicon tracking detector package.
- Will plan, schedule, procure, and coordinate multiple critical project phases.
- Scientific contributions and design to He-6 beta decay experiment.
- Scientific contributions and design to to Project 8 experiment.
- Engage with other CENPA experiments as opportunities arise and to initiate new technical proposals that enhance the lab’s research portfolio and attract external funding.
- Develop technical proposals and make presentations to potential customers/grant sponsors.
- Supervisory responsibilities over the electronics shop engineering and technical staff, including strategic planning, recruitment, and long-term team development.
- Mentorship and training of both staff and students are integral and essential components of the role.
Minimum Requirements:
- Master’s Degree in Physics or related field and four years of relevant experience.
Equivalent education and/or experience may substitute for minimum qualifications except when there are legal requirements, such as a license, certification, and/or registration.
Additional Requirements:
- Proven ability to design, construct, and test custom instrumentation using modern electronics, detector components, and laboratory test facilities.
- Broad familiarity with associated electronics and mechanical engineering aspects and ability to interact and lead the project with communication and direction to the CENPA Engineering staff.
- Modern computer programming skills and experience in data analysis.
Desired Qualifications:
- Experience in (or willingness to learn) techniques for high-speed digitization (on the scale of 5 Gsamples/s).
- Experience in related problems of recording data at high-speeds (on the scale of 1 GB/s) and dealing with large data samples (on the scale of 10-100 TB).
- Professional training in hardware or software design.
- PhD in Physics or related field.
- Experience with publication of results in technical or instrumentation journals.
Contact:
- Quentin Buat (qbuat@uw.edu)