Entry Level Experimental Physicist Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Job Summary:

This entry level/early career professional, product focused position verifies and validates the functionality of Cummins' products across a wide range of customer requirements, across a variety of applications, in various environments.  This work plans, tracks, and evaluates results from a wide range of analyses and functional tests to assess product risk and performance. These results are expected to drive quality decisions and proactively resolve product issues before the product reaches the customer. 

Key Responsibilities:

Obtains input and negotiates with Design Verification Plan and Report (DVP&R) stakeholders to define technical requirements and delivers an optimized component-based analytical and experimental verification plan to the program or project team. Makes decisions in the areas of verification and validation that impact product performance, reliability, and durability. Investigates and addresses potential component concerns or issues, understands causal mechanisms, recommends appropriate action, owns problem resolution and documents results with guidance from more experienced team members. Applies and supports the improvement of processes such as technical requirements, iDFMEA, Engineering Standard Work (ESW), DVP&R, test planning, and problem solving and tools such as Integrity, Microsoft Power BI, and McParts required to support the processes and enable high quality decision making. Owns problem resolution for moderately complex components, products, systems, subsystems or services with technical complexity and ambiguity increasing as experience is gained in the role. Provides independent execution of established work processes and systems, while still developing technology or product knowledge; engages with the improvement of systems and processes. Involves minimal direct management of people, but could involve the coordination and direction of work amongst technicians and/or temporary student employees. Contributes effectively toward team goals, exhibits influence within a work group and continues to develop proficiency in the competency areas critical to success in the role.Cummins is an equal opportunity employer. Our policy is to provide equal employment opportunities to all qualified persons without regard to race, sex, color, disability, national origin, age, religion, union affiliation, sexual orientation, veteran status, citizenship, gender identity, or other status protected by law.

College Job type: Entry Level Full-time

Subfunction: Product Systems Validation

Degree level: BS

Educational Program: ME, open to EE, MET

Start date: Fall 2027

Job Skill Requirements:

This position is for the Test Engineer Rotational Program.  You will participate in a 1 year program in one of 4 areas :  Vehicle - System Performance - Simulation or Test Cell testing.  You will also do short rotations in each of the other areas as needed.  After 1 year you will move to a validation role in the EBU for 2 years.  This program is designed to help a new hire SG22 gain expirence with engine and engine systems. 

Required Work Location: On-site with Flexibility

U.S. Early Careers Eligibility Requirements:

Exempt Entry Level: Designed for external candidates within 2 years of completing their highest level of degree (Bachelor, Master, PhD, MBA, or JD) from an accredited U.S. college/university, and currently reside within the continental U.S.

International Student Eligibility (U.S. based roles): F-1 visa students must have approved Curricular Practical Training (CPT) or Occupational Practical Training (OPT) before their Early Career assignment begin. CPT/OPT must relate to their degree and be authorized by their university. Students are responsible for securing this approval through their school's international office.

Competencies:
Product Test Integration and Optimization - Develops a physics-based understanding of customer duty cycles via damage modeling, using real world collected data representative of the full range of customer usage; compares analytical and experimental results and resolves differences to maintain calibrated analytical models; generates experimental testing plans that deliver optimal analysis and test coverage.
Product Failure Mode Avoidance - Mitigates potential product failure modes, by identifying interfaces, functions, functional requirements, interactions, control factors, noise factors, and prioritized potential failure modes and potential failure causes for the system of interest to effectively and efficiently improve the reliability of Cummins' products.
Product Interface Management and Integration - Identifies and analyzes the interfaces and interactions across system boundaries by specifying the requirements and limits to ensure that the product meets requirements; controls the interactions across the system element boundaries by making sure that they remain within specified limits; integrates system elements by creating an integration plan, including identification of method and timing for each activity to make it easier to find, isolate, diagnose, and correct.
Product Problem Solving - Solves product problems using a process that protects the customer; determines the assignable cause; implements robust, data-based solutions; andidentifies the systemic root causes and recommended actions to prevent problem reoccurrence.
Product Verification and Validation Management - Develops product systems validation plans from a variety of inputs to identify failure modes, while managing product risk and relative priority; negotiates product requirements against capability to guide project scope; evaluates analytical, simulation and physical test results to verify product capability and validate requirements; assesses legacy versus proposed system solution capabilities and produces recommendations with technical documentation to support product decisions.
System Requirements Engineering - Uses appropriate methods and tools to translate stakeholder needs into verifiable requirements to which designs are developed; establishes acceptance criteria for the system of interest through analysis, allocation and negotiation; tracks the status of requirements throughout the system lifecycle; assesses the impact of changes to system requirements on project scope, schedule, and resources; creates and maintains information linkages to related artifacts.
Technical Function Processes and Tools - Executes, improves, trains, coaches and/or manages the Technical processes and tools including standards and best practices that enables knowledge to be re-used and functional deliverables to be met in a quality and productive manner.
Collaborates - Building partnerships and working collaboratively with others to meet shared objectives.
Communicates effectively - Developing and delivering multi-mode communications that convey a clear understanding of the unique needs of different audiences.
Decision quality - Making good and timely decisions that keep the organization moving forward.
Drives results - Consistently achieving results, even under tough circumstances.
Self-development - Actively seeking new ways to grow and be challenged using both formal and informal development channels.
Values differences - Recognizing the value that different perspectives and cultures bring to an organization.
Applies Principles of Statistical Methods - Analyzes technical data using descriptive statistics, probability distributions, graphical analysis, and statistical inference (population and sample, confidence intervals, and hypothesis testing); models relationships between response and independent variables using analysis of variance, regression, and design of experiments to make rigorous, data-based decisions.
Systems Thinking - Defines the system of interest by drawing the boundaries, identifying its context within its environment, its interfaces, and that it has a lifecycle to aid in planning the problem statement, scope and deliverables; analyzes linkages and interactions between elements that comprise the system of interest by using appropriate methods, models and integration of outcomes to understand the system, predict its behavior and devise modifications to it in order to produce the desired effects.
Technical Documentation - Documents information based on knowledge gained as part of technical function activities; communicates to stakeholders with the goal of enabling improved technical productivity and effective knowledge transfer to others who were not originally part of the initial learning.
Product Development Execution, Monitoring and Control - Plans, schedules, coordinates and executes the activities involved in developing a product to a respectively aligned hierarchy of requirements and technical profiles; monitors and communicates across functional boundaries to meet project resource and quality expectations; ensures product capability meets or exceeds expectations and takes mitigating actions when project risks are higher than expected; understands the full product life cycle process and stakeholders.
Education, Licenses, Certifications:
College, university, or equivalent Bachelor's degree in Engineering or appropriate STEM field is required.
Post-graduate (Master's) degree relevant to this discipline area may be required for select roles.
This position may require licensing for compliance with export controls or sanctions regulations.
Experience:
Entry level/Early career professional. Preferred candidates would have relevant experience working in either a temporary student employment environment (intern, co-op, or other extracurricular team activities) or as an early career professional in a relevant technical discipline area. Knowledge of MS Office tools is also preferred