Vulnerability Assessment Internship Jobs (NOW HIRING)

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.

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Sandia's Lethality and Threat Department, Organization 5477, is seeking an early-career R&D Analyst to support DOE and DoD national security programs through physics-based analysis, modeling and simulation, test interpretation, and threat engineering activities. In this role, you will contribute to technical efforts involving shock physics, hydro‑structural interactions, high‑rate structural response, and lethality/vulnerability assessments.

Working under the guidance of experienced staff, the selected candidate will collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to perform technical analyses, support modeling and simulation efforts, help plan and interpret tests, evaluate computational results, and communicate findings to project teams and program stakeholders. This role is well suited for someone with a strong technical foundation, curiosity about complex national security problems, and interest in growing skills in physics‑based analysis, computational simulation, threat engineering, and lethality/vulnerability assessment.

On any given day, you may be called upon to:

• Perform technical analysis in areas such as shock physics, hydro‑structural interactions, high‑rate structural mechanics, and lethality/vulnerability evaluations.


• Learn and apply modeling, simulation, test, and analysis approaches to address national defense needs.


• Support computational analyses using physics‑based tools such as hydrocodes, finite element models, or engineering‑level assessment methods.


• Develop scripts, workflows, or post‑processing tools to evaluate and visualize computational or experimental results.


• Work with experimental, computational, and programmatic partners to assess system performance and technical risks.


• Support the development of briefings, reports, and recommendations for internal teams, external customers, and program leadership.


• Contribute to threat engineering activities, including the development and evaluation of technical information used to understand current and emerging threats

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

$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.

• A 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.


• The ability to acquire and maintain a DOE Q-level security clearance.

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

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


• Experience with mechanical engineering and product realization in the NNSA complex.


• Strong verbal and written communication skills, ability to work effectively in multidisciplinary teams.

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

• Coursework, internship, research, or project experience in computational modeling, finite element analysis, hydrocodes, shock physics, solid mechanics, structural dynamics, high‑rate material response, or related physics‑based simulation methods.


• Experience using MATLAB, Python, Fortran, or similar programming languages for data analysis, workflow automation, post‑processing, or computational analysis.


• Familiarity with high‑performance computing, parallel computing, or large‑scale computational analysis.


• Interest in lethality, vulnerability, weapon effects, target response, reentry vehicle structures/materials, conventional munitions, high explosives, nuclear weapon systems, threat engineering, or related national security applications.


• Experience supporting experimental testing, interpreting test data, comparing simulations to data, or validating computational models.


• Interest in working with DOE, DoD, MDA, or other national security sponsors to understand technical needs, communicate results, and deliver project outcomes.


• Interest in applying machine learning, AI tools, data‑driven methods, or computer‑aided design/drafting tools to national security analysis problems.


• An active DOE L-level or Q-level security clearance, or an equivalent active DoD security clearance.

Our department provides technical and programmatic leadership in lethality, vulnerability, and threat assessment for national security missions. The department supports the Missile Defense Agency and other DOE and DoD customers by delivering technically defensible, decision‑quality analyses for defensive and offensive applications, from endgame lethality through post‑intercept outcomes.

Our work focuses on extreme engagement environments, including hypervelocity kinetic impacts, high‑explosive shock loading, nuclear blast loading, and high‑rate structural response. We use Sandia's capabilities in shock physics, advanced solid mechanics, coupled hydro‑structural analysis, high‑fidelity simulation, and engineering‑level assessment tools to evaluate weapon effectiveness, target response, survivability, and lethality/vulnerability criteria. Our work brings together analysts, modelers, experimentalists, systems engineers, and program leads to solve technically challenging problems with direct national security impact.

The department also supports threat engineering efforts by integrating expertise across Sandia, the Intelligence Community, and mission partners to develop comprehensive threat packages for current and emerging threats. These efforts may include computer‑aided design/drafting, aero‑thermal analysis, trajectory analysis, uncertainty characterization, and other specialized technical areas needed to support robust lethality and threat assessments.

Through this work, our team helps customers and decision‑makers better understand current and emerging threats, characterize and bound uncertainty, and make informed decisions about weapon effectiveness, target response, and survivability across a broad range of engagement scenarios.

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.

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 untrustworthy 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.

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.

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.