Multi-Physics Simulations Postdoctoral Researcher

About the role

The Fury and HOSS model development teams at Los Alamos National Laboratory seek an agile postdoctoral researcher to support next-generation high-velocity physics model and simulation development for national security applications. You will lead model and simulation development across a range of high-velocity physics problems, grounded in laboratory measurements and experimental data. Working alongside experimentalists and modelers, you will connect laboratory measurements to HOSS shock physics modeling and to Fury simulations of complex, mission-relevant environments.

Fury is a C++/Kokkos, GPU-based compressible fluid dynamics model for large-scale, high-fidelity simulation. HOSS is a hybrid multi-physics capability that integrates computational fluid dynamics with finite element and discrete element methods in a parallel framework for complex engineering and scientific problems.

You will join a collaborative team spanning experiments, computational physics, and national security applications, and interact directly with relevant university research partners in a complex, fast-moving research environment. Our work connects laboratory measurements, high-fidelity modeling, and large-scale simulation to tackle national defense challenges.

Responsibilities

• Lead model and simulation development across high-velocity physics problems.
• Connect laboratory measurements to HOSS shock physics modeling and Fury simulations of mission-relevant environments.
• Develop and validate physics-based models and simulations using experimental data.
• Analyze measurements and simulation outputs to improve computational model development.
• Work both independently and collaboratively within a multidisciplinary team of experimentalists and modelers.
• Publish research in peer-reviewed journals and present at national and international conferences.

Requirements

• Demonstrated strength in scientific computing, computational physics, numerical methods, or model development.
• Strong programming experience in C/C++ or a related language, with interest in developing production scientific software.
• Demonstrated ability to conduct independent and collaborative research.
• Strong written and oral communication, supported by peer-reviewed publications and presentations.
• Demonstrated experience working effectively in diverse, multidisciplinary teams, including communicating across disciplines, integrating different perspectives, and contributing to shared project outcomes.

Qualifications

• A Ph.D. in Physics, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, Atmospheric or Earth System Science, Materials Science, or a related STEM field.
• Candidates must have completed all Ph.D. requirements within the last five years or complete them by the start of the appointment.

Desired Qualifications

• Strong background in compressible fluid dynamics, computational fluid dynamics, or shock physics.
• Experience modeling fracture, fragmentation, and large deformation processes.
• Experience with GPU computing, Kokkos, parallel programming, or performance-portable scientific software.
• C/C++ model development for large-scale simulation.
• Experience with multi-physics simulation frameworks coupling fluid, solid, or particle methods.
• Experience validating high-fidelity physics models against experiments.
• Experience with experimental diagnostics, measurement analysis, or laboratory data interpretation.
• Experience with large language model coding harnesses for scientific software development.
• Experience running large-scale models on high-performance computing resources.
• Experience with national security applications involving complex physical environments.
• Ability to obtain Q level clearance, which usually requires U.S. citizenship.

Work Environment

Work Location: The work location for this position is onsite and located in Los Alamos, NM. All work locations are at the discretion of management.