Staff Eng - Ctrl & Data Sys

Position Overview

Specific Responsibilities

Preferred Requirements

Classification Title

Pay Range

Additional Information

• About the role

The X-ray Beamline Development & Operations (XBDO) group within the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) Directorate at SLAC is seeking a Staff Engineer to serve as the Controls and Data Systems Owner (CDSO).

Responsibilities

• Plan, implement, and validate customized beamline system installations.
• Develop and support hardware and software for system-level controls, diagnostics, and monitoring tools.
• Provide hands-on support during operation of the experimental systems, including troubleshooting, monitoring system performance, and ensuring smooth execution of experiments.
• Operate, maintain, and evolve controls and data systems for diagnostics including GMD/XGMD/GEM, power meters, IPMs, PPMs, WFS.
• Manage related infrastructure such as system software, local networks, detectors, digitizers, oscilloscopes, motion, vacuum, and protection systems.
• Participate in upgrades to scientific instrumentation and capabilities, coordinating with engineers and technicians to implement and integrate control, data acquisition, and analysis aspects.
• Report on, prioritize, and address reliability, availability, and maintainability (RAM) issues impacting beamline system operation.
• Collaborate with optics and operations teams to ensure seamless integration of system-level controls and diagnostic tools with beamline components such as mirrors, monochromators, focusing optics, and delay lines.
• Contribute to the development of new diagnostic methods and beamline performance metrics, ensuring that experimental data can be accurately measured, benchmarked, and improved over time.
• Support continuous small-scale improvements by helping to translate R&D results and prototype diagnostics into stable, user-ready tools that enhance beamline capabilities.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in physics, computer science, engineering, or related discipline and 4 years of relevant experience in experimental systems, diagnostics, scientific instrumentation, or controls.
• Advanced degree strongly preferred.
• Ability to learn and understand a broad range of hardware and software systems.
• Demonstrated programming skills with C and/or C++ and experience with Linux/Unix and scripting languages (Python preferred).
• Strong communication skills and ability to work in a cross-disciplinary R&D team.
• Demonstrated project planning, organizational skills, and initiative.

Preferred Requirements

• Experience with real-time and networking software, EPICS framework, motor/vacuum/camera controls.
• Background in X-ray science, diagnostics, or instrumentation development.
• Familiarity with beamline systems such as vacuum, safety systems, optics, or diagnostics.
• Experience working with high-reliability systems in a research or industrial environment, particularly where uptime and safety are critical.
• Strong interest in advancing diagnostic techniques for free-electron laser science, including real-time monitoring and feedback systems.

Classification Title

Staff Engineer 3

Pay Range

$140,000 to $207,000 per annum

Additional Information

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory/Stanford University provides pay ranges representing its good faith estimate of the salary the university reasonably expects to pay for a position upon hire. The pay offered to a selected candidate will be determined based on factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the qualifications of the selected candidate, departmental budget availability, internal equity, geographic location and external market pay for comparable jobs.