Critical Minerals Geologist

Description

Leidos is seeking an exceptional and motivated Critical Minerals Geologist to work alongside world class engineers and researchers supporting the mission of the U.S. Department of Energys (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) in Albany, OR . This work will involve a multi-disciplinary, scientific, and technically oriented national laboratory team, with participation alongside other data scientists, engineers, geologists, and computer scientists that produces technological solutions for Americas energy challenges.

What this opportunity with Leidos supporting NETL through a Research Support Services (RSS) contract uniquely provides you:

• Working on applied, cutting-edge projects with global impact while being mentored by the nations leading energy scientists and engineers.
• Real-world experience supplemented with technical development and discussions that provide unique insight into the broad range of mission critical engineering and scientific disciplines NETL leverages to support national energy research and policy development.
• Access to world-class, customized facilities and computational assets specific to high impact energy research, technology generation, and product development.
• Support proposal development focused on expanding industry and scientific partnerships and developing new technical opportunities for NETL with federal guidance.

Location: This position is onsite daily at the Albany, OR NETL campus.

The successful candidate will participate in research focused on Critical Minerals and Materials (CMM) resources. This includes evaluation of unconventional rare earth element (REE) feedstocks of domestic sedimentary basins and providing mineral system expertise for AI/ML-driven methodologies for prediction of CMM in unconventional prospects. Additionally, they will have a background in natural resource exploration, geochemistry, and geology (including sedimentary systems) with experience with laboratory and field techniques relating to critical minerals.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Utilize NETLs Unconventional Rare-earth element and Critical mineral (URC) prospectivity analysis method and tool.
• Apply knowledge of conventional mineral systems to design and implement studies of new, unconventional mineral systems.
• Contribute to geological modeling and database tasks to support accurate resource prospectivity analysis.
• Utilize geologic domain knowledge to understand and evaluate data collection needs for ongoing projects.
• Implement best practices for geologic resource evaluation and characterization.
• Develop research projects aimed at describing the geological conditions that lead to economic concentrations of minerals in unconventional feedstocks, as well as how these minerals are recovered in a cost effective and environmentally friendly way.
• Review, analyze, and interpret geological, mineralogical, and geophysical datasets to discover new insights about critical mineral systems.
• Perform sample preparation and analysis with laboratory instruments such as XRF, XRD, LIBS, light microscope, and SEM.
• Train and mentor new staff in lab operations and research methods.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary group of science researchers to accomplish project tasks.
• Build and maintain relationships with internal and external clients.
• Lead and assist in the writing of science-based methods, results, and data interpretations for publications in high quality, scientific peer-reviewed journals, and technical reports.
• Develop and present results for oral presentations to staff, stakeholders, and at professional conferences.
• Effectively document and communicate scientific results through peer-review journal manuscripts and technical reports.
• Provide weekly and monthly technical updates to research team members and project management.
• Provide leadership and expertise on projects including delegation to team members and communication of project milestone status to management.

Required Education, Experience & Other:

• Masters degree in economic geology, structural geology, geochemistry, or related field with 3+ years of equivalent practical experience working in a laboratory or industrial environment
• Advanced knowledge in at least one of the following areas related to R&D in critical minerals: geologic knowledge of coal and sedimentary basin systems; economic geology or mineral deposit systems; geochemistry
• Advanced knowledge and skills in data management, data processing, and generating high-impact data visualizations
• Ability to lead a multidisciplinary team composed of geologists/geoscientists, data scientists, computer engineers, and other technical staff
• Ability to collaboratively work with geology and resource modeling geologists to refine existing models and establish new resource assessment methods
• Understanding of principles in mining and ore geology including the use, geologic setting, and mode of formation of naturally occurring economic concentrations of metallic raw materials
• Ability to develop and implement new standard operating procedures and work instructions for characterizing mineral systems and associated geologic processes
• Proven track record of publications and presentations related to research on geologic/mineral systems
• Experience managing time effectively; experience developing and meeting project milestones with little oversight
• Clear and effective communication, both in writing and in person
• Must be able to meet the requirements for gaining access to work on the NETL campus
• U.S. Citizen

Preferred Qualifications:

• PhD in economic geology or geochemistry
• Ability to operate and train/oversee junior level staff in the use of multiple laboratory instruments including XRF, XRD, LIBS, light microscope, and SEM
• Experience with resource estimation
• Familiarity with mineral prospectivity mapping approaches
• Experience with 3D geomodelling software (e.g., Leapfrog)
• Evidence of substantive participation in the critical mineral geologic scientific community
• Experience working for a U.S. national laboratory or as a research site-support contractor

For U.S. Positions: While subject to change based on business needs, Leidos reasonably anticipates that this job requisition will remain open for at least 3 days with an anticipated close date of no earlier than 3 days after the original posting date as listed above.

The Leidos pay range for this job level is a general guideline only and not a guarantee of compensation or salary. Additional factors considered in extending an offer include (but are not limited to) responsibilities of the job, education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity, alignment with market data, applicable bargaining agreement (if any), or other law.