Floating Wind Arrays Engineer

Posting Title

Floating Wind Arrays Engineer

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Location

CO - Boulder

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Position Type

Regular

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Hours Per Week

40

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Working at NREL

NREL's 305-acre Flatirons Campus is the nation's premier wind energy, water power, and grid integration research facility. Nestled south of Boulder, Colorado, and north of NREL's main South Table Mountain campus, Flatirons sits adjacent to the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge and countless acres of open space and parks with stunning views of the Flatirons rock formations.

From day one at NREL, you'll connect with coworkers driven by the same mission to save the planet. By joining an organization that values a supportive, inclusive, and flexible work environment, you'll have the opportunity to engage through our ten employee resource groups, numerous employee-driven clubs, and learning and professional development classes.

NREL supports inclusive, diverse, and unbiased hiring practices that promote creativity and innovation. By collaborating with organizations that focus on diverse talent pools, reaching out to underrepresented demographics, and providing an inclusive application and interview process, our Talent Acquisition team aims to hear all voices equally. We strive to attract a highly diverse workforce and create a culture where every employee feels welcomed and respected and they can be their authentic selves.

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Note: Research suggests that potential job seekers may self-select out of opportunities if they don't meet 100% of the job requirements. We encourage anyone who is interested in this opportunity to apply. We seek dedicated people who believe they have the skills and ambition to succeed at NREL to apply for this role.

Job Description

The National Wind Technology Center is seeking a qualified candidate to help execute projects related to the design and analysis of floating wind arrays with an emphasis on mooring systems and array-level design considerations. The position's primary responsibilities include running and analyzing floating wind farm simulations, performing mooring system design and optimization tasks, and developing software tools that support these activities. This work will involve using computer codes and applying mechanical engineering principles toward the understanding of floating wind array layout and mooring design decisions. The overarching goal of the work is to support innovations in floating wind array design that will lower the cost of offshore wind energy.

The successful candidate will join a highly collaborative team and work both independently and collaboratively to contribute in research areas including:

1) Exploring and evaluating innovative floating wind mooring system and array designs

2) Performing loads analysis on mooring systems, including checks on platform offsets, extreme loads, fatigue, and marine growth in key load cases

3) Developing Python-based models to store and pass wind farm design descriptions between low and mid-fidelity design tools

The candidate will be expected to publish research results in technical journals/conference proceedings and present work at conferences, symposia, and review meetings. They will also be expected to support the development of new work proposals, preparations, and reviews

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Basic Qualifications

Relevant Master's Degree . Or, relevant Bachelor's Degree and 2 or more years of experience . General knowledge and application of engineering technical standards, principles, theories, concepts and techniques. Training in team, task or project leadership responsibilities. Intermediate abilities and knowledge of practices and techniques. Beginning experience in project management. Good writing, interpersonal and communication skills.

*** Must meet educational requirements prior to employment start date.**

Additional Required Qualifications

• Excellent writing, interpersonal, and communication skills

• Prior experience relating to offshore system design, analysis, or modeling

• Experience with offshore wind turbine simulation tools (such as OpenFAST, Bladed, HAWC2, or scratch-built models)

• Proficiency with multiple programming languages and demonstrated experience with coding in Python (or similar, with ability to switch)

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with mooring design and simulation tools (e.g. MoorDyn, MoorPy, OrcaFlex, SIMA-RIFLEX, DeepLines, or MAP++)

• Experience with mooring system design, loads analysis, and applicable standards

• Experience with time-domain and frequency-domain modeling of wind farms (e.g. FAST.Farm and RAFT)

• Experience with object-oriented programming and Python based model development

• Experience planning wave basin tests, especially related to mooring systems

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Job Application Submission Window

The anticipated closing window for application submission is up to 30 days and may be extended as needed.

Annual Salary Range (based on full-time 40 hours per week)

Job Profile: Researcher II / Annual Salary Range: $73,200 - $120,800

NREL takes into consideration a candidate's education, training, and experience, expected quality and quantity of work, required travel (if any), external market and internal value, including seniority and merit systems, and internal pay alignment when determining the salary level for potential new employees. In compliance with the Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, a potential new employee's salary history will not be used in compensation decisions.

Benefits Summary

Benefits include medical, dental, and vision insurance; short- and long-term disability insurance; pension benefits; 403(b) Employee Savings Plan with employer match; life and accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) insurance; personal time off (PTO) and sick leave; paid holidays; and tuition reimbursement. NREL employees may be eligible for, but are not guaranteed, performance-, merit-, and achievement- based awards that include a monetary component. Some positions may be eligible for relocation expense reimbursement. Limited-term positions are not eligible for long-term disability or tuition reimbursement.

***** Based on eligibility rules

Drug Free Workplace

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If you are offered employment at NREL, you must pass a pre-employment drug test prior to commencing employment. Unless prohibited by state or local law, the pre-employment drug test will include marijuana. If you test positive on the pre-employment drug test, your offer of employment may be withdrawn.

Submission Guidelines

Please note that in order to be considered an applicant for any position at NREL you must submit an application form for each position for which you believe you are qualified. Applications are not kept on file for future positions. Please include a cover letter and resume with each position application.

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EEO Policy

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Drug Free Workplace

NREL is committed to maintaining a drug-free workplace in accordance with the federal Drug-Free Workplace Act and complies with federal laws prohibiting the possession and use of illegal drugs. Under federal law, marijuana remains an illegal drug.

If you are offered employment at NREL, you must pass a pre-employment drug test prior to commencing employment. Unless prohibited by state or local law, the pre-employment drug test will include marijuana. If you test positive on the pre-employment drug test, your offer of employment may be withdrawn.

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