LIGO Quality Assurance Engineer (CEBEX)

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Job Summary

The Caltech/MIT Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) seeks a highly motivated, skilled, and experienced Quality Assurance Engineer to join its team at the LIGO Hanford Observatory to:

• Review and interpret design/engineering drawings/specifications to identify key technical characteristics and advise/assign appropriate quality requirements to supplier contracts for Mechanical/Electrical/Optical Parts and assemblies utilizing standard (LIGO) quality clauses.
• Extensively interface with and train LIGO Laboratory scientists, engineers, and staff to ensure that the appropriate levels of quality requirements and practices are implemented for all assembly, acceptance testing, installation, and commissioning.

A majority of the effort will be to advance the design, procurement, and installation of theCEBEX beamtube project, a 1m diameter x 120m beamtube system to be installed in a new facility at the LIGO Hanford Observatory. This role sits at the critical intersection of engineering and procurement, serving as the primary technical liaison between LIGO's science and engineering teams and the external suppliers who fabricate the precision components our instruments depend on.

Day to day, this person evaluates supplier quality systems and inspection data against demanding specifications (think MIL-PRF-grade optics, custom-fabricated assemblies, and other tightly toleranced hardware), investigates and resolves nonconformances when parts arrive out of spec, and expedites orders to keep fabrication schedules aligned with the observatory's construction and upgrade timelines. The problems this person solves are the ones that quietly threaten every complex build: a supplier drifting toward the edge of tolerance, a schedule slipping because a vendor under-communicated, a dispute over whether a delivered part actually meets the drawing. Left unresolved, these issues become instrument performance problems, budget overruns, or NSF-reportable delays - caught early by this role, they simply become handled. The work is deeply collaborative: this person will work closely with LIGO scientists and engineers to translate technical requirements into supplier-facing specifications, with contracts and legal staff when disputes escalate, and directly with supplier quality engineers and account managers to drive corrective action. They'll influence real decisions - whether a shipment is accepted or rejected, whether a supplier relationship continues or a new vendor is sourced, how a nonconformance gets resolved and at what cost to the project - all exercised with genuine autonomy and sound engineering and regulatory judgment (familiarity with standards like MIL-PRF and general QA/ISO frameworks is essential).

By strengthening the reliability of everything that comes through the supply chain, this role protects the schedule, budget, and scientific integrity of one of the most ambitious instruments ever built. It's a position for someone who enjoys being the person in the room who can speak both engineering and contracts, who takes satisfaction in tracking down the root cause of a defect and following it through to resolution, and who wants their attention to detail to matter at a scale that few QA roles offer - knowing that when LIGO listens for the universe's faintest signals, every component was ready to perform because they made sure of it.

This is an in-person role at the LIGO Hanford Observatory in Washington state; however, it requires significant travel for vendor visits.

Essential Job Duties

• Review and interpret design/engineering drawings/specifications to identify key technical characteristics and advise/assign appropriate quality requirements to supplier contracts for Mechanical/Electrical/Optical Parts and assemblies utilizing standard (LIGO) quality clauses.
• Extensively interface with and train LIGO Laboratory scientists, engineers, and staff to ensure that the appropriate levels of quality requirements and practices are implemented for all assembly, acceptance testing, installation, and commissioning.
• Work with the engineers/scientists on the Specifications, Statements of Work, Requests for Quote, and Vendor Selection.
• Act as a manufacturing liaison and expediter.
• Help to refine and ensure implementation of supplier/vendor acceptance requirements, inspection procedures, and processes.
• Contribute to the existing LIGO-wide qualified vendor list and periodically update it based on new information through the procurement and inspection processes.
• Review quality performance of suppliers/vendors and contractors and develop Corrective Action Plans (CAP's) for improvement.
• Support and refine in-house test plans; review test results to help in identifying trends.
• Coordinate and/or maintain quality records and report QA status as needed.
• Undertake exploratory and post-contract visits to vendors to ensure quality performance and to address issues as they arise.
• Perform targeted inspection of in-house activities and products, incoming parts, return product and shippable equipment.
• Matrix manages a small team of full- and part-time staff during peak periods of incoming inspection and commissioning of parts.
• Frequent travel to vendor sites.
• Other duties as assigned.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical or Electrical Engineering and 4 years of experience interpreting design and engineering requirements, understand manufacturing, installation, integration, and test practices, and the ability to advise/apply appropriate quality controls, OR 8 years of equivalent experience.
• Candidate must have a working knowledge of general quality practices, including 8 years of vendor/supplier auditing, corrective action, material review, analysis of nonconformance data, and nonconformance procedures and processes.
• The candidate must have experience in applying quality requirements for Mechanical/Electrical Parts and Assemblies.
• Demonstrable knowledge of inspection and manufacturing practices, workmanship standards, and acceptance testing needed. Strong knowledge of ISO 9001 Quality Management System requirements, as well as applicable MIL Standards, ANSI, SAE, ASME, NADCAP, and other appropriate requirement specifications applicable to the aerospace industry.
• The candidate must possess excellent communication skills (oral and written) and familiarity with research environments.
• Candidates must have direct experience with Microsoft Word, Excel, Project, and PowerPoint, and be ready to use (and potentially refine) web-based tracking systems and QA presence. Facility with email as a working tool is vital.

Preferred Qualifications

• Particulate and general contamination control methods and processes required for ultra-high cleanliness vacuum system applications.
• Optical component quality assurance.
• 5 years of experience with helium leak testing for ultra-high vacuum.
• Be comfortable in cleanroom environments and ultraclean parts processing for in-vacuum use.

Required Documents

• Resume.