Research Engineer

About this role

Leidos is seeking an exceptional and motivated Research Engineer interested in pursuing their passion by working side-by-side with world experts as a research scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory’s (NETL) Pittsburgh, PA site. In this role, you will work as part of Leidos’s leading Research & Development laboratory team supporting DOE at NETL to pursue cutting-edge research on enhancing oil production from unconventional reservoirs. Specifically, you will work with NETL’s Production team to address the challenges of low permeability and complex fluid dynamics in shale formations by developing and testing secondary recovery methods, such as the injection of water, natural gas, or carbon dioxide with additives. In this role, you will engage with world-class researchers and engineers integrating expertise in reservoir engineering, subsurface geochemistry, fluid characterization, geomechanics, and advanced diagnostic imaging, including leading DOE scientists and external partners to advance fossil energy technology through scientific and technological innovation that addresses the optimization of oil recovery mechanisms.

What this opportunity with Leidos supporting NETL uniquely provides you: • Working on applied, cutting-edge projects with global impact while being mentored by the nation’s 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.  

Primary Responsibilities: • Assist rock characterization of oil saturation mapping, mineral analysis, porosity and permeability. • Assist fluid characterization including pressure-volume-temperature measurements, interfacial tension, contact angle measurements and additive evaluation for fluid selection optimization. • Assist with the design and conduct of laboratory tests aimed at enhancing oil and gas recovery from unconventional reservoirs by simulating subsurface conditions, quantifying oil and gas recovery rates and determining dominant recovery mechanisms under various injection scenarios. • Assist in evaluation of fracture and proppant properties under varying stress conditions. • Perform extensive and comprehensive literature reviews and summarize the state of knowledge for various topics relevant to enhanced oil recovery. • Interpret model outputs and document findings in peer-reviewed studies, technical reports, and internal/external presentations.  • Collaborate with an interdisciplinary team, including geologists, geographers, chemists, computer scientists, environmental scientists, and other researchers to accomplish project related tasks. 

Required Qualifications: • Bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering or related scientific/engineering field with 3+ years relevant experience or higher level degree as a substitute for experience. • Experience with interfacial science by conducting contact angle measurements, interfacial tension and wettability alteration.

• Experience interpreting XRD, CT and SEM for mineral analysis.

• Experience operating a high-pressure/high-temperature vessel and analyzing the physics of multiphase flow in porous media. • Experience with chemical EOR design such as surfactants, polymers and injected gas systems.

• Ability to meet the requirement for gaining access to work on the NETL campus.

Preferred Qualifications: • Experience utilizing Nuclear Magnetic Resonance scanning for oil saturation mapping. • Experience interpreting complex experimental data using tools like python or MATLAB.

Salary Range for this position: $75K to $80K If you're looking for comfort, keep scrolling. At Leidos, we outthink, outbuild, and outpace the status quo — because the mission demands it. We're not hiring followers. We're recruiting the ones who disrupt, provoke, and refuse to fail. Step 10 is ancient history. We're already at step 30 — and moving faster than anyone else dares.

Original Posting: August 12, 2026 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.

Pay Range: Pay Range $69,550.00 - $125,725.00 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.

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