Instrumentation and Tool Process Engineer

Job Description

Virginia Tech’s Nanoscale Characterization and Fabrication Laboratory (NCFL) seeks a skilled, creative Instrumentation and Tool/Process Engineer to advance the integration of scientific instruments, automation, and research data systems. The engineer will develop and validate tools that improve how researchers acquire data, monitor equipment, and conduct electron- and ion-beam characterization, correlative microscopy, and electron-beam lithography workflows. This is a hands-on role for an engineer who enjoys solving problems across hardware, software, and scientific instrumentation. Projects may include instrument interfaces, sensors and telemetry, edge-computing components, automated acquisition, image and metadata pipelines, and workflows connecting instruments across facilities. The successful candidate will turn research objectives into reliable, documented capabilities that researchers and facility staff can use. The engineer will collaborate with NCFL staff, faculty, students, vendors, and personnel in other Virginia Tech facilities. Work involving an instrument will follow the safety, access, qualification, scheduling, change-control, and operational requirements of the facility responsible for that instrument. Proposed modifications and deployments require approval through that facility’s established processes. The position reports to the NCFL Director and works closely with NCFL research instrumentation managers on technical priorities, implementation, and validation. The engineer is accountable for meeting the technical requirements and acceptance criteria established with the relevant managers, who provide technical review and acceptance of work affecting their instruments and workflows.

Required Qualifications

• Associate's degree in instrumentation, engineering, physics, materials science, microscopy, computer science, or a related discipline, or a bachelor's degree with equivalent relevant training and experience.
• Experience operating, maintaining, troubleshooting, developing, or integrating advanced scientific instruments or laboratory systems.
• Experience in at least one of the following: instrument automation, data acquisition, microscopy, metrology, sensors and telemetry, or scientific instrument software.
• Demonstrated ability to diagnose technical problems systematically and develop practical solutions.
• Ability to produce clear technical documentation and communicate effectively with researchers, engineers, vendors, and facility staff.
• Ability to manage assigned technical work independently and collaborate on projects involving multiple teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with dual-beam focused ion beam/scanning electron microscopy (FIB/SEM), electron-beam lithography, other charged-particle instruments, or nanofabrication equipment.
• Experience developing instrument interfaces or working with vendor APIs, communication protocols, embedded systems, or edge-computing hardware.
• Programming experience relevant to scientific instrumentation or data workflows, such as Python, LabVIEW, MATLAB, or a comparable language or platform.
• Experience with image acquisition and processing, machine vision, correlative microscopy, or scientific data and metadata pipelines.
• Experience commissioning equipment, developing qualification procedures, or validating instrument modifications in an operational laboratory.
• Experience in a shared-user research facility, including coordination of equipment access, user needs, safety, scheduling, and configuration control.
• Familiarity with version control and maintainable software development practices.

Pay Band

4

Overtime Status

Non-Exempt: Eligible for overtime

Appointment Type

Restricted

Salary Information

$70,000-$82,267; commensurate with experience

Hours per week

40

Review Date

November 30, 2026

Additional Information

We are unable to sponsor work visas for this position.

The successful candidate will be required to have a criminal conviction check.

About Virginia Tech

Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech pushes the boundaries of knowledge by taking a hands-on, transdisciplinary approach to preparing scholars to be leaders and problem-solvers. A comprehensive land-grant institution that enhances the quality of life in Virginia and throughout the world, Virginia Tech is an inclusive community dedicated to knowledge, discovery, and creativity. The university offers more than 280 majors to a diverse enrollment of more than 36,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students in eight undergraduate colleges, a school of medicine, a veterinary medicine college, Graduate School, and Honors College. The university has a significant presence across Virginia, including Blacksburg, the greater Washington, D.C. area, the Health Sciences and Technology Campus in Roanoke, sites in Newport News and Richmond, and numerous Extension offices and research institutes. A leading global research institution, Virginia Tech conducts more than $650 million in research annually.

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Virginia Tech does not discriminate against employees, students, or applicants on the basis of age, color, disability, sex (including pregnancy), gender, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information, ethnicity or national origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, or military status, or otherwise discriminate against employees or applicants who inquire about, discuss, or disclose their compensation or the compensation of other employees or applicants, or on any other basis protected by law.

If you are an individual with a disability and desire an accommodation, please contact Erin Poff at emcclusk@vt.edu during regular business hours at least 10 business days prior to the event.