The posting
Senior Project Engineer
Location: Los Alamos, NM (100% on-site)
Pay Rate: $70–$77/hr, based on experience
Clearance: DOE “Q” clearance, or the ability to obtain one
About the Role
We are recruiting on behalf of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) for a Senior Project Engineer to lead engineering on large-scale infrastructure and physical security projects. This is a design management and construction support role: you will make sure complex designs are built as intended into hardened, high-performing facilities, and you will own the engineering lifecycle of your assigned scope from project definition and design development through construction, commissioning, turnover, and closeout.
Working fully on-site, you will be the primary technical liaison between project management, multidisciplinary design teams, physical security engineers, and construction management, keeping mission-critical work on schedule and within budget.
Key Responsibilities
• Coordinate security and infrastructure design interfaces, aligning MEP, structural, and network architectures with physical and electronic security subsystems.
• Integrate multidisciplinary design work across civil, structural, architectural, mechanical, electrical, fire protection, network, security, and facility-system interfaces.
• Use Aproove for collaborative online proofing so that security layouts, structural, communications, and site work drawings, schematics, and design iterations go through full review and approval.
• Perform constructability reviews focused on high-security requirements, physical barriers, access control layouts, and critical utility pathing.
• Develop engineering solutions that extend infrastructure life and strengthen physical security without compromising budget or contract compliance.
• Lead combined Project Engineer and Field Engineer functions as the accountable engineering point of contact for assigned scope, keeping the technical path forward clear and decisions integrated across the project.
• Lead engineering coordination with designers of record, construction subcontractors, facility operations, safety, security, quality, and other stakeholders.
• Manage engineering change and technical resolution processes, including Field Change Requests, Design Revision Notices, RFIs, nonconformance dispositions, design clarifications, and field-change evaluations.
• Manage technical document control, submittals, and RFIs from the job site in ProjectSight as the single real-time source of truth.
• Perform cost engineering and progress tracking in Delta, evaluating subcontractor change orders, managing cost projections, and maintaining commercial compliance.
• Resolve complex field conflicts so that infrastructure changes do not compromise security design intent.
• Track critical schedule milestones using Microsoft Office tools and optimize sequencing for high-security component handoffs and site testing.
• Enforce quality control through routine field inspections verifying that installations meet structural specifications and security requirements.
• Evaluate design outputs and construction activities for code compliance, quality, configuration management, safety interfaces, security impacts, and applicable engineering procedures.
• Identify technical, schedule, construction, and interface risks, develop practical resolution paths, and elevate issues that need management or stakeholder decisions.
• Maintain project-level visibility of engineering deliverables, reviews, approvals, commitments, and critical-path actions supporting construction and major milestones.
• Support commissioning, turnover, closeout, and records completion for a compliant transition of completed work to the customer.
• Mentor and guide junior engineers on-site in infrastructure delivery and security compliance.
Required Education & Experience
Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related discipline, or equivalent experience, plus 10 or more years of project engineering experience focused on commercial infrastructure, civil works, or high-security or government-adjacent facilities.
Top Skills & Requirements
• 10+ years of project engineering experience on commercial infrastructure, civil works, or high-security/government-adjacent facilities.
• Hands-on proficiency with ProjectSight or an equivalent project management platform, Delta (cost/financial tracking), Aproove or an equivalent proofing/design review tool, and the Microsoft Office Suite.
• Strong attention to detail on physical layout compliance and strict document control.
• Sound technical decision-making, stakeholder coordination, and technical risk management.
• Clear, timely communication of engineering direction under tight project deadlines.
• Willingness and ability to work 100% on-site.
Security Clearance
This position requires a DOE “Q” clearance. Candidates who do not currently hold one must be able to obtain and maintain a DOE “Q” clearance, which requires U.S. citizenship.
Preferred Qualifications
• Experience leading work through design, field execution, turnover, and closeout in a high-consequence, security-sensitive, or nuclear-facility environment.
Interview Process
Interviews are conducted via Microsoft Teams.
Why Work at COMPA Industries?
We strive to provide careers, not just jobs, for our employees. We invest in and serve the communities where we work and live. We provide best-in-class administrative, professional, and technical services to solve complex problems to meet customer mission-critical objectives.
For over 30 years, Compa has been a trusted partner in progress. We combine decades of technical expertise with a forward-thinking spirit, tackling intricate challenges in nuclear facilities alongside the brightest minds in science and engineering. Join us, and don’t just build your career, build the future, with competitive compensation, a collaborative culture, and the chance to make a real difference for national security and beyond.
COMPA is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to protected status.
