Senior Scientist

Purpose of the position:

Linde Special Projects in New Providence, NJ is seeking a Senior Staff Scientist with a background in Physics, Physical chemistry, Engineering, or a closely related field. This individual will play a key role in advancing our laboratory instrumentation, optimizing internal processes, and driving innovation across research projects.

The ideal candidate combines strong theoretical knowledge with practical laboratory experience and thrives in a collaborative, research-driven environment.

Principal responsibilities will include:

Laboratory & Technical Leadership

• Learn and master existing laboratory processes, instrumentation, and workflows.

• Analyze current systems and identify opportunities for performance improvement, reliability enhancement, and data quality.

• Design, prototype, test, and validate improvements to laboratory instrumentation and measurement systems.

• Develop and refine experimental methods and data acquisition systems.

• Comply with Linde safety policies and other regulatory requirements.

Research & Innovation

• Generate new research concepts and technical approaches to improve instrumentation and experimental methodologies.

• Lead or contribute to research projects from concept through implementation and validation.

• Conduct feasibility studies, modeling, simulation, and experimental validation as required.

Communication

• Interface with key stakeholders, including department technical staff, management, and US government technical staff.

• Prepare clear, data-driven technical reports and presentations and present project updates and technical recommendations to our sponsor and collaborators.

• Translate complex technical results into actionable recommendations for both technical and non-technical audiences.

Collaboration

• Work closely with internal and external scientists, engineers, and technicians on multidisciplinary research projects.

• Support troubleshooting and root-cause investigations for instrumentation or process issues.

Key interfaces

• Department technical staff (Engineers/Scientists/Technicians)

• Department management

• US Government Technical staff

Key competencies

• Safety-first mentality

• Intellectual curiosity and innovation mindset

• Technical rigor and attention to detail

• Clear and confident presenter

• Collaborative and team-oriented

• Decisiveness & Task execution

• Process, Project & Risk Management

• Employee Development & Empowerment

Required Qualifications

• M.S. or Ph.D. with 3 years experience in Physics, Physical Chemistry, Engineering, or related field. Candidates at the BA level with 7-10+ years will be considered.

• Strong foundations in the following:

o Spectroscopy

o Analog and digital electronics

o Signal processing

o Instrumentation and measurement systems

• Hands-on experience one or more of the following:

o Gas handling systems

o Vacuum technology

o Radiation detection systems/Geiger–Müller counting

• Experience designing, troubleshooting, and improving electronic systems.

• Demonstrated ability to independently design and execute experiments.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

• Ability to obtain and maintain DOD secret level security clearance (This requires US citizenship).

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with high-voltage systems and low-noise signal measurement.

• Familiarity with data acquisition systems (DAQ) and embedded systems.

• Familiarity with relational databases (e.g., SQL, Access).

• Programming experience (e.g., Python, LabVIEW, C/C++).

• Experience working directly with customers.

• Project management experience in a research or technical environment.