Marine Coatings Engineering Lead

N4 Solutions, LLC offers our public and private sector clients the collective intellectual knowledge, expertise, and experience of our company and associates to help our customers evaluate, collaborate, innovate, and create business, technology, and scientific solutions that enable them to accomplish their mission and achieve organizational objectives. With the growth of the company, we are seeking a highly motivated and hard-working corrosion engineering professional to join our team. The successful candidate will work in a high-paced and rewarding work environment.

JOB DESCRIPTION/DUTIES:
The Marine Coatings Engineering Lead will serve as a senior Research and Development (R&D) technical leader supporting NRL, with a primary focus on marine coatings engineering and surface-treatment technologies for Navy platforms. The position will lead, coordinate, and conduct the development, refinement, testing, and transition of marine coatings and surface treatments, including coating formulation, thermal spray technologies, and improved autonomy for applying and removing hull treatments. The successful candidate will lead complex R&D activities from experimental planning and coating development through laboratory and field evaluation, data analysis, technical reporting, and fleet-relevant technology transition while ensuring technical quality and alignment with Navy mission and sponsored-program objectives.

• Provide senior R&D technical leadership for marine coatings science and technology programs supporting Navy ships, submarines, marine structures, aircraft, and other warfighting platforms.
• Lead the development, refinement, formulation, and testing of marine coating systems and surface treatments for Navy and military applications.
• Plan, oversee, and conduct formulation and synthesis of resins, pigments, and coating systems for underwater hulls, topside surfaces, non-skid areas, bilges, rudders, tanks, voids, and other Navy applications.
• Develop and evaluate multifunctional coatings, including surface-tolerant, antifouling, rapid-cure, solvent-free, self-inspecting, high-performance/durability, and low-solar-absorbance coating technologies.
• Direct the development and testing of surface treatments, including thermal spray and other surface-modification or enhancement approaches, to improve corrosion resistance, durability, maintainability, and service life.
• Design and oversee laboratory and field test programs to assess physical properties and coating performance under natural seawater exposure, atmospheric conditions, environmental test chambers, simulated flow environments, and other Navy-relevant conditions.
• Evaluate coating and surface-treatment performance under environmental extremes of temperature, humidity, and solar exposure and under Navy-specific performance conditions such as acoustic damping, coefficient of friction, wear, durability, and exposure.
• Ensure coatings and treated components are designed and tested for conformance with applicable Navy, DoD, and other technical standards, specifications, procedures, and acceptance criteria.
• Develop, evaluate, and improve techniques, equipment, and processes for surface preparation, coating application, coating inspection, coating removal, and related ship-maintenance activities.
• Lead R&D efforts to improve autonomy and automation in the application and removal of hull treatments, including evaluation of equipment, process controls, sensing, inspection, and repeatability of automated or semi-automated approaches.
• Develop and review scientific and engineering test plans, experimental designs, data requirements, quality controls, and acceptance criteria for marine coatings and surface-treatment evaluations.
• Oversee and participate in test execution, data collection, data management, analysis, interpretation, and reporting to establish defensible conclusions and Objective Quality Evidence (OQE) for coating and surface-treatment performance.
• Support field demonstrations, waterfront testing, shipboard evaluations, and technology-transition activities for marine coatings, surface treatments, application/removal technologies, and related corrosion-control solutions.
• Plan and support technology demonstrations of marine coatings and related systems at Navy, shipyard, waterfront, laboratory, and other field locations, including coordination of experimental platforms, test beds, equipment, and logistics as required.
• Use analytical, statistical, modeling, and data-visualization tools to interpret coating-performance data, identify degradation trends, compare candidate technologies, and develop actionable technical recommendations.
• Ensure scientific and engineering work is performed under approved test, quality assurance, safety, and data-management plans and in accordance with applicable environmental and laboratory requirements.
• Monitor technical progress, risks, and milestones against established project plans for assigned marine coatings R&D efforts and communicate status to NRL and program sponsors.
• Participate in technical reviews, progress meetings, and Integrated Product Team (IPT) activities and provide marine coatings engineering subject matter expertise to NRL, NAVSEA, Department of the Navy, Department of War, shipyards, fleet organizations, and industry stakeholders.
• Prepare, review, and contribute to technical reports, test reports, performance specifications, standards, procedures, guidance documents, presentations, and other technical deliverables supporting marine coatings implementation and fleet transition.
• Mentor technical staff, promote disciplined scientific methods, and support knowledge transfer across multidisciplinary teams performing coatings, materials, corrosion, mechanical testing, and technology-transition RDT&E

EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE/EXPERTISE:

• Master of Science or Doctor of Philosophy degree in Engineering, Physical Science, or equivalent from an accredited university. Years of experience may be substituted for advanced degree.
• Minimum of 8 years of demonstrated experience supporting a research environment with an appropriate knowledge base related to marine coatings engineering, materials science, corrosion science, surface treatments, or other technical areas.
• Demonstrated experience serving as a senior Research and Development (R&D) senior technical lead for complex scientific or engineering programs.
• Strong science and engineering credentials with expertise in applied and industrial Navy environments and proven ability to administer programs sponsored by the Department of the Navy and Department of War (DON and DOW).
• Advanced knowledge of marine coatings science and engineering, coating formulation, surface preparation, coatings application and removal, coating inspection, materials performance, and environmental effects on protective coating systems.
• Demonstrated experience developing, refining, testing, or evaluating marine coatings and surface-treatment technologies for laboratory, shipboard, waterfront, industrial, or other Navy-relevant environments.
• Experience with coating formulation and synthesis, including resins, pigments, coating systems, or comparable protective-material technologies, is strongly preferred.
• Experience developing or evaluating surface treatments such as thermal spray, surface modification, or comparable coating and material-enhancement technologies is strongly preferred.
• Experience developing and executing experimental test plans, evaluating coatings under controlled and natural environmental exposures, analyzing technical data, and preparing defensible technical reports and recommendations.
• Experience with technologies or processes that improve automation or autonomy in coating application, hull-treatment removal, surface preparation, inspection, or related maintenance activities is preferred.
• Familiarity with Navy coatings standards, specifications, ship-maintenance environments, field demonstrations, and fleet technology-transition activities is preferred.
• Excellent technical writing, analytical, leadership, communication, and stakeholder-coordination skills.
• Ability to support laboratory, waterfront, shipboard, and field activities and occasional travel to Navy, DoD, shipyard, or other test locations.
• Active Secret security clearance required

LOCATION:

• Washington, DC

The N4 Solutions Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Policy is to provide a fair and equal employment opportunity for all employees and job applicants regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability. N4 Solutions hires and promotes individuals solely on the basis of their qualifications and achievements for the job to be filled.