Creative Energy. Supercharged with Science.

Accelerate your career with a new role at the nation's newest national laboratory. Here you can be part of a team exploring the building blocks of matter and lay the ground work for scientific discoveries that will reshape our understanding of the atomic nucleus. Join a community with a common purpose of solving the most challenging scientific and engineering problems of our time.

 

Title Job ID Category Date Posted
Chief of Staff Intern 13457 Management
Hall A Postdoctoral Fellow 13507 Science
Procurement Officer 13482 Purchasing
CEBAF Director – Associate Laboratory Director 13493 Management
Engineering Division Safety Officer 13521 Engineering
Electronics Engineer II - Data Acquisition 13504 Engineering
PEIC Postdoctoral Fellow 13520 Science
Hall C Postdoctoral Fellow 13518 Science
Magnet Group Mechanical-Electrical Designer 13388 Misc./Trades
Hall C Mechanical Designer II 13513 Misc./Trades
Hall A/C Staff Scientist I 13508 Science

A career at Jefferson Lab is more than a job. You will be part of “big science” and work alongside top scientists and engineers from around the world unlocking the secrets of our visible universe. Managed by Jefferson Science Associates, LLC; Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility is entering an exciting period of mission growth and is seeking new team members ready to apply their skills and passion to have an impact. You could call it work, or you could call it a mission. We call it a challenge. We do things that will change the world.

Jefferson Lab Virtual Field Trip
Why choose Jefferson Lab
  • PASSION AND PURPOSE
    Middle School Science Bowl competitors huddle together to brainstorm the answer.
  • PASSION AND PURPOSE
    Local teachers share ideas for a classroom activity with other teachers during Teacher Night.
  • PASSION AND PURPOSE
    Two young learners hold up a model of the atom during Deaf Science Camp.
  • PASSION AND PURPOSE
    Staff Scientist Douglas Higinbotham snaps a selfie with some of the postdoc students he is mentoring.

At Jefferson Lab we believe in giving back to our community and encouraging the next generation of scientists and engineers. Our staff reaches out to students to advance awareness and appreciation of the range of research carried out within the DOE national laboratory system, to increase interest in STEM careers for all, and to encourage everyone to become a part of the next-generation STEM workforce. We are recognized for our innovative programs like:

  • 1,500 students from 15 Title I schools engage in the Becoming Enthusiastic About Math and Science (BEAMS) program at the lab each school year.
  • 60 teachers are enrolled in the Jefferson Science Associates Activities for Teachers (JSAT) program at the lab inspiring 9,000 students annually.
  • 24 high school students have internships and 34 college students have mentorships at the lab.

     

Facebook posts
Meet our people
  • Jim Follkie, Senior Technologist

    Jefferson Lab Senior Technologist and Designer Gravitates Toward High Speeds

    At a glance, one might say that Jim Follkie has a need for speed – or at least to have a role in making things go very fast. Through his job at Jefferson Lab, Follkie has the distinction of being one of a few dozen people in the world who can perform an electron beam weld on niobium, which he does from behind the three-inch lead glass of an eight-foot by eight-foot by eight-foot vacuum chamber.

    Some of these niobium cavities may one day be used to propel electrons through the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility at a rate that is equivalent to circling the world 7.5 times in just one second.

    When he gets the chance, Follkie loves to work on race cars – collecting parts, building engines and being a part of the pit crew at races. As a racing enthusiast and active member of a “nostalgia blown funny car” team, Follkie has a large network of friends in the racing circuit, giving him a plethora of cars to work on when he feels like getting his hands greasy.

    “My buddy has a 1971 Mustang,” he says. “I have another friend here who has a 1970 Challenger. I have my own dragster in Chicago – an original 1971 AA fuel dragster with a 215-inch wheelbase. It doesn’t look like a car; it’s created solely for drag racing.”

    Racing runs in the family

    Currently, Follkie spends his time on the racing crew, rather than in the cockpit, at races. However, he has a lifetime of experience behind the wheel. As a child, his father raced stock cars and midget cars around Chicago. “I grew up around stock car racing,” Follkie says. “We would go to the track every Friday night. In high school, I had a 1967 Cougar and I would race that.”

    In high school, Follkie’s father built an extension onto the family garage so his stock car could fit. “I drove the dragster through the garage wall one day,” Follkie laughs. “It took me three years to get that car to where it was up-and-running. It was on the trailer and I was showing my friend who was visiting. My dad had told me not to start the car, but my friend wanted to hear the engine. I thought the car was in park, but it was in reverse and when I started it, the car went right off the trailer and through the wall. It ended up being a funny story. Back when I was 20, I thought I was invincible.”

    Support crew for racing circuit

    As a member of the support crew, Follkie and his team currently participate in about six races per season, which runs from May to October. “When we arrive at a racetrack, we are usually the first people at the track,” he explains. “We set up an awning and a carpet and basically disassemble the car to check the parts, including the oil filter screen, spark plugs and parachutes.”

    Once the racing begins, Follkie and his team support their driver through several heats until the final showdown between the two fastest cars. “We’ve done as many as 20 races in a season,” Follkie says. “We win some. We won a match race at the Bristol Dragway in Thunder Valley, Tennessee recently.”

    In between race days, Follkie focuses on collecting parts to restore his car so he can rebuild it as soon as he figures out how to get it from Chicago to Virginia. He would need a long transportation trailer and a garage if he relocates his car to Virginia, which he hopes to do someday.

    When asked how his work life relates to his racing life, Follkie points out that many of the drag racing machines today had to be fabricated from scratch, as do the accelerator cavities that he fabricates, and both have to be tweaked, modified and tuned to achieve a specific goal. His racers will never match the speeds at which an accelerator component can propel an electron, but both pursuits ultimately fulfill his need for speed.

    By Carrie Rogers

Youtube videos

The Jefferson Lab campus is located in southeastern Virginia amidst a vibrant and growing technology community with deep historical roots that date back to the founding of our nation. Staff members can live on or near the waterways of the Chesapeake Bay region or find peace in the deeply wooded coastal plain. You will have easy access to nearby beaches, mountains, and all major metropolitan centers along the United States east coast.

To learn more about the region and its museums, wineries, parks, zoos and more, visit the Virginia tourism page, Virginia is for Lovers

To learn more about life at Jefferson Lab, click here.

 

We support our inventors! The lab provides resources to employees for the development of patented technology -- with over 180 awarded to date! Those looking to obtain patent coverage for their newly developed technologies and inventions while working at the lab are supported and mentored by technology experts, from its discovery to its applied commercialization, including opportunities for monetary awards and royalty sharing. Learn more about our patents and technologies here.

  • Ron Lassiter
    Ron Lassiter
    Mechanical Designer

    “Here at the lab you get to see what you’ve worked on. You can hold it in your hands. It’s rewarding to know that you’ve played a part in helping the machine to be successful.”

  • Scott Conley
    Scott Conley
    Environmental Management Team

    "There is world-class research going on here. Any given day you can be in the room with genius physicists and that’s just amazing.”

  • Jian-Ping Chen
    Jian-Ping Chen
    Senior Staff Scientist

    “Every time we solve problems, we contribute. It’s exciting times for new results and discoveries.”

  • Pashupati Dhakal
    Pashupati Dhakal
    Accelerator Operations

    "Not every day is the same day. Working in research and development, it’s not a one person job."

  • Jianwei Qiu
    Jianwei Qiu
    Associate Director For Theoretical And Computational Physics

    "My own research enables me to better lead the Theory Center, to lead our collaboration, to provide good guidance to our junior researchers on the team, and to provide valuable input to the advisory and review committees that I serve"

Jefferson Science Associates, LLC (JSA) manages and operates the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab). JSA is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please send an e-mail to recruiting @jlab.org or call (757) 269-7100 between 8 am – 5 pm EST to provide the nature of your request.

"Proud V3-Certified Company"

A Proud V3-Certified Company
JSA/Jefferson Lab values the skills, experience and expertise veterans can offer due to the myriad of experiences, skill sets and knowledge service members achieve during their years of service. The organization is committed to recruiting, hiring, training and retaining veterans, and its ongoing efforts has earned JSA/Jefferson Lab the Virginia Values Veterans (V3) certification, awarded by the Commonwealth of Virginia.