Job Description

Materials Lab Forensics Scientist

About KE|AD Building Consultants

KE|AD is a dynamic and multi-layered engineering and architectural consulting firm based in Seattle, WA and Honolulu, HI. Our team of architects, engineers and construction administrators provide services across a variety of industries, including legal, insurance, multi-family, building envelope, plumbing and HVAC and construction administration. Our KE|AD team includes architects, mechanical engineers, structural engineers, materials engineers and construction administrators. KEAD is a tight knit team that takes pride in tackling tough cases and providing high quality results for our clients. Our engineering and architectural expertise includes but is not limited to forensics evaluation/investigation, compliance, Mechanical – Electrical-Plumbing Design (MEP), management support consulting, repair & design. KEAD’s primary consulting focus is investigation/evaluation and repair, with a secondary focus of design. We tackle design projects on a case-by-case basis that fit the expertise and resource capacity of our firm.

Job Details Overview and Responsibilities

KEAD is seeking a qualified person with between 0 -10 years of education / work and team experience for our Seattle office. This position will focus on providing project and technical support regarding materials investigation to project leads throughout the organization. Duties include usage and maintenance of our materials lab’s equipment, collection and organization of test data, writing technical reports, design and inspection support for some of our MEP, crane or structural projects as well as managing assigned projects as a Project PM. This position includes 10-20% travel which is mostly local.

You will be working in a consulting environment with varying levels of responsibility and a wide variety of technical tasks. Every day will bring something new to learn and you will be challenged on a regular basis. A typical say will be answering “Why did this fail?” or How long till it fails?” You will be a key player among a team of supportive and cross-functional engineers who value each other’s opinions and strive to make each day productive and fun.

The hired candidate will be responsible for:

• Site and laboratory work

• Visual inspection/observation

• Testing (destructive and nondestructive)

• Proper utilization and maintenance of shop, testing, and analytical tools equipment

• Documentation (photo, video, notes, checklists)

• Forensic documentation

• Multimedia/video setup for remote inspections

• Learning inspection, testing, and documentation procedures quickly and executing with confidence.

• Clear, proactive, and confident communication with clients and team while on site, especially in a forensic case

• Creation of field, observation and findings reports• Data organization, analysis, and development of spreadsheets

• Input for proposal estimates based on your scope of responsibility

• Manage project life cycle for all material engineering projects and some construction defect and cross functional forensic projects

• Manage proposal/contract execution and receipt of client documents

Minimum Required Experience and Qualifications:

• US Citizenship or current legal work status required

• No felony convictions, drug convictions, restraining/protective orders or domestic violence convictions.

• Minimum bachelor’s degree in Civil, Mechanical, or Materials Engineering from an ABET accredited school with a Materials Science focus or experience

• FE Examination Certificate from NCEES and EIT status• Research / Laboratory experience involving materials or engineering testing

• 0-10 years of work with a technical team

• Experience performing metallurgical analysis using tensile tester, hardness tester

• Metallographic Microscope

• Metallographic preparation equipment including cutting, grinding and etching processes.

• Microscopy including digital (Keyence preferred) and optical methods

• Durometers

• Handling of Chemicals used in etching and surface preparation for inspection

• Experience testing a variety of materials such as metals, plastics, construction materials.

• Experience interpreting ASTM, ASME and ISO testing procedures

.• Experience authoring test procedures and handling protocols

• Proficient with MS Office products (Word, PowerPoint)

• Analysis level expertise with MS Excel

Preferred Experience:

• WA State P.E. or Other US State P.E.

• 1-10 years of Lab Experience

• SEM equipped with Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX/EDS)

• FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy)

• Knoop and Vickers Micro Hardness Testers

• Experience working on or around mechanical systems (plumbing, HVAC, engines, heavy equipment, industrial equipment, vehicles, airplane, boats, Maker, robotics, etc) - Hands on! Tell me what you worked on!!!!

• Working knowledge of firearms including safe handling and design principles

• Experience working on or around industrial and/or construction sites

• Experience working with materials including metals & alloys, aggregates, composites, plastics and ceramics

• Basic fabrication skills including sawing, welding, milling, turning additive manufacturing and use of power tools

• Established experience working with NDT equipment

• Project & time management skills

• Working knowledge of MS Project for managing projects and reporting

• CAD Software proficiency with SolidWorks or AutoCAD

• Leadership skills

• Ability to grow and maintain relationships and trust with past, existing and new clients

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