Cleared IT recruiting in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque is a laboratory and directed energy market.
Kirtland Air Force Base on the city's southeast side hosts the Air Force Research Laboratory's Directed Energy and Space Vehicles directorates, the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center and the Space Rapid Capabilities Office, and Sandia National Laboratories keeps its headquarters on the base under a Honeywell subsidiary for the National Nuclear Security Administration. White Sands Missile Range and Spaceport America lie to the south, and Intel calls New Mexico its leading advanced packaging hub from Rio Rancho. Requisitions run from Secret to TS/SCI, with Department of Energy Q access for the laboratory programs.
Interstate 40 and Interstate 25 cross in the middle of the city, and the base, the laboratory and the Rio Rancho campus are each a short drive from most of the metro, which makes the commute a minor factor in Albuquerque searches.
Installations, agencies and employers that shape hiring in Albuquerque
The organizations below shape the Albuquerque market. They are named as facts about the area; none is a client of the firm.
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Kirtland Air Force Base
The base hosts the Air Force Research Laboratory's Directed Energy Directorate and Space Vehicles Directorate, the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center and the Space Rapid Capabilities Office, a direct reporting unit of the Space Force whose mission is to develop and deliver operationally dominant space capabilities at the speed of warfighting relevance.
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Sandia National Laboratories
Sandia is operated and managed by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International, for the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration; most of its employees work at its headquarters in Albuquerque or at its second principal laboratory in Livermore, California, across four program areas: nuclear weapons, national security programs, energy and global security.
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White Sands Missile Range
Comprising 3,200 square miles in southern New Mexico, the range calls itself the birthplace of America's missile and space activity and supports the Army, Navy and Air Force as well as commercial and international users while conducting more than 3,000 tests a year.
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Spaceport America
The first purpose-built commercial spaceport in the world, on 18,000 acres adjacent to White Sands Missile Range, with a 12,000-foot runway, run by the New Mexico Spaceport Authority and listing Virgin Galactic, AeroVironment, UP Aerospace and SpinLaunch among its tenants.
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Intel in Rio Rancho
Intel states that New Mexico is its leading advanced packaging hub, that it has more than 3,000 employees in the state and has invested more than 17.68 billion dollars in capital there, and that it is investing four billion dollars to expand and modernize its Rio Rancho facilities.
Commuting and remote work around Albuquerque
Interstate 40 runs 373.31 miles across New Mexico and Interstate 25 runs 461.74 miles, according to the federal route log, and they cross at the center of Albuquerque, a few minutes from the base's gates on the southeast side and from the Rio Rancho campus to the northwest.
ABQ RIDE, the city's transit service, runs bus routes, the on-demand ABQ RIDE Connect microtransit service and Sun Van paratransit, and the New Mexico Rail Runner Express commuter train links the metro to Santa Fe and the south valley, with Rio Metro bus routes numbered in the 200s connecting to it.
Laboratory, directed energy and nuclear weapons center work is on site in controlled facilities. Intel and the software employers offer hybrid arrangements, and a requisition should state its policy.
Clearance levels commonly requested in Albuquerque
Air Force Research Laboratory and Space Rapid Capabilities Office requisitions ask for Secret through TS/SCI, the nuclear weapons center's programs carry their own requirements, and Sandia's positions require a Department of Energy security clearance, with the laboratory warning applicants that illegal use of a controlled substance, including marijuana where state law allows it, may affect the ability to obtain or keep one. Intel and the commercial employers rarely require a clearance.
New Mexico's Criminal Offender Employment Act bars any arrest or conviction question on a private employer's written application, and the state sets no posting-stage rules on pay or salary history.
Specialties in demand in Albuquerque
Industries hiring in Albuquerque
Nearby markets
Questions about hiring in Albuquerque
How does a Department of Energy clearance differ from a Department of Defense one?
Both are federal eligibility determinations, but the Department of Energy grants its own access authorizations for its programs and laboratories, and its counterintelligence polygraph program is governed by 10 CFR Part 709. Sandia's careers page describes the laboratory's own screening. A candidate's existing Department of Defense eligibility is a matter for the sponsoring organization's security office to assess under the reciprocity directive.
Which Albuquerque requisitions require SCI access?
Those supporting the space and intelligence programs at Kirtland and the classified research around them. Most laboratory, engineering and IT support requisitions ask for Secret, Top Secret or a Department of Energy authorization without SCI. The requisition summary should state the level.