CRANE — Because of a strong workload demand, the Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division is adding jobs across the board.
Though the exact amount of new positions that will need to be filled is not readily available, NSWC Crane Director of Engagement Kyle Werner said the base is continuing to grow even as it reaches record high employment numbers.
He said the total number of employees in the base’s workforce is the highest its been in the last 25 years. NSWC Crane, located on the third largest naval installation in the world, currently employs about 3,250 civilians, 800 contractors and approximately 30 members of the U.S. military.
“In addition to these numbers, we have a real strong demand for our workload in terms of our projections and forecasting,” Werner said. “It puts us in a position to receive additional hiring authority for the 2018 calendar year that’s coming up and the 2018 fiscal year we just started.”
Werner said he believes the strong demand comes from significant instability from both state and non-state actors, making the delivery of the base’s equipment and hardware necessary.
According to the NSWC Crane Division website, the Martin County base’s mission is to provide acquisition engineering, in-service engineering and technical support for sensors, electronics, electronic warfare and special warfare weapons. It also works to apply component and system-level product and industrial engineering to surface sensors, strategic systems, special warfare devices and electronic warfare systems. The focus of NSWC Crane is to “harness the power of technology for the Warfighter,” according to the website.
NSWC Crane heavily hires individuals for science and engineering careers — about 67 percent of its total employees are scientists, engineers and technicians who work in areas like the electrical, computer science and mechanical engineering fields. The other 33 percent are a combination of business professionals, technical administrators and a few clerical positions.
The base is actively recruiting and hiring at 25 universities across the country. Those interested in learning more about the base’s technician, engineer or scientist positions can do so by visiting the Crane website.
The NSWC Crane Division is already the third largest employer in southwest Indiana and the 11th largest single-site employer in the state. Werner said the Crane base generates more than $2 million a day into the Indiana economy.