Electrical R&D Engineer

The Pennsylvania State University•University Park, FL

1d•$105,900 - $200,808•Onsite

About The Position

Penn State’s Applied Research Laboratory (ARL) is seeking an Electrical Engineer for its Deployables and Undersea Connectivity Department. The department develops and matures technologies for connecting platforms in the undersea domain, bridging the sea-air boundary, and supporting tethered and untethered communications between stationary or moving undersea platforms. The work addresses challenging undersea communications problems in support of the Navy, the Intelligence Community, and other federal government customers. The position is fully on-site in State College, Pennsylvania, and requires periodic travel to remote locations. The engineer designs, builds, operates, and maintains electrical, RF, fiber-optic, and/or Wi-Fi circuits for manned and unmanned underwater test vehicles and related test facilities and equipment. The role also involves collaborating with engineers and technicians to develop solutions to complex technical problems, maintaining and modernizing test systems, defining task requirements and schedules with sponsors and staff, reporting progress to principal investigators and project managers, and identifying needed resources. Depending on the professional level, responsibilities may expand to include project management, leading research tasks and teams, coordinating major project phases, and developing customer relationships and research opportunities. Applicants must be U.S. citizens and eligible to obtain a government security clearance. Employment requires successful background checks, participation in ARL’s drug-testing program, and compliance with applicable electronic and physical monitoring requirements. The role may be filled at either the Intermediate Professional or Advanced Professional level.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or Science.
Relevant experience: at least 2 years for the Intermediate Professional level or at least 5 years for the Advanced Professional level.
Experience with electronics and electrical testing and troubleshooting, digital and analog circuit design, schematic creation, PCB layout, microcontrollers, FPGA, embedded computing, firmware development, and test systems.
Strong problem-solving skills, including identifying technical issues that can be addressed for long-term success and applying rigor and discipline to the problem-solving process.
Effective communication and teamwork skills, including conveying information and collaborating to move decisions toward action.
U.S. citizenship.
Eligibility to obtain a government security clearance.
Successful completion of required background checks; participation in the ARL drug-testing program; and compliance with applicable electronic and physical monitoring requirements.

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting field testing of vehicles and test platforms, including travel to test events.
Experience with LabVIEW, Matlab, Solidworks, NX, Xilinx Vivado, Xilinx Vitis, Microchip MPLAB, Git, CAN, serial communications, UDP communications, SSH, SCPI, and interfaces.
Ability to learn and work across mechanical, electrical, software, and logistics disciplines in a small team with engineers, technicians, and U.S. Navy personnel.
Very high attention to detail.
Current eligibility for access to classified information at the Secret level or higher; applicants may be subject to a government background investigation to upgrade clearance eligibility if required.

Responsibilities

Design, build, operate, and maintain electrical, RF, fiber-optic, and/or Wi-Fi circuits for integration into manned and unmanned underwater test vehicles and related test facilities and equipment.
Collaborate with engineers and technicians to evaluate and design solutions to complex technical problems.
Update, modernize, and maintain existing test and evaluation systems to ensure reliable operation.
Meet with sponsors, faculty, and staff engineers to define task requirements and schedule constraints.
Communicate progress to principal investigators and project managers.
Identify resources needed to accomplish tasks and projects.
Support field testing of vehicles and test platforms, including travel to test events, as applicable.
At the Advanced Professional level, manage projects of small or moderate size and scope, contribute to feasibility assessments, and ensure assigned projects are high quality, cost-effective, and timely.
At higher levels, plan and perform larger-scope tasks, lead specific project tasks, assemble research team members, and coordinate phases of major projects.
Develop innovative problem-solving approaches, expand technical capabilities through peer networks, and identify research opportunities.
Understand broad strategic objectives and contribute to them while maintaining relationships with major customers and external research and development grantors.