Engineer - Vehicle Flight Control & Inertial Navigation Systems

The Pennsylvania State University•University Park, FL

1d•$105,900 - $231,000•Onsite

About The Position

Penn State’s Applied Research Laboratory (ARL) is seeking a Dynamics and Controls Engineer for the Vehicle Control and Dynamics Department within the Undersea Systems Office (USO). USO designs, develops, validates, and maintains large-scale undersea warfare models and simulations for technology developers, analysts, the Navy, and its allies. ARL conducts research and development supporting the Navy, the Department of Defense, and the Intelligence Community. The position is fully on-site in State College, Pennsylvania. Applicants must be U.S. citizens and eligible to obtain a government security clearance. Employees must participate in ARL’s drug-testing program and comply with monitoring requirements for federal contractors. The role focuses on requirements analysis, modeling, control algorithm development, navigation systems, software testing, and support for laboratory and field tests. The position may be filled at the intermediate, advanced, or senior professional level, with the required experience varying by level.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or Science.
Relevant experience: at least 2 years for the Intermediate Professional level, 5 years for the Advanced Professional level, or 14 years for the Senior Professional level.
Experience using MATLAB, Simulink, C, or C++.
Experience in network and serial communications.
Experience with software configuration management systems such as Git.
Must be a U.S. citizen.
Must be eligible to obtain a government security clearance.
Must participate in the ARL drug-testing program and comply with electronic and physical monitoring requirements applicable to federal contractors.

Nice To Haves

Active government security clearance.
Strong interpersonal and oral and written communication skills.
Excellent time-management skills.
Ability to present ideas, concepts, and instructions clearly to peers, management, sponsors, and stakeholders.
Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
Ability to conform to project development standards and requirements.

Responsibilities

Develop and analyze flight control system requirements, including system design trade studies.
Create, validate, and maintain six-degree-of-freedom dynamic system models for undersea vehicles, including software-in-the-loop simulations in MATLAB/Simulink.
Design, tune, and validate flight control algorithms and software.
Design, analyze, and update strapdown inertial navigation system algorithms, including modeling and analysis of navigation sensors.
Develop, debug, and test MATLAB/Simulink-based software and data-analysis tools.
Create unit, integration, and hardware-in-the-loop system tests for vehicle software.
Document algorithms, specifications, software, and defects.
Support laboratory and field-test planning, execution, and data analysis.
Seek professional development opportunities and share knowledge with team members.
At higher position levels, contribute to the design, development, implementation, and analysis of technical engineering products, systems, and subsystems.
At higher position levels, investigate the applicability of scientific theories and engineering principles, develop and improve engineering systems, and identify technical approaches to solve problems and meet customer or grantor needs.
At higher position levels, apply standard practices and techniques, correlate data, recognize discrepancies, and follow related operations through detailed steps or processes.
At higher position levels, conduct laboratory or field experiments and tests, collect and process data, record observations, and potentially plan or design tests and supervise their execution.
At higher position levels, contribute data, analysis, or designs for technical reports, documents, proposals, papers, or presentations.