GN&C Missile Engineer

Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory•Laurel, MD

4d•Onsite

About The Position

We are seeking a dedicated GN&C engineer, with an emphasis on Navigation, to design, model, and evaluate missile systems. These weapon systems come with an enormous GN&C challenge: They fly VERY fast with short time-constant nonlinear dynamics and require high accuracy even in GPS contested environments. As a GN&C Missile Engineer, your primary responsibilities could include any combination of the following (depending on skills and interests).

Requirements

Have a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or Physics (or closely related technical field)
Have 2 or more years of relevant technical experience in one or more of the following areas: Estimation Methods (Extended Kalman, Unscented, and/or Particle Filters), Covariance Analysis, Inertial Navigation, Flight Dynamics, Control Law design, Guidance/path planning
Have an interest and willingness to work on missile systems
Have experience in Matlab or C++. Willingness to learn Simulink
Are willing and able to support occasional travel (< 10%) for Sponsor meetings
Are able to obtain an interim secret level security clearance by your start date and can ultimately obtain a Top Secret level clearance. If selected, you will be subject to a government security clearance investigation and must meet the requirements for access to classified information. Eligibility requirements include U.S. citizenship.

Nice To Haves

Have one of the following combinations of work experience and degree (in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics, or closely related technical field): BS + 5 years, or MS + 3 years, or PhD
Prior work experience in Strategic weapon systems, including Hypersonic or Ballistic missile systems
Have demonstrated technical leadership of a team
Currently hold an active Secret or higher level clearance

Responsibilities

Conduct GN&C subsystem trade studies, designs, and analyses for next generation missile systems, including one or more of the following: 6 DOF model development and integration, High-fidelity navigation optimal estimation algorithm design, primarily using Kalman Filters, Performance prediction, Both high fidelity (e.g. physics-based) and low fidelity (e.g. parameterized) sensor modeling
Assess the performance of existing missile GN&C subsystems, including one or more of the following: Pre-flight performance prediction using 6 DOF models, covariance analysis, etc..., Post-flight performance evaluation by analyzing flight telemetry collected from sensors, including Inertial Measurement Units (IMU), Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers, RADAR, and other sensor systems.
Develop, implement, and assess potential algorithm improvements
Design, develop, integrate, test, and use software to conduct technical analyses that inform APL's technical opinions and/or generate data products
Present work to a broad internal audience as well as Sponsors and external organizations at working groups, post-flight briefings, and program reviews.