Junior Software Engineer (UAS)

TSC•Arlington, VA

About The Position

FALCATA’s Airborne Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (AISR) division is seeking a Software Engineer to support development and testing of flight components for Group 4/5 uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS). The role focuses on designing, developing, integrating, and testing software for autonomous vehicles, electromechanical devices, and aerospace or aviation platforms. The selected candidate will program design components, help bring up and test prototypes, and integrate them into UAS platforms with a multidisciplinary team. This is a hands-on engineering role involving embedded systems and autonomous vehicle control systems, including payload and sensor integration, programming, wire-harness design, enclosure building, testing, and electrical analysis. The engineer will apply design principles across the UAS product life cycle, from initial development through operations, and develop practical electrical and software solutions on rapid timelines. FALCATA’s AISR team designs, builds, and operates long-endurance UAS supporting 24/7 operations at multiple sites worldwide. The position may require up to 10% travel to development sites and test ranges. Other duties may be assigned as new technologies and capabilities are deployed.

Requirements

Associate or bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field.
0–2 years of experience.
U.S. citizenship and the ability to obtain and maintain a Top Secret DoD security clearance.
Proficiency in programming languages such as C/C++, Python, MATLAB, or JavaScript.
Experience with embedded systems for autonomous vehicles.
Strong understanding of software engineering fundamentals, including data-structure design, algorithm application, analysis, optimization, and testing.
Knowledge of applied mathematics, differential equations, linear algebra, and statistics.
Ability to perform basic software programming of electrical components, retrieve and evaluate data, and change code and settings on devices.
Ability to communicate effectively in an engineering environment and document and explain work to others.

Nice To Haves

Hands-on experience writing code for applications that control physical devices, from initial development through deployment.
Significant experience developing software for unmanned and autonomous vehicles, including air vehicles.
Experience designing, building, and testing electrical subsystems for an airborne platform.
Experience designing and integrating software control programs in electromechanical systems.
Demonstrated technical expertise, attention to detail, and precision-engineering standards.
Excellent organizational and communication skills.
Ability to prioritize work and maximize personal and team productivity.

Responsibilities

Write and maintain clean, well-documented, efficient code for embedded systems.
Assist with debugging and testing a larger codebase as part of a multi-developer team.
Conduct developmental testing to identify and fix issues.
Support software-system components and development activities for UAS platforms, including upfront analysis, prototyping, end-item development, and evaluation in laboratory and field-test environments.
Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams locally and across physical locations.
Work with product owners to develop software solutions that meet requirements.
Develop workable software solutions on rapid timelines to support requirements and troubleshoot real-world challenges.
Program design components, help bring up and test prototypes, and integrate them into UAS platforms.
Apply engineering skills to develop electrical design solutions across the UAS product life cycle.