2026 Graduate - Navigation Systems Analyst/Engineer

Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory•Laurel, MD

16h•Onsite

About The Position

This role is for early-career analysts, scientists, and engineers who are graduating with a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in a STEM discipline and are interested in navigation for undersea, surface, and future platforms. The team supports deployed submarine and surface ship systems today and is expanding into new mission areas and alternative navigation concepts for tomorrow. You will join a multi-disciplinary team of physicists, software developers, mathematicians, engineers, and geophysicists who perform data analysis, modeling and simulation, systems engineering, technology roadmapping, and geophysical research for navigation. The position involves working with multi-disciplinary teams to collect, process, and analyze data and to assess the performance of navigation systems and their integration within systems-of-systems for various U.S. Navy platforms. You will also build forward-looking analytical solutions to test and evaluate prototype and operational navigation systems, and collaborate closely with sponsors and partners, learning their missions and tailoring analyses and tools to meet their needs.

Requirements

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Engineering (e.g., Mechanical, Electrical, Aerospace, Ocean, Systems), Computer Science or Software Engineering, Statistics/Data Science, Physics, Geophysics, Mathematics, Operations Research, or a related subject.
Strong problem-solving, analytical, collaborative, and organizational skills.
Strong sense of curiosity about how complex systems—especially navigation systems—work and are motivated to explore data, models, and documentation to find out.
Excellent interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills needed to document methods, explain results, and present work to colleagues and government sponsors.
Experience in Python and/or Matlab.
Willing and able to travel occasionally to U.S. Navy facilities, bases, test sites, and contractor locations to support tests and present results.
Able to obtain a Secret security clearance by your start date and can ultimately obtain a Top Secret clearance.
U.S. citizenship.

Nice To Haves

Hold an active Secret or Top Secret security clearance.
Experience working with the Department of Defense, particularly U.S. Navy systems, tests, or sponsors.
Coursework, projects, or internship experience related to navigation, guidance, geophysics, signal processing, or autonomous systems.
Demonstrated understanding of surface or subsurface navigation concepts (e.g., inertial navigation, GPS/GNSS, underwater navigation, celestial navigation, map-matching).
Experience with machine learning, statistical inference, or AI integration in technical environments.
Experience applying data fusion techniques (e.g., Kalman filtering, Bayesian estimation) or signal processing methods to real data.
Experience with Agile software development practices or full lifecycle software development.
Experience with modern software development workflows, including: Configuration management and version control tools (e.g., Git, GitLab), Issue tracking and code review, Automated testing, Continuous integration / continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines.
Experience with gravity, magnetic, bathymetric, or other geophysical modeling and mapping.
Relevant coursework and/or experience with potential field theory, geophysical processing, and related modeling methods.
Worked with geospatial data, GIS tools, or environmental models relevant to navigation.

Responsibilities

Analyze data from deployed submarine and surface ship navigation systems to assess real-world performance.
Develop and apply metrics, visualizations, and statistical techniques to quantify accuracy, robustness, and reliability.
Help diagnose anomalies and recommend improvements to systems and procedures.
Develop physics-based models and simulations of navigation systems and sensors.
Apply statistical estimation and data fusion techniques (e.g., Kalman filters) to evaluate system performance.
Perform trade studies and sensitivity analyses to understand how design choices and environmental factors impact navigation accuracy.
Design and implement intuitive, robust software tools that transform raw, large-scale data into actionable insight.
Implement best practices for development, testing, and maintenance of analytical software used across the group.
Prototype new analytic methods and automation to increase the efficiency and impact of navigation analyses.
Support test planning, execution, and analysis for submarine and surface ship navigation systems.
Contribute to system requirements, design reviews, and technology assessments.
Help develop technology roadmaps that guide future investments in navigation capabilities.
Contribute to the development and refinement of navigation-relevant geophysical products (e.g., gravity maps, magnetic models, bathymetry-based approaches).
Explore and evaluate alternative navigation concepts that exploit geophysical signatures and environmental information.
Help develop and integrate geophysical models into navigation simulations and system analyses.