Real-Time C/C++ Software Engineer

MIT Lincoln Laboratory•Lexington, MA

2d•$114,000 - $164,000

About The Position

The Air Traffic Control and Weather Systems Group is seeking a real-time C/C++ software engineer to help develop a replacement for the ASR-9 Weather System Processor (WSP). The existing WSP is deployed at 34 operational sites and provides safety-critical alerts to Air Traffic Controllers about low-altitude wind shear and microburst conditions that could endanger approaching aircraft. As the ASR-9 and WSP are replaced by the Brand-New Air Traffic Control System (BNATCS), the WSP software and a new signal-processing capability must be made operational on the new system within a year. The project involves designing, developing, and testing real-time signal-processing software based on weather-radar algorithms initially developed in MATLAB. The software ingests in-phase and quadrature (I/Q) data samples from a radar receiver and generates weather base data, including reflectivity, radial velocity, and spectrum width. The engineer will contribute to the C++ software architecture and to the design, implementation, and testing of the real-time prototype system. As an MIT Lincoln Laboratory Associate Staff member, you will contribute to multidisciplinary research and prototyping supporting the Laboratory’s national security mission. Work may span hardware and software development, systems and data analysis, component fabrication, system integration, testing, and documentation. Depending on experience and assignment, you may own project components or lead workstreams and small teams, contribute to sponsor briefings, and develop test plans and reports.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in a STEM discipline or other relevant technical field and typically 2 or more years of relevant experience; or a master’s degree and typically 0 or more years of relevant experience; or an equivalent combination of education and experience (Level 3).
Bachelor’s degree in a STEM discipline or other relevant technical field and typically 4 or more years of relevant experience; or a master’s degree and typically 2 or more years of relevant experience; a PhD may be considered; or an equivalent combination of education and experience (Level 4).
Solid technical depth in a primary engineering, research, or other technical domain and ability to apply knowledge independently (Level 3); strong technical depth with emerging breadth across related disciplines or mission areas (Level 4).
Demonstrated ability to solve complex technical problems and manage project components; ability to lead project components or technical workstreams at Level 4.
Experience contributing to technical documentation, analyses, reports, presentations, or project deliverables.
Ability to collaborate across project teams and communicate technical information clearly; at Level 4, ability to communicate complex information to varied audiences and collaborate with sponsors and internal partners.
Emerging ability to guide less experienced colleagues and contribute to team capability development (Level 3); demonstrated ability to mentor others, review work, and contribute to technical capability (Level 4).
Proficiency in C/C++ and familiarity with MATLAB.
Demonstrated experience in signal-processing software development.
Demonstrated experience with C/C++ real-time libraries, particularly for signal processing, FFTs, and parallelization.
Experience with GPU libraries for signal processing and parallelized FFT processing, such as CUDA or rocFFT.
Experience with modern software DevSecOps pipelines.
Strong communication and teaming skills.
Selected candidate must be able to obtain and maintain a Secret-level DoD security clearance and will be subject to a pre-employment background investigation.
U.S. citizenship is required.

Nice To Haves

Experience with massive parallelization of FFTs on CPUs and GPUs.
Proficiency working with Python-based AI and machine-learning packages, including NumPy, TensorFlow, Keras, PyTorch, and scikit-learn.
A PhD may be considered for Level 4.

Responsibilities

Contribute to the C++ software architecture and design, implementation, and testing of a real-time prototype system.
Design, develop, and test real-time signal-processing software based on weather-radar algorithms.
Own or lead design, development, data analysis, programming, modeling, simulation, integration, testing, troubleshooting, and technical evaluation activities within broader projects or programs.
Apply technical judgment to complex or less-defined problems, identify appropriate methods, adapt established approaches, and evaluate trade-offs.
Contribute to or lead system-, subsystem-, or component-level work across disciplines, mission needs, products, or technical focus areas.
Develop, review, and integrate technical documentation, analyses, design materials, program reports, presentations, papers, and other deliverables.
Coordinate milestones, assumptions, dependencies, quality expectations, and risks, and present findings, recommendations, and alternatives to appropriate audiences.
Provide technical guidance, review, feedback, and mentorship.
Collaborate with interdisciplinary project teams and contribute to sponsor briefings, test plans, and reports.