Senior DSP Engineer - TS/SCI

Parsons•Herndon, VA

About The Position

Seeking a Senior DSP Engineer to design, implement, and field advanced processing chains for communications signals of interest (SOIs) across terrestrial, airborne, maritime-surface, and space segments. The role centers on detection, characterization, demodulation, and exploitation of tactical and strategic data-bearing waveforms in congested, contested, and degraded electromagnetic environments. Work spans algorithm development through operational software deployed against collected I/Q from wideband receivers and software-defined radios.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a closely related discipline; Master’s degree preferred. Equivalent experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.
8 years of experience required
U.S. citizenship
An active Top Secret / SCI clearance
Ten or more years of professional experience developing DSP algorithms for digital communications, COMINT, or closely related SIGINT applications.
Deep working knowledge of communications theory: modulation and coding, multiple access, synchronization, estimation and detection, channel models, and link-budget fundamentals.
Hands-on experience demodulating and exploiting communications waveforms used for command-and-control and data exchange among surface, airborne, and space assets—not limited to a single band or access method.
Proficiency in implementing signal processing in C/C++ and Python in Linux environments; version control with Git.
Experience with at least one mission-relevant framework or environment such as MATLAB, GNU Radio, or X-Midas.
Demonstrated ability to work from raw I/Q through bits and recoverable protocol structure under operationally realistic impairments.
An active Top Secret SCI security clearance is required for this position.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree preferred

Responsibilities

Architect and implement DSP pipelines for detection, classification, parameterization, and tracking of communications signals across HF through Ka-band collections.
Develop synchronization, carrier and symbol recovery, equalization, and demodulation algorithms for both well-documented and poorly characterized waveforms, including frequency-hopped, spread-spectrum, and low-probability-of-intercept / low-probability-of-detection constructions.
Recover payload bits and reconstruct higher-layer structure from tactical and strategic data links, including line-of-sight, beyond-line-of-sight, and satellite communications carriers (protected and commercial).
Design multi-rate channelizers, polyphase filter banks, and wideband front-end processing suitable for high-occupancy spectrum and mixed narrowband / wideband collections.
Characterize and mitigate real-world impairments typical of long-range and over-water paths: Doppler from moving platforms, multipath, co-channel interference, phase noise, IQ imbalance, and low SNR.
Perform SOI development and waveform discovery against unidentified or evolving communications systems; produce reusable signal models, feature sets, and processing recipes.
Implement and optimize algorithms in C/C++ and Python on Linux, with GPU/CUDA or equivalent acceleration where throughput or latency requires it; integrate with SDR hardware and existing mission processing frameworks.
Validate processing chains against laboratory-generated and field-collected I/Q using quantitative metrics (detection probability, false-alarm rate, EVM, BER, protocol decode success).
Support end-to-end integration with RF front ends, collection systems, and downstream analytic or C2 consumers; contribute to lab, ground, and occasional field test events.
Mentor junior engineers, review designs, and translate operational collection needs into technical requirements and processing architectures.
Document algorithms, interfaces, and performance so capabilities can be sustained and transitioned.