Software Engineer Intern | Spring | Autonomous Intelligent Sensing for Space Applications

MRSL Real-Time Systems Laboratory•Sarasota, FL

21h•Onsite

About The Position

MRSL is a world-class developer of advanced signal processing, intelligent sensing, and autonomous systems for the U.S. Government. We build software and algorithms that help complex systems perceive, understand, and respond intelligently to their environment. Our technologies are deployed across a broad range of intelligence and defense applications—including this project focusing on the emerging domain of autonomous space systems—where reliable, mission-critical autonomy can make the difference between success and failure. You'll work hand-in-hand with our senior engineers from day one—no toy problems, no throwaway side project. You'll take ownership of meaningful technical work on a real, space-bound system and help drive it through its next critical stages. The system is being prepared for an upcoming launch and currently runs in a live virtual environment—exercised on target hardware and mission emulation as if operating on orbit. The next phase continues that work through algorithm and model development, testing, performance assessment, and iterative improvement ahead of flight.

Requirements

Working toward or already holding a B.S. or graduate degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Aerospace Engineering, Physics, Imaging Science, or a related engineering or science discipline.
Strong experience with programming in some combination of Python, C/C++, Java, scripting, and Linux.
Ability to reason through algorithmic and system-level problems and implement practical solutions in code.
Strong communication skills, attention to detail, and a willingness to take ownership of assigned work.
U.S. citizens and able to meet TS/SCI clearance eligibility requirements.
Intern candidates who will still be in school for two semesters after the internship ends, whether finishing an undergraduate degree, or starting or continuing graduate work.

Nice To Haves

ML, RL, agentic AI, PyTorch, TensorFlow, Keras, scikit-learn, or Edge ML
Autonomous or real-time sensing systems, embedded processing, or sensor fusion
Signal or image processing, detection and estimation, classification, or spectral analysis
ROS 2, robotics middleware, or distributed systems
Docker, Git workflows, CI/CD, automated testing, and software validation
Space systems, flight software, or operations involving embedded or real-time constraints

Responsibilities

Help mature the autonomy software in a live, mission-realistic virtual environment as we prepare it for flight.
Collaborate with experienced engineers on system design and production-quality software development.
Extend intelligent sensing, autonomy, and decision-making capabilities using modern software and AI techniques.
Tune, evaluate, and optimize machine learning and reinforcement learning models.
Perform model validation, system verification, and end-to-end mission testing on target GPU hardware.
Support pre-launch integration, readiness, and validation of autonomous sensing software.
Design, test, and validate remote system updates, monitoring, metrics, and dashboards.
Analyze sponsor feedback, anomalies, and system issues to identify root causes and develop resolutions.
Document findings, communicate results, and translate lessons learned into improved operational capability.