Systems R&D Engineer

The Pennsylvania State University•University Park, FL

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

Penn State’s Applied Research Laboratory (ARL) is seeking a senior-level Systems Research and Development Engineer to serve as an Engineering Senior Land, Air, and Multi-Domain Systems (SLAM) Advisor. The position is ARL’s dedicated advisor and interface for integration with the U.S. Army and ground elements of other services. It maintains engagement with Army stakeholders and connects Army operational and strategic needs with ARL’s research, capabilities, and technical expertise across land, air, cyber, space, analytics, and multi-domain systems. The advisor interprets Army problem sets, identifies technology and analysis gaps, and works with ARL researchers to develop timely solutions involving systems engineering, modeling, analytics, and multi-domain integration. The role also supports research, development, testing, and evaluation for Department of Defense sponsors and national security missions, and provides technical leadership and mentoring to junior personnel. The position is hybrid, with an on-site location in State College, Pennsylvania, and requires periodic travel to remote locations. Applicants must be U.S. citizens and must be eligible to obtain a government security clearance. An active TS/SCI clearance is listed among the required skills and experience areas. Employment also involves participation in ARL’s drug testing program and compliance with applicable electronic and physical monitoring requirements.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in engineering or science.
At least 19 years of relevant experience.
Past success working with military organizations, preferably the U.S. Army, in senior technical, analytic, advisory, or systems engineering roles.
Experience translating complex operational requirements into data-driven analytic approaches or systems engineering models.
Ability to engage senior leaders with clear, actionable analysis.
Technical capabilities in systems engineering, decision analytics, forecasting, automation, or operations research.
Past success developing analytic tools, models, or workflows that improve decision timeliness and clarity.
Ability to work with multidisciplinary research teams in a fast-moving environment.
Active security clearance at the Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) level.
Must be a U.S. citizen and eligible to obtain a government security clearance.
Must participate in the ARL drug testing program and comply with applicable electronic and physical monitoring requirements.

Nice To Haves

Experience with Army educational or modernization institutions.
Technical depth with analytic tools and workflows such as Python, R, SQL, and Power BI.
Past success delivering data-literacy or executive-level technical education programs.

Responsibilities

Serve as ARL’s primary technical and strategic interface to the U.S. Army for land, air, and multi-domain systems.
Translate Army operational and strategic requirements into systems engineering, modeling, and analytics tasks.
Advise Army stakeholders on ARL capabilities in modeling, data analytics, decision support, and systems integration.
Monitor Army modernization efforts and identify opportunities for ARL technical contributions.
Collaborate with ARL leadership to develop tailored technical responses and multi-domain integration concepts.
Support early project shaping by refining questions, aligning data sources, and determining analytic and engineering approaches.
Guide ARL teams on Army operational context, decision processes, and constraints.
Build relationships across Army analytic communities and the capability development enterprise.
Assist with program development, including technical scoping and sponsor briefings.
Conduct independent and collaborative research, development, testing, and evaluation to address scientific and engineering challenges for Department of Defense sponsors and national security missions.
Investigate and apply engineering principles, scientific methodologies, and emerging technologies to develop technical solutions.
Plan, perform, and lead analytical studies, modeling and simulation, laboratory experiments, field testing, and prototype demonstrations.
Design, develop, integrate, analyze, and evaluate mission-critical technologies within assigned technical disciplines.
Apply systems engineering across project lifecycles, including requirements, architecture, design trade studies, integration, verification, validation, risk management, and configuration management.
Support research in unclassified, CUI, and classified environments while safeguarding sensitive technical information and government-furnished data.
Mentor and provide technical leadership to junior engineers, engineering technologists, support personnel, interns, and students.
Participate in technology transition activities, including system integration, operational demonstrations, customer evaluations, manufacturing support, and field implementation.
Identify technical risks and develop mitigation strategies to improve program execution, system performance, reliability, maintainability, and mission effectiveness.
Contribute to business development through technical concept development, customer engagement, proposal preparation, IRAD initiatives, and strategic technology planning.
Present technical information and research results to sponsors, program managers, technical review boards, and other stakeholders.
Manage technical tasks and engineering projects, including technical performance, schedules, budgets, deliverables, and risk management.
Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams and external research partners to accomplish program objectives.
Ensure engineering activities comply with sponsor requirements, engineering and quality standards, cybersecurity policies, export controls, information assurance requirements, and laboratory security procedures.
Develop experimental plans, test procedures, data collection methods, and performance metrics; analyze results and recommend design improvements.
Support advanced prototype development and transition technologies from research concepts into operational capabilities.
Prepare technical reports, engineering analyses, research publications, white papers, proposals, briefings, and sponsor deliverables.