Systems Research and Development Engineer

The Pennsylvania State University•University Park, VA

2d•$193,200 - $318,840•Onsite

About The Position

Penn State’s Applied Research Laboratory (ARL), within the Undersea Systems Office (USO), is seeking a highly motivated and experienced Systems Engineer for its Systems Engineering Department. The position supports development of complex physical undersea systems, including advanced vehicles, sensors, and integrated hardware/software technologies. It focuses on traditional systems engineering for defense hardware—not IT, cloud, or enterprise systems—and applies a tailored, rigorous systems engineering process. The engineer will contribute to physical systems development from conceptual definition through design and testing, and into production transition. USO designs, develops, validates, and maintains large-scale undersea warfare models and simulations, and serves as a research center of excellence in undersea weapons, unmanned undersea vehicles, and advanced sonars. ARL supports national security and undersea warfare sponsors by developing and demonstrating science and technology and transitioning concepts toward industry and the fleet. The position is fully onsite in Reston, Virginia. Applicants must be U.S. citizens and eligible to obtain a government security clearance. Employment also requires successful background checks, participation in the ARL 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.
Experience applying systems engineering to complex physical systems; defense, aerospace, maritime, or robotics experience is preferred.
Experience collaborating in multidisciplinary, team-oriented environments.
Ability to express ideas successfully to drive understanding.
Past success writing white papers or reports.
Past success in a lead role organizing, managing, and directing multidisciplinary teams while contributing to project management.
U.S. citizenship.
Eligibility to obtain a government security clearance and comply with ARL security-related requirements.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree or higher in Mechanical, Electrical, Aerospace, Computer, or Systems Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
Experience developing unmanned underwater systems.
Experience with hardware integration, prototype testing, or system-level test events.
Experience using requirements and MBSE tools such as Cameo, DOORS, or Jama.
Working knowledge of DoD acquisition, especially Department of the Navy systems engineering processes.
Exposure to environmental qualification, hardware-in-the-loop testing, or embedded system integration.
Current eligibility for access to classified information at the Secret level or higher.

Responsibilities

Translate stakeholder needs into system-level requirements and architectures.
Analyze alternatives and develop system concepts for hardware-centric undersea platforms and payloads.
Perform system and requirements decomposition, define interfaces, and plan integration.
Support model-based systems engineering (MBSE), system modeling, and hardware/software integration.
Develop verification and validation strategies, test plans, and test procedures for physical prototypes and fielded systems.
Participate in and support laboratory, dockside, and at-sea test events.
Collaborate regularly with engineering teams, program sponsors, Navy partners, and program management.
Identify risks, develop mitigation strategies, and support lifecycle decision-making.
Organize, manage, and direct multidisciplinary teams while contributing to project management.
Lead or contribute to technical proposals and white papers.