Hardware Systems Engineering Scientist Full-time

Hardware Systems Engineering Scientist

The Space and Geophysics Laboratory (SGL) delivers capabilities to government customers for various applications, from real-time data-intensive network operations spanning geographically distributed sites to standalone remote field systems.

We are seeking a hardware-focused systems engineer to join a growing team of engineers and scientists developing new capabilities for government sponsors and partners. The work spans integrating COTS and custom equipment into racks of equipment that support specialized datacenter processing and remote GNSS data collection at sites around the world, the development of custom GNSS receivers that combine commercial servers with FPGAs and perform direct digitization of incoming RF signals for processing, and RF distribution, splitter, and switch designs.

As a key member of a team of engineers, you will be responsible for eliciting systems scope from stakeholders, guiding the development of requirements, translating requirements into systems designs, guiding the decomposition of those systems into components of actionable units of work, and advising all stakeholders throughout the life-cycle, from systems definition to implementation. This role is primarily a design and architecture role, with limited field-deployment travel.

Responsibilities include:

• Elicit systems scope and requirements from stakeholders for use in systems designs
• Develop and evaluate hardware systems design, including scope, requirements, components, interactions, and interfaces
• Communicate work process, products, and results, including documentation, written reports, and briefs presented to stakeholders
• Participate in project planning and project decomposition into components and actionable units of work
• Coordinate with and provide support to stakeholders throughout the life-cycle of the systems definition, design, implementation, integration, and deployment
• Perform engineering estimates, guide project schedules, and identify dependencies
• Conduct engineering evaluations, such as trade studies, reliability analysis, functional analysis, risk analysis assessments
• Mentoring junior engineering staff, technicians and students
• Other related functions as assigned.

Required qualifications include:

• Bachelor's degree in science, applied science, or engineering.
• Three years of relevant professional work experience developing systems requirements and systems designs
• Demonstrated experience integrating hardware systems (e.g. COTS/custom equipment into racks, RF signal distribution/switching, or FPGA/digitizer-based data acquisition)
• Demonstrated ability to design, develop, evaluate, and support the development of large and complex systems.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, including demonstrated ability to communicate technical detail to staff and stakeholders of varying backgrounds and experiences.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively, both independently and collaboratively, with strong commitment to contribution and enabling the entire team.

US Citizen. Applicant selected will be subject to a government security investigation and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information at the level appropriate to the project requirements of the position.

Preferred qualifications include:

• Post-graduate degree in systems engineering, engineering management, engineering mechanics, operations research, industrial engineering, electrical engineering, or related field;
• Ten years of relevant professional work experience developing systems requirements, systems designs, and/or leading systems integration on large complex projects;
• Three or more years of professional work experience specific to hardware architecture or design of FPGA, RF, real-time, embedded, or distributed data-acquisition systems, including direct RF digitization, custom GNSS receiver front-ends, and/or RF distribution, splitter, and switch designs;
• Specialized study, research, or work experience with real-time / streaming data, firmware, and distributed hardware systems, including high-speed data paths from digitizers/FPGAs to host systems (e.g. memory-mapped, DMA, or serial/fabric links), real-time data streams, and the transport interfaces that connect hardware to the broader system;
• Work experience specific to GNSS observation and navigation data, and/or GNSS data collection systems;
• Experience with multidisciplinary hardware integration such as sensor integration, precision leveling/pointing, or field metrology (e.g. systems combining optics/telescopes, GNSS, and gravimeters);
• Demonstrated experience using Jira or similar work-tracking and project-management tools;
• Experience with model-based systems engineering (MBSE) tools and techniques (experience with Structurizr is a plus);
• Immediate or previous eligibility to classified information.
• Cumulative GPA of 3.0

Salary range is $104,000-$174,000+/negotiable depending on qualifications.

Working conditions include standard office conditions, repetitive use of a keyboard at a workstation, use of manual dexterity, some weekend, evening and holiday work, and possible interstate/intrastate travel.

Required materials include resume/CV, 3 work references with their contact information; at least one reference should be from a supervisor, letter of interest, and unofficial college transcript.