Systems Research and Development Engineer

We are seeking a motivated, experienced, and driven Systems Research and Development Engineer to join the Strategic Systems Operations Division in the Applied Research Laboratory (ARL) at Penn State. This position will be working with senior technical staff to research, design, develop, integrate, and test advanced communications systems. If you are interested in collaborating and learning with a team of brilliant fellow researchers to develop the next generation communications and signal processing software and hardware solutions, this is for you! ARL fosters and develops some of the greatest minds that the Department of Defense (DoD) has to offer.

ARL is an authorized DoD SkillBridge partner and welcomes all transitioning military members to apply.

You will:

• Organize and direct a multi-disciplinary, strong, and diverse engineering team
• Balance team members, activities, and priorities with the process to achieve a final product
• Provide technical leadership within the CSP Division projects
• Plan and direct research projects related to communications
• Guide programs of national or international significance; identify future problems, research trends, and opportunities
• Interact and collaborate regularly with the engineering team, principal investigator, sponsors, and other stakeholders
  
  

This position can be filled at multiple levels depending on your education and work experience. Minimally requires a Bachelor's degree in an engineering or science discipline plus five years' related experience. Additional education and/or experience required for higher level positions. A Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering is preferred.

Required skills/experience areas to include:

• Advanced understanding of electrical engineering principles associated with communications
• Collection and processing architectures for RF signals in general, with emphasis on the impact of propagation effects in the HF and below bands as well as UHF through Ku bands
• AoA and TDOA/FDOA geolocation techniques
• Communications protocols - OSI stack, UDP/TCP/IP
• Familiarity with wireless specifications such as cellular(4G/5G)/WiFi (802.11)
• Capable of creating testable system level performance requirements from sponsor defined use cases or user stories
• Capable of taking high level system requirements and performing a first order decomposition into hardware and software functions
• Capable of generating test plans/procedures to validate system level performance
  
  

Preferred skills/experience areas to include:

• TS/SCI Clearance
• Communication, Analytical, and Organizational skills
• Detail-oriented thinking with the ability to see the “big picture”
• Troubleshooting experience
• Conflict resolution experience
• FFRDC or UARC experience
  
  

The position will be located in State College, PA, Reston, VA, or Annapolis Junction, MD. This position requires in-office work, but may allow for hybrid work when contract permits. Questions related to flexible work should be directed to the hiring manager during the interview process. This position will require occasional travel to CONUS and possibly OCONUS locations.

Candidate selected will be subject to a government security investigation. You must be a U.S. citizen to apply. Employment with the Applied Research Laboratory will require successful completion of a pre-employment drug screen.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION on ARL, visit our web site at www.arl.psu.edu.

• The proposed salary range may be impacted by geographic differential.**
  
  

The salary range for this position, including all possible grades is:

$109,300.00 - $191,000.00

Salary Structure - additional information on Penn State's job and salary structure.

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Pursuant to the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act and the Pennsylvania Act of 1988, Penn State publishes a combined Annual Security and Annual Fire Safety Report (ASR). The ASR includes crime statistics and institutional policies concerning campus security, such as those concerning alcohol and drug use, crime prevention, the reporting of crimes, sexual assault, and other matters. The ASR is available for review here.

Employment with the University will require successful completion of background check(s) in accordance with University policies.

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Penn State is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to providing employment opportunities to all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status. If you are unable to use our online application process due to an impairment or disability, please contact 814-865-1473.

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