The RoleAs an Acoustic Systems Engineer, you will integrate acoustic devices with VATN autonomous underwater vehicles, work with specialists to characterize the performance, and implement improvements. Devices you will work with include in-house acoustic forward looking sonar arrays, passive acoustic monitoring systems, and countermeasure devices. You'll work closely with the acoustics and autonomy team to characterize real-world sensor behavior and close the loop between fielded performance and algorithm development.
What You'll Do- Plan and execute in-water data collections for forward looking sonar designs
- Isolate defects to root cause across the sensing chain - sensor, analog front end, acquisition software, vehicle integration, or environment - and drive corrective action to closure against requirements
- Develop and maintain automated analysis pipelines that ingest multichannel recordings and produce spectra, beamformed outputs, detection and tracking metrics, and homing performance summaries
- Develop and maintain ROS 2 nodes for these acoustic systems, launch configurations, and recording tools supporting payload data capture and playback on vehicle platforms..
What We're Looking ForRequired- 3-5 years of experience in robotics perception or autonomous systems
- Strong Python and/or MATLAB skills for software development and data analysis
- Demonstrated system analytical / system level debugging skills
- Solid understanding of linux operating system and commandline operations
- Willingness to work in the field system and participate in weekly field test exercises.
Nice To Have: - Exposure to transducers, hydrophones, or other analog sensor front ends, including their failure modes and interface requirements
- Familiarity with underwater or ocean acoustics, including propagation, array theory, or the sonar equation
- Experience deploying sensor perception algorithms on embedded hardware (Jetson or similar)
