Job DescriptionAs part of this pivot to Mission Campaigning, FAST Labs Sensing Technologies (ST) is seeking project hardware engineering leads who understand how lead a team of project engineers through the dynamics of research and development (R&D) programs, and transition technology to the business. As a hardware engineering lead, you'll have opportunity to own the engineering technical, cost, and schedule aspects of our projects with the freedom to lead and shape teams consisting of talented electrical, mechanical, optical, as well as firmware engineers and designers. You will lead teams on research, development, and consulting projects requiring deep expertise in hardware engineering principles and practices to achieve project goals.
The FAST Labs Sensing Technologies (ST) product line develops next-generation lasers, precision optical pointers, advanced multi-model (RF & EO/IR) seekers, expendables and underwater sensors. ST has established itself as a market leader in the development of EO/IR, RF and Acoustic technologies applicable to Army, Navy, Air Force and Space Force missions.
In this role you will be the senior technical leader on research and development projects within our FAST Labs organization. You will support business capture by contributing to bid and proposal activities, as well as providing hardware-engineering technical-architecture expertise, and driving project-level hardware engineering execution.
- Ensure designs follow best-practice engineering methods
- Provide hardware-engineering input for new-business capture - influence technical baselines, develop cost estimates, identify technical risks, and suggest mitigation strategies
- Serve as the hardware subject-matter expert on proposal teams, helping shape technical scopes and pricing models
- Partner with Product Engineering Management (PEM), and Functional Managers (FMs), to identify, prioritize, and fill staffing requirements on your hardware development projects
- Ensure all hardware R&D activities adhere to an appropriate level or research and development processes and are well matched to the scope of the efforts
- Drive agile process refinements, capture lessons learned, and champion "One-Team" culture across your project
Because of the need for consistent, in-person collaboration and/or the requirement to perform all work onsite due to the nature of this role, it will be performed
full-time on site. This means work will be conducted on location at a BAE Systems facility 100% of the time.
Required Skills and Education- Bachelor's degree in engineering discipline and 10+ years of progressive experience in a related field.
- Active DoD Secret clearance
- 8+ years of hands-on experience in hardware design, including laboratory troubleshooting, technical problem-solving, and field testing.
- 2+ years of experience leading hardware engineering teams on development programs, including responsibility as a Lead Hardware Engineer and Control Account Manager (CAM).
- Experience supporting business development activities, including proposal development and generation of hardware engineering cost and schedule estimates.
- Proven ability to build, lead, and motivate high-performing project technical teams.
- Excellent communication skills, with the ability to clearly present complex technical information both verbally and in writing.
- Proficient in cross-functional collaboration and customer engagement.
- Commitment to continuous learning, innovation, and thought leadership.
Preferred Skills and Education- Experience with cutting-edge engineering techniques, including Model-Based Engineering, Agile, and Digital Engineering, to solve complex challenges with efficiency.
- Bring your expertise in one or more of these critical areas:
- RF Systems: Design and analyze RF front-ends, including antennas, LNAs, mixers, and ADCs.
- Signal Processing: Master spectrum management, modulation/demodulation, and RF signal characterization.
- Algorithm Implementation: Translate algorithms into high-performance, low-latency hardware pipelines.
- Advanced Computing: Leverage heterogeneous computing platforms (GPU, FPGA, ASIC, neuromorphic chips).
- EO/IR Imaging: Design, integration, and calibrate state-of-the-art EO/IR cameras, hyperspectral imagers, and LiDAR.
- Optical Engineering: Optomechanical and Electrical architectures, detector physics, radiometry and image quality metrics.
- Laser Systems: Knowledge of Laser system hardware components, subsystems, building blocks and architectures.
