What Your Job Will Be Like

The Autonomy for Hypersonics and Navigation Warfare teams have need for an experienced systems engineer who applies integrated technical judgment to anticipate, innovate, and deliver solutions for multi-disciplinary aerospace system applications across low to medium technical readiness levels on efforts primarily aligned with autonomous navigation, guidance, and control of advanced flight systems.

In this role, the successful candidate would plan, conduct, and execute advanced autonomous system science and engineering programs within the spectrum of fundamental research, development, or demonstration with a focus on hypersonic systems and challenging operational environments. Key activities include working with the management team, external stakeholders, integrated product team (IPT) leads, and subsystem subject matter experts to negotiate and define the system requirements that enable mission function and performance; defining the necessary subsystems, components, and interfaces to realize the system; identifying test, validation and verification methods, developing acceptance criteria for the subsystems and system, and delivering Objective Quality Evidence (OQE) as needed.

The ideal candidate will have a technical background and/or degree along with experience in systems design, analysis, and/or simulation for autonomous, flight, or weapon systems. The job will involve collaborative interaction with other technical leads and team members, including external partners, to determine the correct approach taken for a technical project, document it in a technical plan, communicate action items, and follow-up with team members to ensure progress and timely delivery.

On any given day, you may:

• Interface with the internal and external system customers and those responsible for developing, testing, and implementing the system and its elements.
• Develop substantial technical understanding of the engineering products to be delivered as well as lead both technical and programmatic subcomponents of programs.
• Evaluate, participate in, or observe tests, and analyze system functionality and subsystem contributions to system functions.
• Work with the various subsystem teams to verify and validate complex requirements, often from a combination of analysis, observation, real and simulated environmental testing, and an understanding of essential functional performance needs.
• Manage technical and programmatic requirements, manage technical and non-technical risks and opportunities, and oversee project plan development and execution, for complex and high-rigor projects.
• Oversee processes and/or activities involving costs, schedules, and assured technical performance.
• Lead project engineering sub-teams while they support functions such as authoring and implementing project plans and procedures, estimating and managing costs, generating and overseeing integrated schedules.

Due to the nature of the work, the selected applicant must be able to work onsite.

Salary Range

$117,500 - $235,700

*Salary range is estimated, and actual salary will be determined after consideration of the selected candidate's experience and qualifications, and application of any approved geographic salary differential.

Qualifications We Require

• Bachelor's degree in relevant discipline, or equivalent combination of relevant education and experience.
• Plus, five years or more years of directly related experience that demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and ability to perform the duties of the job. Equivalent experience in lieu of degree must be directly related experience that demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and ability to perform the duties of the job.
• The ability to obtain and maintain a DOE Q-level security clearance.

Qualifications We Desire

The ideal R&D Systems Engineer candidate for Sandia National Laboratories will in addition possess the following:

• Graduate degree in Engineering or a highly related field where an independent research project was a graduation requirement (e.g., independent project, thesis, or dissertation).
• Experience working with Nuclear Security Enterprise (NSE) laboratories and plants including Pantex, Kansas City National Security Campus (KCNSC), Lawrence Livermore Laboratory (LLNL) and Kansas City National Security Campus/New Mexico Operations (KCNSC/NMO).
• Experience working on engineering design, qualification, production, or related modeling/simulation projects.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, ability to work effectively in multidisciplinary teams.

Also, for this posting we are seeking individuals with the following experience:

Ideally, one's background includes some of the following:

• Master's degree or equivalent experience in a relevant field.
• Multidisciplinary technical knowledge and competencies appropriate to the position.
• Ability to perform the integrated technical analyses that underpin the development of a realizable system concept.
• Ability to synthesize operational concepts for experimental or exploratory systems to innovate and deliver solutions to customers in mission areas not fully defined or understood.
• Thorough and demonstrated knowledge of and applied experience with systems engineering, scientific and multidisciplinary engineering methods and with the discipline's standards for the ethical conduct of research.
• Thorough and demonstrated knowledge of and experience with scoping, designing, planning, executing, and documenting research, design, and development projects.
• Demonstrated knowledge of and experience with implementing Sandia policies affecting research, design, and development activities, projects, or initiatives.
• Demonstrated ability to engage customers and stakeholders in the synthesis of significant systems experiments and to team across disciplines.
• Ability to model behaviors that reflect Sandia's core values.
• Ability to make decisions requiring scientific or engineering judgment across more than one field.
• Demonstrated experience in management of technical projects.
• Knowledge of and experience with standard project management practices such as scope management, project scheduling, and/or cost estimation and management.
• Knowledge of and experience with quality assurance, communications planning and management, risk and opportunity management, and procurement management.
• Experience with Navigation, Guidance, and/or Control Systems.
• Experience with Contested Environments and Operational Constraints.
• Experience with Aerospace System Design.
• Experience with Software Development.
• Experience with Systems Modeling and Simulation.
• Strong written and verbal communication, as well as technical and programmatic content presentation skills.

About Our Team

The Navigation Warfare (Navwar) Department (5443) seeks to develop technology for robust and resilient navigation in increasingly challenging operational environments. Through Navigation Warfare Assessments to characterize and respond to US navigation contestation, engagement with the national Navwar community, and R&D towards the development of GPS-denied and contested technologies such as Alt-PNT (Position, Navigation, and Timing), the Navwar department creates enduring capabilities to support warfighter needs in increasingly contested navigation engagements.

Autonomy for Hypersonics (A4H) Department (5449) manages an innovative research portfolio in autonomous systems development and flight demonstrations of technological advancements. A4H supports the research and development of software, autonomy algorithms, prototype hardware, target recognition, and navigation/guidance/control. We actively partner with domain experts both at the Labs and throughout the nation to implement high-impact research to meet national defense needs. The challenging flight environment and limited available flight data make hypersonics one of the most complex applications for autonomy.

Posting Duration

This posting will be open for application submissions for a minimum of three (3) calendar days, including the 'posting date'. Sandia reserves the right to extend the posting date at any time.