ARA is seeking an experienced staff engineer to support the design, development, integration, testing, qualification, and fielding of complex underwater and undersea systems. The successful candidate will be a hands-on engineer who can work comfortably across requirements development, system architecture, engineering analysis, prototype development, integration, test, and system-level technical reviews.
The ideal candidate will have experience working with multidisciplinary engineering teams and complex hardware/software systems in technically demanding environments. The candidate should be capable of understanding system-level performance, decomposing operational needs into engineering requirements, managing interfaces between subsystems, supporting prototype development and testing, and communicating technical decisions to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
This is an on-site position in the ARA office in Panama City, FL. Hybrid work may be possible for the right candidate, requiring attendance in the office a minimum of 3 days per week. This position also requires regular travel to Newport, RI (up to 15%).
What you will do as a staff engineer:- Support the design, development, integration, test, qualification, and implementation of complex underwater and undersea systems.
- Develop, analyze, document, and manage system, subsystem, hardware, software, and interface requirements.
- Translate customer needs, operational concepts, and mission requirements into measurable engineering requirements and system performance criteria.
- Perform system-level engineering evaluations and trade studies to assess design alternatives, technical risks, performance, cost, and schedule impacts.
- Support engineering design reviews, including System Requirements Reviews (SRR), System Functional Reviews (SFR), Preliminary Design Reviews (PDR), Critical Design Reviews (CDR), Test Readiness Reviews (TRR), and other program technical reviews.
- Support the development, procurement, assembly, integration, and testing of advanced prototypes to inform engineering decisions and demonstrate system performance.
- Analyze engineering and test data, identify performance trends and anomalies, and develop recommendations for system improvements.
- Support failure investigations, root cause analysis, corrective-action development, and system troubleshooting.
- Identify and manage technical risks, requirements issues, interface conflicts, and integration challenges while developing coordinated system-level solutions.
Staff engineer required skills/experience:- Bachelor's degree or higher in Systems Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Ocean Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
- 5-7 years of recent and relevant engineering experience supporting complex systems development.
- Demonstrated experience applying systems engineering principles to the development, integration, and testing of complex engineered systems.
- Experience with requirements decomposition, traceability, verification, validation, and technical baseline management.
- Strong problem-solving skills and demonstrated ability to manage multiple technical issues while developing integrated system-level solutions.
- Ability to prepare and communicate technical information during customer meetings and formal engineering design reviews.
- Candidates selected may be subject to a government security investigation and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information.
Preferred skills/experience:- Understanding of underwater system operating environments, including hydrostatic pressure, hydrodynamic loading, corrosion, shock, vibration, temperature, watertight integrity, and marine environmental considerations.
- Experience integrating mechanical, electrical, software, communications, navigation, sensing, control, and payload subsystems into a complete underwater system.
- Experience developing system architectures, functional block diagrams, interface control documents (ICDs), requirements specifications, and verification cross-reference matrices.
- Familiarity with model-based systems engineering practices.
- Working knowledge of mechanical engineering principles including fluid mechanics, structural mechanics, thermal analysis, materials, and environmental loading as they apply to underwater systems.
- Demonstrated ability to understand mission objectives and operational concepts and translate them into practical system requirements and engineering solutions.
