Senior Principal Scientist

## Senior Principal Scientist Apply:
Boston, MA:
Full time:
Posted Today:
End Date:
October 12, 2026 (6 days left to apply):
REQ
- ** Job Description
**** The Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) has an outstanding opportunity for a Senior Principal Scientist to join the Environmental and Information Systems Department.  This is a full-time Massachusetts-based position.
**** About this Opportunity
** Reporting to the Senior Principal Oceanographer, the Senior Principal Scientist will support research that is focused on advancing the fundamental understanding and practical application of underwater acoustic signal transmission, propagation, detection, and exploitation in the ocean environment.  These efforts investigate the complex interactions between acoustic wave fields and the dynamic ocean, including the effects of temperature structure, salinity, pressure, internal waves, mesoscale variability, seabed composition, bathymetry, and ambient noise on acoustic performance.

The major emphasis of these research activities is the development, evaluation, and application of advanced array-based sensing and signal processing techniques.  The projects of interest encompass the design, modeling, calibration, and operational assessment of fixed, towed, bottom-mounted, distributed, and autonomous acoustic arrays used for passive and active sensing.  Technical areas include beamforming, adaptive spatial filtering, matched-field processing, source localization, direction-of-arrival estimation, synthetic aperture techniques, coherent and incoherent processing, array performance optimization, and distributed sensor network architectures.  

Particular attention is given to improving target detection, classification, tracking, and localization in acoustically challenging shallow-water and deep-ocean environments while mitigating the effects of reverberation, multipath propagation, clutter, and environmental uncertainty.

These projects require developing new analytical methods and numerical models, designing and executing laboratory and field experiments, integrating observational data with theoretical and computational approaches, and evaluating the operational effectiveness of emerging acoustic sensing technologies.  Projects frequently involve the integration of acoustic observations with oceanographic measurements, autonomous platforms, and environmental prediction systems to improve the accuracy and reliability of sonar performance assessments under realistic operational conditions.
*
* Key Responsibilities:

** The incumbent will be independently responsible for study design and planning, execution of research activities and analysis, fundraising, and dissemination of results and data to the scientific community.  Projects use mathematical models, computer simulations, and direct observations to understand how turbulent ocean processes across all scales contribute to the dynamics of the ocean and climate.

Research Planning (15% FTE):
• Conceives and develops technical strategy and plans research to answer complex scientific questions, including the development of new technologies.
• Develops collaborative and synergistic research relationships and coordinates research plans with peer scientists within APL, elsewhere at the UW, and at other institutions in the US and abroad.
• Assesses the feasibility of proposed methods and tests.

Research Activities (40% FTE):
• Oversees research preparation and execution, including equipment procurement, fieldwork coordination, and on-site participation as chief scientist or as part of a collaborative science team.
• Monitors quality and content in field data and makes real-time decisions on the adaptation of research activities in response to changing conditions and findings.
•…