Communications and Networks Systems Development Engineer-Associate

Date: Feb 9, 2026

Location: Lexington, MA, US

Company: MIT Lincoln Laboratory

How do we ensure critical data gets where it's needed – when it's needed – across Department of War (DoW) space, air, and surface platforms operating over vast distances? Our team works at the forefront of this challenge, developing advanced technologies, algorithms, and architectures that enable resilient, interoperable communications for the joint force. As part of the Communications Networks and Analysis group, you'll develop and apply expertise in emerging line‑of‑sight and beyond‑line‑of‑sight communications systems and software‑defined networking technologies to design and build robust connectivity solutions for users operating in congested and contested environments.

Your work will directly improve the resilience and capacity of real‑world communications systems and help integrate them seamlessly across platforms and domains. We take ideas from concept to reality through hands‑on technical analysis, modeling, simulation, emulation, prototype development, and flight testing – giving you the opportunity to see your designs built, evaluated, and deployed to make a tangible impact.

The Communications and Networks Systems Development Engineer plays a key role in shaping next‑generation communications and networking capabilities for the DoW. In this role, you will develop and modify software simulation capabilities to conduct communications and networking analyses. In addition, you will use these simulations to identify capability gaps. You will help close these gaps by implementing and testing novel algorithms and protocols across all layers of the network stack.

You'll work as part of highly collaborative, multidisciplinary teams that bring together expertise in systems analysis, communications theory, networking, information assurance, systems engineering, RF, and digital hardware and software. This position offers hands‑on opportunities to take ideas from concept through implementation and evaluation, and to collaborate with government sponsors, academic partners, and industry leaders. Your contributions will directly influence the design, development, and fielding of future DoW communications capabilities.

• Develop and improve communications and networking modeling tools
• Leverage our modeling tools to conduct analysis to assess current and emerging communication systems and network protocols
• Develop and implement and assess state‑of‑the‑art systems for communications and networking
• Develop, simulate and prototype novel communications and networking algorithms
• Collaborate with a multidisciplinary team to design and prototype communications and networking hardware and software for surface, airborne and space platforms
• Conduct laboratory experiments that include ground, airborne, and space systems with hardware‑in‑the‑loop
• Collect, analyze and interpret complex data sets from field and laboratory experiments
• Prepare technical documentation, including refereed publications, reports, and as well as technical presentations for multiple internal and external audiences
• Share new ideas and intuitions with your colleagues, collaborators and others in our technical communities through mentorship, education, and outreach opportunities.

• M.S. in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics (or related field) with a strong background in software development, networking, wireless communications, and/or signal processing. In lieu of a M.S., a B.S. with 2+ years of directly relevant experience is acceptable.
• Experience and/or coursework in systems analysis, optimization, wireless communications theory, data networks, digital signal processing, estimation and detection, optimization, radio frequency propagation modeling, linear algebra.
• Proficiency with MATLAB, Python, C or C++, VHDL and/or embedded systems programming
• Proficiency with Linux or commercial real‑time operating systems
• Highly effective written and verbal communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively in multi‑disciplinary teams.

• Software Defined Networking hardware…