Systems Research and Development Engineer

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Approval of remote and hybrid work is not guaranteed regardless of work location. For additional information on remote work at Penn State, see Notice to Out of State Applicants. ​POSITION SPECIFICS​Your working location will be full on-site located in Reston, VA. We are searching for a highly motivated and experienced Systems Engineer to join our Systems Engineering Department in the Undersea Systems Office (USO) at the Applied Research Laboratory (ARL) at Penn State.

This role will support the development of complex physical undersea systems, including advanced vehicles, sensors, and integrated hardware/software technologies for undersea applications. This is not an IT, cloud, or enterprise systems position. This role focuses on traditional systems engineering for defense hardware, spanning concept development, system architecture, subsystem integration, test, and transition to fielded military systems. This department's focus is on tailoring and on applying rigor using the systems engineering process.  

You will have the opportunity to contribute heavily to physical systems development, from conceptual definition into design, test, then transition into production. USO designs, develops, validates, and maintains a suite of large-scale undersea warfare models and simulations used by technology developers, analysts, the Navy, and its allies. We serve as a research center of excellence in undersea weapons, unmanned undersea vehicles, and advanced sonars.

We support our national security and undersea warfare sponsors through the development and demonstration of science and technology with the expertise, tools, and processes to take concepts from the early developmental phase through transition to industry and the fleet.

ARL is an authorized DoD Skill Bridge partner and welcomes all transitioning military members to apply.

You will:

Translate stakeholder needs into system-level requirements and architectures

Perform analysis of alternatives and develop system concepts for hardware‑centric undersea platforms and payloads

Conduct system and requirements decomposition, interface definition, and integration planning

Support model-based systems engineering (MBSE), system modeling, and hardware/software integration

Develop verification and validation strategies, test plans, and test procedures for physical prototypes and fielded systems

Participate in and support lab, dockside, and at-sea test events

Collaborate regularly with engineering teams, program sponsors, Navy partners, and program management

Identify risks, develop mitigation strategies, and support lifecycle decision-making

Required skills/experience areas include:

Applying systems engineering to complex physical systems, preferably in defense, aerospace, maritime, or robotics domains

Experience collaborating in multi-disciplinary, team-oriented cultures

Ability to express ideas successfully to drive understanding

Past success in writing white papers or reports

Past success in a lead role, organizing, managing, and directing, multi-disciplinary teams, while contributing and assisting in project management

Past success while leading or contributing to technical…