Department Head, Autonomy and Emerging Technology

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.

Your working location will be fully on-site located in State College, PA. This role requires periodic travel to remote locations.

The Systems and Emerging Capabilities Division in the Undersea Systems Office (USO) at the Applied Research Laboratory (ARL) is seeking a Department Head for Autonomy and Emerging Technology (AET). This department is an innovation hub for our Systems Engineering Division.

The AET Department’s primary mission is to develop, test, and evaluate emerging capabilities in the Subsea and Seabed (SSW) mission area.

It’s secondary mission is to rapidly evaluate and field test new and emerging capabilities applicable to SSW – including testing of systems, payloads, and software. This position may be filled as either a Research and Development Engineer or a non-tenure Research Faculty.

• Autonomy for Unmanned Vehicles (UxVs), including autonomy architectures, behaviors, mission planning, and autonomy standards that improve reliability, endurance, and mission effectiveness in challenging maritime environments.
• Payloads/payload delivery of effects
• Sensor/sensor integration
• Navigation

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

• Technical Leadership
  - Lead innovation in SSW mission area to include autonomy for UxVs, including adaptive mission behaviors, environmental awareness, distributed autonomy, multi-vehicle coordination, and integration of autonomy with UxV sensors and payloads. Drive advancements in UxV simulation, field testing, and fleet-relevant autonomy capabilities
• Programmatic Leadership
  - Oversee SSW-focused UxV programs and multidisciplinary teams working across undersea navigation, endurance optimization, acoustic communications, environmental modeling, and autonomy-enabled CONOPS. Collaborate closely with ARL’s SSW Portfolio Manager and sponsors to shape new SSW research directions
• Resource Management
  - Align personnel and technical resources—including UxV test assets, autonomy laboratories, software infrastructure, and field test facilities with program needs and strategic priorities
• Personnel Management
  - Mentor engineers and researchers specializing in UxV autonomy, control systems, undersea sensing, navigation, and environmental modeling. Foster growth in mission-focused undersea autonomy competencies
• Department Management
  - Ensure effective planning and execution of programs involving system integration, sea testing, autonomy software development, mission simulation and evaluation, and cross-domain unmanned systems collaboration
• Collaboration
  - Work across ARL departments to integrate autonomy with undersea vehicles, sensors, communications, and emerging technologies. Partner with oceanography, acoustics, guidance & control, and materials experts to develop next-generation UxV capabilities
• New Business – Must be entrepreneurial in nature. You will need to work with the SSW Portfolio manager to create and shape new UxV autonomy research opportunities. Help develop seedling efforts in areas such areas as: long-duration UxV autonomy, autonomous behaviors for complex missions, resilient undersea communications autonomy, and cross-domain unmanned vehicle coordination
• Customer Interaction – Engage directly with Navy sponsors, DoD collaborators, and other stakeholders to present UxV autonomy advancements, field-test results, and new capability concepts. Represent ARL at autonomy and undersea systems conferences and technical reviews

• Past…