ARL Deputy Director and Head of the Undersea Systems Office

Overview

The Applied Research Laboratory (ARL) at The Pennsylvania State University is welcoming applicants for the position of ARL Deputy Director and Head of the Undersea Systems Office (USO) for our State College, PA location. As an ARL Deputy Director, this position reports to the ARL Executive Director and is part of the executive leadership team.

The Applied Research Laboratory at Penn State is an integral part of one of the leading research universities in the nation. ARL supports national security, economic competitiveness, and quality of life through:
Education;
Scientific discovery;
Technology demonstration; and Transition to application. As a designated University Affiliated Research Center, ARL conducts essential research, development, and systems engineering in support of our nation’s priorities, free from conflict of interest or competition with industry.

The Head of the USO defines and executes the laboratory’s long-term vision and research roadmap for undersea dominance, providing strategic, technical, and operational leadership for a multidisciplinary research and development organization focused on undersea and seabed warfare challenges. This role oversees advanced research, prototyping, testing, and transition of technologies related to undersea weapons, subsea sensing, unmanned undersea vehicles, seabed infrastructure protection, seabed operations, undersea situational and threat awareness, and test and evaluation.

Additionally, this position serves as ARL’s principal authority for undersea weapons, seabed warfare research, and undersea sensing, aligning laboratory efforts with national defense priorities, naval operational needs, and interagency and allied partnerships.

The USO includes approximately 400 research faculty, research engineers, and supporting technical/non-technical staff. The USO is comprised of six Research Divisions located in State College, PA:
Engineering Systems Research and Development;
Guidance and Control Technology;
Systems and Emerging Capabilities;
Energy Science and Power Systems; SONAR Research and Development; and Model-Based Engineering. Each Division Head is a direct report to the USO Head and includes several research departments. In addition to these six divisions, USO maintains a workforce of approximately 25 research engineers and technical staff in Keyport, WA.

Research and technology areas of USO include:
Undersea Vehicle Design and Development;
Advanced SONAR Systems;
Signal Processing, Target Tracking and Classification, and Data Fusion;
Autonomous Vehicle Guidance and Control;
Embedded, Real-Time Software;
Power and Energy Systems; and Modeling and Simulation/Operations Research.

The USO has a strong record of accomplishment in the delivery of innovative solutions through a process that relies upon systems engineering discipline and rapid prototyping. In this role, the USO Head will provide overall leadership, direction, and oversight for programs and research activity across these advanced technology areas, as well as responsibility for the recruitment and professional development of current and future generations of the USO faculty and staff.

This position can be filled as an Administrator or a non-tenure Research Faculty. Minimally requires a Master s degree in an engineering or science discipline and 15 years  related experience.

The following attributes are required:

• Ability to be cleared at the Top-Secret level with strong preference for SCI eligibility
• Strong evidence of a national reputation in at least one of the core technology areas of the USO as listed above
• A vision for the future of the USO and the skills to realize the vision
• Demonstrated record of leading a large research and development organization, with a portfolio that includes fundamental science and technology through applied research and development and test and evaluation
• Experience with Navy and Intelligence Community undersea stakeholders
• Record of technical accomplishments, especially in the research areas as noted above
• Proven ability to obtain external funding for proposed research and development
• Willingness and ability to travel to represent ongoing programs and…