Autonomous System Integration and Test Engineer - The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Inc

Draper is an independent, nonprofit research and development company headquartered in Cambridge, MA. The 2,000+ employees of Draper tackle important national challenges with a promise of delivering successful and usable solutions. From military defense and space exploration to biomedical engineering, lives often depend on the solutions we provide. Our multidisciplinary teams of engineers and scientists work in a collaborative environment that inspires the cross-fertilization of ideas necessary for true innovation. For more information about Draper, visit www.draper.com.

Our work is very important to us, but so is our life outside of work. Draper supports many programs to improve work-life balance including workplace flexibility, employee clubs ranging from photography to yoga, health and finance workshops, off site social events and discounts to local museums and cultural activities. If this specific job opportunity and the chance to work at a nationally renowned R&D innovation company appeals to you, apply now www.draper.com/careers.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Draper is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer.   We understand the value of diversity and its impact on a high-performance culture.  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, or genetic information.   

Draper is committed to providing access, equal opportunity and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its services, programs, and activities. To request reasonable accommodation, please contact hr@draper.com.

The individual will work on one or more project teams to develop, integrate, test, and demonstrate novel autonomous systems. Example projects include: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs), guided parafoils, guided munitions, space systems and ground robotics. As an Autonomous Systems Integration & Test Engineer, the individual will balance depth in specific technical domains with a system-level understanding of the technology and sponsor’s needs. A successful candidate will thrive on a multi-disciplinary team and be able to bridge gaps between subject matter experts in various technical domains, while bringing Subject Matter Experience in working with the embedded processors, lower level control, and communication solutions for these systems.

Required Qualifications:

• B.S. with 3 years of relevant experience or M.S. in Engineering/Robotics/Physics.
• Experience in the design and development of autonomous systems with demonstrated ability to work across engineering disciplines.
• Experience with unique hardware and software integration on UAS platforms (flight controller parameter and controls tuning, sensor/sensor driver integration, CoTs sensor selection, software development for embedded targets) to contribute to robust autonomy solutions
• Experience with the Robot Operating System (ROS1, ROS2), DDS, and other communication middleware solutions including the development of custom nodes, drivers, and message parsing solutions.
• Experience contributing to and maintaining core, reuseable software packages (frame transformations, targeting and guidance capabilities, and/or test infrastructure and tools) that make up the overall suite of autonomous GNC software
• Collaborate closely with our software teams to augment or build new infrastructure and software solutions needed to more quickly / reliably deliver
• Work closely with our hardware teams to provide design input, feedback, and debugging of custom mission computer/controller/flight stack configurations and/or circuit diagrams
• Linux-based software development, integration, and test experience (C, C++, Python, Docker, Nuttx)
• Experience implementing and troubleshooting UAV specific communication protocols (MAVLink, uorb, custom and/or open source flight controller firmware)
• Experience with git, issue tracking, CI/CD and other software engineering best practices for developing deployable software
• Strong communication skills to work with technical and non-technical sponsors and system users.

Preferred Qualifications:  

• DOD Top Secret Clearance
• Experience with Model-Based Engineering tools & techniques for developing and managing system designs.
• Electromechanical hardware development, integration, and test experience.
• Knowledge of digital communication systems (Ethernet, USB, serial, CAN, I2C)Experience tuning and evaluating performance of autonomous systems algorithms in perception, localization, guidance, and/or control while field testing these systems.
• Experience planning and executing test campaigns ranging from early-stage risk reduction tests to full system, in-situ demonstration.
• Experience with managing software on flight testing surrogate and/or delivered systems, and providing support for these systems on-site or remotely to customers
• Experience remotely troubleshooting and analyzing delivered systems through SITL and HWIL support

Security Requirement: Applicants selected for this position will be required to obtain and maintain a government security clearance.               

#LI-MF1