Research Engineer III

Job Description

Under general supervision, the Research Engineer III - Teamed Autonomy evaluates, selects, and applies scientific or engineering research techniques, procedures, and criteria to make substantial adaptations and modifications to research activities at the George H.W. Bush Combat Development Complex (BCDC). Works with researchers at the BCDC to devise new approaches to problems encountered while investigating air-ground cooperative autonomy that extends the sensing capabilities and leverages heterogeneous fleet resources. Uses a wide application of complex principles, theories and concepts in field of expertise that aids in the understanding and development of methods and technologies that advance future unmanned air, ground and maritime vehicle systems operating in unstructured environments, supporting the overall goal of forming trusted and efficient teams and facilitating effective intelligent vehicle interactions with service members.

Education and Experience:

- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Science or related field or equivalent combination of education and experience.

- Four years of related experience.

Registration, Certifications, and Licenses:

- Must be able to gain and maintain a DoD (Department of Defense) security clearance.

Responsibilities:

- Collaborates with faculty, research engineers and stakeholders to identify end-user requirements and specifications.

- Designs and implements algorithms and accompanying documentation to augment autonomous vehicle behaviors.

- Produces efficient code subject to computational resources to function in real-time systems.

- Tests and deploys programs, applications, and ROS nodes in simulation and on hardware platforms.

- Troubleshoots, debugs, maintains, and improves existing software and algorithms.

- Develops technical documentation to aid future project developments.

- Performs system hardware integration and tuning to support field-testing needs.

- Designs real-world experiments and corresponding metrics to test capability enhancements of complex multi-agent systems.

- Participates in demonstrations to stakeholders, reviews and evaluates results, and establishes conclusions based on capability performance.

- Generates system requirements based on field testing and demonstration results.

- Significant contribution to technical reports and presentations and presents results of research projects to internal and external stakeholders.

- Participates in team research activities.

- Other duties as assigned.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

- Excellent communication skills with the ability to convey technical information clearly and effectively through informal and formal documents, reports, and presentations to senior management.
- Strong technical writing skills.
- Highly collaborative and able to work in a team-based environment.
- Familiarity with principles of Agile project management and technology development.
- Knowledge of relevant state-of-the-art technological developments, equipment, system and/or trends in area of expertise.
- Ability to draw conclusions and make recommendations based on research data and findings.
- Ability to design, organize, and coordinate scientific and/or engineering research projects.
- Ability to conduct systematic analysis and develop solutions to scientific problems.
- Knowledge of engineering and/or scientific research principles, practices, and protocols.
- Engineering and/or scientific design and testing skills.

- Ability to multi-task and work cooperatively with others.

Preferred Qualifications:

- Master’s Degree in Mechanical, Electrical, or Computer Engineering or related field, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
- Experience with ROS/ROS2 programming and related practices.
- Familiarity with hardware integration to compose complex systems-of-systems (SoS).
- Experience with one or more autonomous vehicle subsystems (perception, localization, navigation, etc.), and corresponding algorithm implementations (e.g., YOLO, SLAM, RRT, etc.)
- Familiar with computer networking to conduct systems integration and field-testing.
- Experience directing small teams of junior researchers for focused development and implementation.
- Experience in software development projects for applied research. 
- Experience with Docker containerization.

Other Requirements:

This is a security-sensitive position and is restricted to U.S. citizens only. Only complete applications will be considered for employment at The Texas A&M System Offices. Incomplete job application data could result in your application being rejected without an option to reapply. A cover letter and resume may be required in addition to a completed employment application.