Job Title

Teamed Autonomy Research Engineer, Levels I - IV

Agency

Texas A&M University System Offices

Department

Bush Combat Development Complex

Proposed Minimum Salary

Commensurate

Job Location

Bryan, Texas

Job Type

Staff

Job Description

The System Offices is one of several system members within the Texas A&M University System representing one of the largest systems of higher education in the nation, with a network of 11 universities, a comprehensive health science center, eight state agencies, and the RELLIS Campus. The Texas A&M University System mission is to provide education, conduct research, commercialize technology, offer training, and deliver services for the people of Texas and beyond. The George H.W. Bush Combat Development Complex (BCDC), part of the Texas A&M University System (TAMUS), invites applications for a full-time Research Engineer I-IV in the focus area of Teamed Autonomy.

The Bush Combat Development Complex (BCDC) (https://bcdc.tamus.edu/) - located on the 2,300-acre RELLIS Campus in Bryan, TX - is an ecosystem for agile technology development and service-member-inspired research. The BCDC is the result of a partnership between the Department of Defense, Texas A&M University System, and the State of Texas. The $200 million complex is designed to bring together researchers from U.S. universities, the military, and the private sector for collaboration, demonstrations, and high-tech testing of initiatives to help accelerate military innovation for our nation’s defense. Our leaders and experienced personnel thrive in a dynamic environment where they get to share their passions, and strive for advancements in critical DoD areas, such as integrated hypersonics, directed energy, advanced materials, trusted AI and autonomy, robotics, FutureG, human-machine interfaces, and integrated sensors. We are looking for talented individuals to join our team and truly make an impact by helping to solve the toughest challenges for our nation's security.

The System Offices, within the Texas A&M University System, provides an outstanding benefits package including, but not limited to: competitive health benefits; paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays; a defined benefit retirement plan with 8.25% employer contribution through Teachers Retirement System of Texas (TRS); tuition assistance; and wellness programs to promote work/life balance.

Salary:

Commensurate with experience.

Job Title:

Research Engineer - Teamed Autonomy, Levels I - IV

Job Description Summary:

The Research Engineer - Teamed Autonomy independently applies advanced knowledge of scientific research or engineering principles and practices in broad areas of assignments and related fields at the George H.W. Bush Combat Development Complex (BCDC). The Coordinated Air-Ground Vehicle Maneuvering team at BCDC is investigating air-ground cooperative autonomy to extend the sensing capabilities and leverage heterogeneous fleet resources. This research aids in the understanding and development of methods and technologies that advance future unmanned air, ground, and maritime vehicle systems operating in unstructured environments. The goal is to help facilitate effective intelligent vehicle interactions with service members to foster the trust essential to forming efficient teams. Successful, intelligent vehicles will increase unit capabilities, situational awareness, mobility, and speed of action. The research team regularly demonstrates the developing technologies that enable coordinated movement, via shared situational awareness with our heterogeneous multi-vehicle fleet in the diverse off-road terrain at the RELLIS campus.

Responsibilities:

• 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.

• Contributes to real-world experiment designs 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.

• Collaborates with faculty, research engineers and stakeholders to identify end-user requirements and specifications.- Significant contributions to in technical reports and presentations and presents results of research projects to internal and external stakeholders.

• Participates in team research activities. Creates opportunities to enhance technical methodology or content through expansion of existing, or development of, new efforts; may extend technology into new application areas; contributes or leads in major intellectual development activities.

• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications:

Minimum qualifications for a Research Engineer I

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or equivalent combination of education and experience.

Minimum qualifications for a Research Engineer II

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or equivalent combination of education and experience.

• Two years of relevant experience.

Minimum qualifications for a Research Engineer III

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or equivalent combination of education and experience.

• Four years of relevant experience.

• Experience working in Linux operating systems environments. - Experience with software development in Python or C++.

Minimum qualifications for a Research Engineer IV

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or equivalent combination of education and experience.

• Six years of relevant experience.

• Experience with one or more autonomous vehicle subsystems (perception, localization, navigation, etc.), and corresponding algorithm implementations (e.g., YOLO, SLAM, RRT, etc.). - Experience working in Linux operating systems environments. - Experience with software development in Python or C++.

  Registration, Certifications, and Licenses:

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

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.

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

  Preferred Qualifications:

• Master's degree in (Mechanical, Electrical, 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).

• Familiar with computer networking to conduct systems integration and field-testing.- 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.

All positions are security-sensitive. Applicants are subject to a criminal history investigation, and employment is contingent upon the institution’s verification of credentials and/or other information required by the institution’s procedures, including the completion of the criminal history check.

Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action/Veterans/Disability Employer.