Principal Systems Engineer

Overview:

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.

Job Description Summary:

A Systems Analysis Engineer (PMTS) develops and applies advanced Digital Engineering capabilities for the analysis of complex systems in domains such as: strategic deterrence, missile defense, hypersonics, space, precision guided munitions, autonomous air/sea vehicles, and biotechnology. Our multi-disciplinary teams innovate and develop solutions for full system development lifecycle from trade studies, to concept and architecture design, to integration, to testing and operation.

Job Description:

Duties/Responsibilities
• Independently drive solutions to complex problems - develop requirements, propose ways forward when customer requirements are unclear or incomplete, and adapt appropriately to changes in requirements.
• Subject Matter Expert (SME) in Systems Engineering
• Provide insight and suggest design modifications based on analysis outcomes, and to apply analysis techniques across a range of technical challenges and disciplines
• Identify program/system-level technical risks and develop and execute mitigation strategies.
• Develop, document, and teach best practices to less experienced engineers
• Actively mentors. Recognizes strengths and weaknesses in others and provides thoughtful constructive feedback.
• Work in a collaborative multidisciplinary environment including stakeholders and external partners.
• Contribute to translation of requirements into technical and architectural decisions.
• Identify and develop relevant modeling and analysis techniques, and develop or integrate multi-domain qualitative models.
• Present results that support system-level analysis, performance trade-offs, and real-time decision-making.
• Communicate technical concepts effectively with customers, engineers, managers, and other stakeholders of all relevant disciplines.

Skills/Abilities
• Excellent mathematical skills.
• Thorough understanding of engineering theories and procedures.
• Ability to collaborate within a diverse and multidisciplinary team.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Excellent time management skills with the proven ability to meet deadlines.
• Demonstrate strong organization, planning, and time management skills to achieve program goals.
• Demonstrated knowledge of multiple problem domains.
• Multi-task and adapt to evolving priorities.
• Ability to quickly become knowledgeable in new domains.

Education
Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace, Electrical, Mechanical, or other relevant Engineering field. Master's degree preferred.

Experience
• Requires 7-10 years experience in systems analysis or related.
• Experience in use of MBSE tools such as SysML, knowledge in MATLAB/Simulink.
• Experience in integrating descriptive modeling tools with other simulation tools.

Additional Job Description:

Duties and responsibilities may include:

• Identification of customer mission needs and development of use cases;
• Requirements development;
• Model-based analysis of alternatives for GNC design concepts;
• Modeling of system dynamics and guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) loop;
• System performance simulation and analysis;
• Presentation of analysis results to both internal and external stake-holders;
• Development of systems engineering, design, and analysis artifacts/documentation;
• Technology roadmap development;
• Proposal development and briefing of senior leadership;
• Task planning and leadership.

 

A successful candidate will be highly motivated to: (a) support the delivery of technology solutions that are of strategic importance to the nation in the context of evolving threats from peer and near-peer competitors, and (b) build deeper expertise in both the core mission domain and under