Sr Engineer, Software/Research

The Senior Software/Research Engineer will support aeronautics research within the Aviation Systems Division (Code AF) at NASA Ames Research Center. The Engineer will have a research background with expertise in performing simulation studies and data analysis in addition to software development. The Engineer will work on a collaborative team of scientists and engineers in support of the Air Mobility Pathfinders (AMP) project to research, develop, and test Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) solutions before they are field-tested and eventually deployed. The work is focused on developing research concepts and prototype software that provides autonomous Air Traffic Management (ATM) services to all types of airspace users that will enable safe integration of autonomous vehicles into the National Airspace System.

USRA is the prime contractor for the NASA Academic Mission Services (NAMS) contract at NASA Ames Research Center. Our NAMS mission is to perform strategic multi-disciplinary research and development that supports NASA’s long-term mission requirements across aeronautics, space and earth sciences, and advanced information technologies.

Essential Duties/Responsibilities:

• Satisfy USRA's non-profit mission by making a distinctive impact through scientific and technical accomplishments in the assigned projects.
  1. Conduct research, development, and evaluation of advanced air traffic control and management automation concepts. Propose new automation concepts and algorithms, help identify issues, and provide solution recommendations.
  2. Engage with NASA teams and partners on requirements development and systems design for modeling, simulation, and prototype demonstration systems.
  3. Coordinate data management strategy and architecture including identifying data collection needs, data models, and requirements. Assist with the development of system performance metrics for the UAM airspace architecture.
  4. Conduct analysis on simulation or flight test data to compare the AAM airspace performance against system performance metrics.
  5. Prepare presentations and reports as required, present results at seminars and conferences, and publish papers as appropriate.
  6. Provide software development, integration, testing, and data analysis support to expand NASA capabilities for air traffic management research and simulations.
  7. Develop software release documentation for the simulation components and APIs.
• Work effectively with others including functional staff for day-to-day operations and efforts to improve operational excellence.

Additional Responsibilities 

• Ensure the protection of NASA and USRA intellectual property, which includes submitting new technology disclosures and supporting patent applications.
• Ensure export control compliance related to ITAR/EAR regulations.
• Support efforts by USRA Management to ensure that USRA conducts its business operations in an effective, cost-competitive, and professional manner.
• Complete all trainings as scheduled.
• Other job-related duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Education:

• Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Computer Science, or related degree. PhD degree strongly preferred.

Experience: 

• 8+ years of experience in the following areas: aerospace engineering, software development, data engineering, or simulation and modeling of dynamic systems.
• Expertise with Python, Java, or C/C++.
• Expertise in Agile Development processes, software architecture, object-oriented design, unit testing, full software development lifecycle.
• Demonstrated excellence in a related research and development environment and a sustained record of academic publications highly desired.
• Experience with Atlassian tools, Confluence, Git, Jira highly desired.
• Experience with databases like NoSQL (e.g., MongoDB) and SQL (e.g., PostgreSQL) is a plus.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Background in aeronautics, air traffic management research, or unmanned aerial vehicles highly desired.
• Background and experience in numerical analysis, algorithms, and scientific computation.
• Analytical and problem-solving skills for design, creation, and testing of custom software and data analysis tools.
• Possess excellent written and oral communication skills with experience writing routine reports and correspondence and presenting to customers or employees.
• Ability to work independently, effectively, and professionally in a team environment (co-workers, customers, and supervisors).
• Knowledge of data science and machine learning is a plus.
• Model USRA’s core values:
  1. Passion (for science, technology, and education)
  2. Partnerships (with universities,