Lead Senior Electronics/Computer Hardware Engineer for autonomous systems supporting DTRA operations at Kirtland AFB, designing and integrating ruggedized autonomous platforms (UAVs, UGVs, robotic nodes) with specialized sensor payloads for GPS-denied, underground facility reconnaissance and threat assessment.
What you'll do
- Design electrical architectures, select components, and ruggedize embedded computing platforms, sensors, and power systems for subterranean autonomous deployments
- Integrate specialized sensor payloads (radiation detectors, gas sensors, LiDAR, multi-spectral cameras) onto autonomous platforms for UGF geometry mapping and threat signature detection
- Optimize edge-processing architectures (FPGA, GPU, microcontrollers) for SLAM, autonomous navigation, and localized data fusion without external communication dependencies
- Develop and execute hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing frameworks validating autonomous performance against simulated underground environments, EMI, and extreme physical degradation
- Collaborate with Kirtland T&E teams to field-test robotic and autonomous hardware configurations in specialized underground test beds and regional ranges
- Mentor junior and mid-level electronics engineers, hardware designers, and roboticists while establishing engineering, testing, and hardware safety baselines
- Present complex hardware architectures, autonomous capabilities, and vulnerability results to DTRA leadership, combatant commands, and international defense partners
Mission
This role directly supports the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) mission to assess underground facilities (UGFs) and hardened deeply buried targets (HDBTs) using autonomous hardware systems. The engineer will ensure autonomous sensor data feeds into DoD predictive toolsets (HPAC, VLSTRACK) for real-time environmental dispersion modeling and threat characterization in GPS-denied, communication-constrained, and hazardous environments.
Required skills
- Embedded electronics design and PCB layout
- FPGA and microcontroller architectures (ARM-based systems)
- Autonomous systems platforms (UAV, UGV, UxS)
- Sensor payload integration and multi-domain sensing
- Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing frameworks
- Electrical CAD tools (Altium Designer, Cadence Allegro)
- Low-level programming (C/C++, Python, VHDL/Verilog)
- Robot Operating System (ROS)
- SLAM and autonomous navigation algorithms
- Edge-computing optimization and data fusion architectures