The Interdisciplinary Aerospace Engineer will support aeronautics research within the Aviation Systems Division (Code AF) at NASA Ames Research Center. The Engineer will work on a collaborative team in support of the Air Mobility Pathfinders (AMP) project, along with other scientists and engineers to research, develop, and test 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.

• 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.

• Develop system performance metrics, measures of effectiveness, and measures of performance for the AAM airspace architecture.

• Coordinate data management strategy and architecture including identifying data collection needs, data models, and requirements.

• Interact with senior researchers, customer (i.e., NASA), and other project engineers to develop and execute research plans which include milestones, requirements, schedules, design & development activities, deliverables.

• Conduct analysis on simulation or flight test data to compare the AAM airspace performance against system performance metrics.

• Prepare presentations and reports as required, present results at seminars and conferences, and publish papers as appropriate.

• 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:

• PhD degree in Aeronautics, Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related degree.

Experience:

• 5+ years of experience in the following areas: aerospace engineering, data engineering, or simulation and modeling of dynamic systems.

• Experience with designing and leading research studies involving fast-time simulations.

• Expertise with scripting languages like Python and MATLAB, databases like NoSQL (e.g., MongoDB) and SQL (e.g., PostgreSQL). Proficiency in Java, C/C++ is a plus.

• Proficiency in Microsoft Office and its applications.

• Experience with Atlassian tools, Confluence, Git, Jira highly desired.

• Demonstrated excellence in a related research and development environment and a sustained record of academic publications.

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 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.

Working Conditions:

Work will be performed in an office (on-site or remote with project/supervisor approval) or computer lab environment. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to stand, walk, sit, talk, or hear. Keyboarding for large time spans each day will be a significant part of this position. The employee may need to lift and/or move up to 50 pounds.

Travel:

Employee must be willing and able to travel. Position may require infrequent domestic business travel.

NO RELOCATION