Research Engineer IV

Responsibilities

• Designs, implements, and optimizes complex software architectures for multi-agent coordination, serving as a primary contributor to the BCDC autonomy stacks.
• Generates prototype code and innovative algorithmic concepts to accelerate development cycles, providing technical breakthroughs to overcome project bottlenecks.
• Produces high-performance, efficient code (Python/C++) subject to computational and resource constraints for reliable operation on embedded hardware and within ROS2 middleware.
• Actively develops and refines perception and navigation stacks for a diverse fleet, including tactical UTVs, military-grade UGVs, UAVs, and autonomous helicopters.
• Leads hands-on troubleshooting and debugging of high-level system failures, maintaining the stability and integrity of integrated autonomy systems.
• Directs and participates in the development of multi-level simulation environments to validate algorithmic performance and bridge the gap to field deployment.
• Leads the exploration and selection of sensing and compute hardware, conducting trade studies to balance State-of-the-Art (SOTA) performance with economical sensor fusion strategies.
• Leads the hands-on integration and deployment of ROS2 nodes across heterogeneous air and ground assets, ensuring seamless hardware-software interoperability.
• Actively performs system hardware integration and tuning for new platforms, ensuring the reliability of perception and navigation subsystems in the field.
• Mentors junior research staff through collaborative development, code reviews, and shared field operations, fostering technical growth and consistency across the team.
• Translates high-level research goals and guidance from senior staff into actionable technical roadmaps and software specifications.
• Collaborates with faculty and senior staff to align development efforts with project milestones, ensuring the continuous injection of new ideas into the research pipeline.
• Leads the generation of technical reports, presentations, and peer-reviewed publications, identifying opportunities to extend current technology.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Science or related field or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Six years of related experience.
• Experience designing and implementing multi-agent coordination or path-planning frameworks.
• Experience conducting technical trade-off studies between hardware (sensors/compute) and sensor fusion strategies.