Senior Electrical Engineer – Navigation & Positioning Systems

Saronic · Defense · Austin, TX · Engineering

Senior Electrical Engineer focused on navigation and positioning systems for autonomous marine vessels, involving R&D, benchmarking, integration, and system architecture.

What you'd actually do

  1. Lead R&D initiatives focused on next-generation navigation and positioning solutions for autonomous vessels.
  2. Design and execute benchmarking tests of commercial and prototype systems (GNSS, INS/IMU, radar, LiDAR, Doppler velocity logs, etc.), including lab, dockside, and sea-trial environments.
  3. Perform trade studies and comparative analyses of current and emerging market offerings to inform system selection, integration paths, and performance improvements.
  4. Develop system architectures and interface specifications for integrating navigation sensors with vessel control, autonomy, and data processing subsystems.
  5. Prototype, test, and validate new electrical configurations supporting advanced sensing and positioning.

Skills

Required

  • B.S. or M.S. in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related discipline.
  • 7+ years of professional experience in electrical systems engineering, preferably within marine, aerospace, automotive or defense domains.
  • Demonstrated expertise with navigation and positioning systems: GNSS, INS/IMU, radar, LiDAR, or sensor fusion.
  • Proven experience in system-level benchmarking, R&D experimentation, and trade study development.
  • Strong understanding of signal integrity, timing synchronization, and sensor data acquisition.
  • Proficiency with schematic and wiring design tools (e.g., Altium, AutoCAD Electrical, or SolidWorks Electrical).
  • Experience with communication interfaces such as CAN, Ethernet, and serial protocols.
  • Excellent technical writing and presentation skills — capable of producing concise, data-driven R&D documentation.
  • Ability to operate effectively in both lab and field environments, including vessel trials.

Nice to have

  • Experience in autonomous or unmanned system development, particularly maritime platforms.
  • Familiarity with sensor fusion algorithms and real-time data processing pipelines.
  • Working knowledge of relevant industry standards (ABS, USCG, MIL-STD, IEC).
  • Background in environmental testing, EMI/EMC compliance, and system reliability analysis.
  • Experience supporting hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) or model-based system simulations.