Applications Engineering, Architect- Missile Defense

Ansys, Inc.; Exton (PA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual bonus

Equity

Total rewards

Job summary

Ansys invites a senior modeling engineer to join the Government Initiatives team in Huntsville, AL, focusing on air and missile defense simulations. You will build high-fidelity threat models and radar phenomenology, integrating with STK/AFSIM frameworks for DoD programs and DoD stakeholders.

You will guide modeling requirements, accuracy, and bias checks, ensuring physics-based fidelity and robust AI-enabled simulation for acquisition decisions and defense planning.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Physics, Computer Science or related field; 12+ years experience, or Master’s 10+ years, or PhD 7+ years.
• US citizen with active DoD TS/SCI clearance.
• Deep domain knowledge in air and missile defense systems, including sensor architectures and threat trajectories.
• Experience modeling radar phenomenology and RF sensing systems.
• Hands-on experience with missile flight dynamics and trajectory impacts on sensors.

Responsibilities

• Build high-fidelity models of threat trajectories and sensor behaviors across RF, IR and other spectra.
• Develop radar phenomenology models for various bands and sensor architectures.
• Create synthetic datasets for AI/ML training with target-present and absent scenarios.
• Collaborate with experts and government stakeholders to ensure fidelity to requirements and physics.

Skills

Radar phenomenology

Threat modeling

MATLAB

Python

STK

AFSIM

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering/Physics/CS

Tools

STK

AFSIM

Python

MATLAB

Job description

***Please note that you will primarily be working on site with a customer in Huntsville, AL along with some travel to Dayton, OH and Exton, PA***

Synopsys is the leader in engineering solutions from silicon to systems, enabling customers to rapidly innovate AI-powered products. We deliver industry-leading silicon design, IP, simulation and analysis solutions, and design services. We partner closely with our customers across a wide range of industries to maximize their R&D capability and productivity, powering innovation today that ignites the ingenuity of tomorrow.

What You'll Be Doing

• Build high-fidelity models of threat trajectories, including staging events, flight dynamics, and multi-spectral signature behaviors across RF, IR, and other sensor-observable spectra.
• Develop and integrate radar phenomenology models that represent how different radar bands and sensor architectures detect, track, and characterize targets in realistic engagement scenarios.
• Support the creation of synthetic datasets for AI/ML training, including target-present and target-absent scenarios designed to reduce algorithmic bias and improve model robustness.
• Collaborate with signature characterization experts, sensor engineers, and government stakeholders to ensure simulation fidelity aligns with operational requirements and physics-based constraints.
• Implement sensing system models within frameworks like STK and AFSIM, representing track fusion, discrimination logic, and custody management across the missile defense kill chain.
• Provide technical leadership on modeling requirements, simulation architecture, and fidelity tradeoffs for emerging programs involving generative simulation and AI-enabled battle management.
• Integrate threat modeling and sensor simulations into larger analysis and experimentation environments used by DoD customers for system development and algorithm evaluation.

The Impact You Will Have

• Your models will directly inform how the DoD evaluates next-generation air and missile defense systems, shaping acquisition decisions and operational concepts.
• The synthetic datasets you generate will train AI/ML systems used for real-time threat discrimination, sensor fusion, and battle management decision support.
• Your expertise in radar phenomenology and signature modeling will ensure that simulations reflect the actual physics of sensing, not oversimplified assumptions that break under scrutiny.
• The simulation environments you build will enable government customers to test algorithms, evaluate system performance, and conduct mission-level analysis without relying solely on live flight tests.
• Your technical leadership will set the standard for fidelity and rigor across AGI's missile defense modeling efforts, influencing how the team approaches complex multi-domain problems.
• The frameworks you implement will support rapid experimentation and iteration, accelerating the development cycle for AI-enabled defense systems.
• Your work will contribute to the national security mission by providing trusted modeling and simulation capabilities that support critical defense programs.

What You'll Need

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Physics, Computer Science, or related field with 12+ years of professional experience, or Master's with 10+ years, or PhD with 7+ years.
• US citizen required with an active DoD TS/SCI clearance.
• Deep domain knowledge in air and missile defense systems, including sensor architectures, threat trajectories, and multi-spectral signature modeling.
• Demonstrated experience modeling radar phenomenology and RF sensing systems, including understanding of radar bands, target detection, and sensor-observable behaviors.
• Hands-on experience with missile flight dynamics, staging events, and how trajectory behaviors impact sensor observables across the engagement timeline.
• Proficiency in MATLAB or Python for building models, scripting interfaces, and integrating with DoD systems and simulation frameworks.
• Experience with Systems Tool Kit (STK) and Advanced Framework for Simulation, Integration and Modeling (AFSIM) is a strong plus, as is familiarity with track fusion, discrimination algorithms, and battle management concepts.

Who You Are

• You can explain a complex radar phenomenology tradeoff to a government program manager in two sentences without losing the technical nuance, and then turn around and debug a MATLAB script with a junior engineer.
• You have worked with real-world radar or EO/IR data, not just textbook examples, and you know the difference between a model that validates against measured data and one that just looks plausible.
• You are comfortable operating in ambiguity, building models when requirements are still being defined, and documenting your assumptions so others can build on your work.
• You push back when a simulation requirement does not align with the physics or when a dataset generation plan will introduce bias that breaks the AI model downstream.
• You manage multiple technical efforts simultaneously, keeping stakeholders aligned, timelines on track, and deliverables moving without sacrificing technical rigor.
• You bring a point of view on what good modeling looks like, and you are not afraid to advocate for the right approach even when it is harder or takes longer.

The Team You'll Be Part Of

You will join the Ansys Customer Excellence team within Ansys Government Initiatives, a group focused on advanced modeling and simulation for aerospace and defense customers. The team works closely with DoD laboratories, government organizations, and defense research facilities on air and missile defense programs. You will collaborate with subject matter experts in signature characterization, sensor phenomenology, and threat modeling, and you will work across multiple technical domains including physics-based modeling, sensing systems, and algorithm development. The Huntsville, AL location puts you in the heart of the missile defense community, with direct access to government customers and operational stakeholders.

At Synopsys, we want talented people of every background to feel valued and supported to do their best work. Synopsys considers all applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, military veteran status, or disability.

In addition to the base salary, this role may be eligible for an annual bonus, equity, and other discretionary bonuses. Synopsys offers comprehensive health, wellness, and financial benefits as part of a competitive total rewards package. The actual compensation offered will be based on a number of job-related factors, including location, skills, experience, and education. Your recruiter can share more specific details on the total rewards package upon request. The base salary range for this role is across the U.S.