Electrical Propulsion and Power Systems Engineer

Penn State University; Ferguson Township (PA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Penn State University, located in State College, PA, seeks experienced Electric Propulsion and Power Systems (EPPS) Engineers to join the ARL’s EPCS Department in the Undersea Systems Office. You will lead multidisciplinary teams to design, document, integrate, and test high‑power propulsion and vehicle power systems for undersea platforms, with both lab and field testing for DoD customers.

ARL is a DoD SkillBridge partner and welcomes transitioning military members.

Qualifications

• Experience in electric propulsion and power systems for complex vehicles.
• Ability to lead multidisciplinary engineering teams through full lifecycle design.
• Willingness to perform laboratory and field testing and travel to remote locations.

Responsibilities

• Participate in full project life cycle design of electric/hybrid propulsion systems.
• Oversee requirements identification, design reviews, and documentation packages.
• Execute detailed design concepts, analyses, and test plans for EPPS subsystems.
• Test subsystems using hardware-in-the-loop methods and lab equipment.
• Capture hardware designs with CAD tools and support system integration.
• Participate in system integration exercises and verification stages.
• Support field testing of prototype EPPS to validate performance.

Skills

Power systems

Motor drives

Control theory

Circuit design

Team leadership

Hands-on electronics

Tools

Altium Design Suite

Siemens NX

SolidWorks

LabVIEW

MATLAB/Simulink

RT-LAB

Job description

POSITION SPECIFICS

Working location will be fully on-site, located in State College, PA. This role requires periodic travel to remote locations.

We are searching for experienced and dedicated Electric Propulsion and Power Systems (EPPS) Engineers to join the Electrical Power and Control Systems (EPCS) Department within the Undersea Systems Office (USO) at the Applied Research Laboratory (ARL) at Penn State. You will lead multidisciplinary engineering teams in project development of cutting edge electric and hybrid electric propulsion and power systems for undersea vehicles. Specifically, you will oversee the detail design, documentation, integration, and testing of high-power electric propulsion motors and controllers for undersea propulsion applications along with overall vehicle power system design and control. This will include laboratory and field testing for U.S. military and related applications.

ARL is an authorized DoD SkillBridge partner and welcomes all transitioning military members to apply.

You Will

• Participate in full project life cycle design and development to deliver advanced, efficient and reliable electric and hybrid electric propulsion systems and power sub-systems
• Participate in system requirements identification, flow-down, and functional allocation followed by design reviews, design acceptance and documentation packages
• Execute detailed design stages including early design concept development, market surveys, analysis of alternatives, draft interface control and functional design documents, and write test plans/reports.
• Test EPPS subsystems including advanced hardware-in-the-loop test methods to support integration with larger systems of systems
• Use an array of advanced laboratory equipment to demonstrate the design satisfies the identified requirements and expectations
• Capture approved hardware designs using state of the art CAD tools
• Participate in large scale system integration exercises and requirement verification stages
• Support laboratory and field testing of prototype EPPS systems to demonstrate and validate the final design

Additional Responsibilities for Senior Professional and Higher-level Positions Include

• Conduct independent and collaborative research, development, testing, and evaluation activities to solve complex scientific and engineering challenges supporting Department of Defense sponsors and national security missions
• Investigate, evaluate, and apply established and emerging engineering principles, scientific methodologies, and advanced technologies to develop innovative technical solutions
• Plan, perform, and lead analytical studies, modeling and simulation, laboratory experimentation, field testing, and prototype demonstrations to validate engineering concepts and system performance
• Design, develop, integrate, analyze, and evaluate complex hardware, software, embedded systems, sensors, communications systems, electromechanical systems, or other mission-critical technologies within assigned technical disciplines
• Apply systems engineering principles throughout the project lifecycle, including requirements development, architecture definition, design trade studies, integration, verification, validation, risk management, and configuration management

Required Skills/Experience areas include

• Single-phase AC, three phase AC, and DC power systems
• Power conversion systems such as motors and drives, alternators, rectifiers, and DC-DC converters.
• Open and closed-loop control methods
• Analog and digital circuit design
• Demonstrated ability to work within an engineering team and lead a team of technicians
• Be hands‑on, exhibit a solid understanding of electronics and power concepts
• Possess a proven ability to build, troubleshoot, and integrate hardware into larger, more complex systems

Additional Preferred Skills

• Electrical CAD tools including Altium Design Suite
• Mechanical CAD tools including Siemens NX and/or Solidworks
• Data acquisition hardware and software including LabVIEW and MATLAB
• MATLAB, Simulink, Stateflow, and RT-LAB for simulation and control
• Past success in design with low and high voltage power conversion
• High voltage training and working experience
• Hardware-in-the-loop HIL experie