Principal Missile Defense Simulation Engineer

Synopsys; Mountain View (CA); On-site; USD 160,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual bonus

Equity

Job summary

Synopsys is seeking experienced candidates to build high-fidelity simulations for air and missile defense, translating complex physics into actionable models. You will cover threat trajectories, sensor signatures, and sensor architectures to support kill chain analysis from detection to engagement.

You will collaborate with subject matter experts, deliver technical briefings, and contribute to a credible simulation platform used with government customers.

Qualifications

• Minimum 10+ years of professional experience (or 8+ with MS) in air and missile defense contexts.
• US citizenship with an active DoD TS/SCI clearance.
• Deep experience in sensor phenomenology and signature modeling (RF/IR) across flight phases.
• Proficiency in MATLAB or Python for modeling, simulations, and DoD analysis frameworks.
• Experience with radar sensing environments and radar band impacts on detection/characterization.
• Familiarity with STK and AFSIM is a strong plus.

Responsibilities

• Build high-fidelity simulation environments for air and missile defense systems, modeling threat trajectories, staging events, and multi-modal signatures across RF, IR, and other sensor spectra.
• Model radar phenomenology and sensor architectures for detection, tracking, and discrimination.
• Develop signature simulation capabilities that capture missile launch dynamics and time-varying observables.
• Design synthetic training datasets for AI/ML systems used in sensor fusion and battle management.
• Integrate threat models and sensor simulations into larger frameworks using STK/AFSIM.

Skills

MATLAB

Python

Sensor modeling

TS/SCI clearance

Education

BS in Engineering/Physics/CS

MS in Engineering/Physics/CS

Tools

STK

AFSIM

Job description

Synopsys is seeking experienced candidates to build high-fidelity simulations for air and missile defense, translating complex physics into actionable models. You will cover threat trajectories, sensor signatures, and sensor architectures to support kill chain analysis from detection to engagement.

You will collaborate with subject matter experts, deliver technical briefings, and contribute to a credible simulation platform used with government customers.