Staff Engineer

ARA Brand; Panama City (FL); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

ARA is seeking an experienced staff engineer to design, develop, integrate, test, qualify, and field complex underwater and undersea systems in an on-site Panama City, FL office. Hybrid work may be possible for the right candidate, requiring attendance in the office at least 3 days per week, with regular travel to Newport, RI (up to 15%).

The role demands hands-on engineering across requirements development, system architecture, analysis, prototype development, and program technical reviews,

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Systems Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Ocean Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
• 5-7 years of recent and relevant engineering experience supporting complex systems development.
• Demonstrated experience applying systems engineering principles to the development, integration, and testing of complex engineered systems.
• Experience with requirements decomposition, traceability, verification, validation, and technical baseline management.

Responsibilities

• Support the design, development, integration, test, qualification, and implementation of complex underwater and undersea systems.
• Develop, analyze, document, and manage system, subsystem, hardware, software, and interface requirements.
• Translate customer needs, operational concepts, and mission requirements into measurable engineering requirements and system performance criteria.
• Perform system-level engineering evaluations and trade studies to assess design alternatives, technical risks, performance, cost, and schedule impacts.
• Support engineering design reviews, including SRR, SFR, PDR, CDR, TRR, and other program technical reviews.
• Support the development, procurement, assembly, integration, and testing of advanced prototypes to inform engineering decisions and demonstrate system performance.
• Analyze engineering and test data, identify performance trends and anomalies, and develop recommendations for system improvements.
• Support failure investigations, root cause analysis, corrective-action development, and system troubleshooting.
• Identify and manage technical risks, requirements issues, interface conflicts, and integration challenges while developing coordinated system-level solutions.

Skills

Systems engineering

Requirements decomposition

Traceability

Verification & validation

Baseline management

Technical communication

Education

Engineering degree

Job description

ARA is seeking an experienced staff engineer to support the design, development, integration, testing, qualification, and fielding of complex underwater and undersea systems. The successful candidate will be a hands‑on engineer who can work comfortably across requirements development, system architecture, engineering analysis, prototype development, integration, test, and system‑level technical reviews.

The ideal candidate will have experience working with multidisciplinary engineering teams and complex hardware/software systems in technically demanding environments. The candidate should be capable of understanding system‑level performance, decomposing operational needs into engineering requirements, managing interfaces between subsystems, supporting prototype development and testing, and communicating technical decisions to both technical and non‑technical stakeholders.

This is an on‑site position in the ARA office in Panama City, FL. Hybrid work may be possible for the right candidate, requiring attendance in the office a minimum of 3 days per week. This position also requires regular travel to Newport, RI (up to 15%).

What you will do as a staff engineer:

• Support the design, development, integration, test, qualification, and implementation of complex underwater and undersea systems.
• Develop, analyze, document, and manage system, subsystem, hardware, software, and interface requirements.
• Translate customer needs, operational concepts, and mission requirements into measurable engineering requirements and system performance criteria.
• Perform system‑level engineering evaluations and trade studies to assess design alternatives, technical risks, performance, cost, and schedule impacts.
• Support engineering design reviews, including System Requirements Reviews (SRR), System Functional Reviews (SFR), Preliminary Design Reviews (PDR), Critical Design Reviews (CDR), Test Readiness Reviews (TRR), and other program technical reviews.
• Support the development, procurement, assembly, integration, and testing of advanced prototypes to inform engineering decisions and demonstrate system performance.
• Analyze engineering and test data, identify performance trends and anomalies, and develop recommendations for system improvements.
• Support failure investigations, root cause analysis, corrective‑action development, and system troubleshooting.
• Identify and manage technical risks, requirements issues, interface conflicts, and integration challenges while developing coordinated system‑level solutions.

Staff engineer required skills/experience:

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Systems Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Ocean Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
• 5-7 years of recent and relevant engineering experience supporting complex systems development.
• Demonstrated experience applying systems engineering principles to the development, integration, and testing of complex engineered systems.
• Experience with requirements decomposition, traceability, verification, validation, and technical baseline management.
• Strong problem‑solving skills and demonstrated ability to manage multiple technical issues while developing integrated system‑level solutions.
• Ability to prepare and communicate technical information during customer meetings and formal engineering design reviews.
• Candidates selected may be subject to a government security investigation and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information.

Preferred skills/experience:

• Understanding of underwater system operating environments, including hydrostatic pressure, hydrodynamic loading, corrosion, shock, vibration, temperature, watertight integrity, and marine environmental considerations.
• Experience integrating mechanical, electrical, software, communications, navigation, sensing, control, and payload subsystems into a complete underwater system.
• Experience developing system architectures, functional block diagrams, interface control documents (ICDs), requirements specifications, and verification cross‑reference matrices.
• Familiarity with model‑based systems engineering practices.
• Working knowledge of mechanical engineering principles including fluid mechanics, structural mechanics, thermal analysis, materials, and environmental loading as they apply to underwater systems.
• Demonstrated ability to understand mission objectives and operational concepts and translate them into practical system requirements and engineering solutions.

About ARA:

ARA is an employee‑owned international research and engineering company recognized for providing technically superior solutions to complex and challenging problems in the physical sciences. The company, founded in Albuquerque, NM, in 1979, currently employs more than 2,200 professionals and continues to grow. ARA offices throughout the United States and Canada provide a broad range of technical expertise in civil technologies, computer software and simulation, defense technologies, systems analysis, environmental technologies, and testing and measurement. The corporation also provides sophisticated technical products for pavement analysis, environmental site characterization, and robotics.

At ARA, employees are our greatest assets. The corporation realizes that employee ownership spawns greater creativity and initiative along with higher performance and customer satisfaction levels. ARA gives its employees the tools, training, and opportunities to take more active roles as owners. The culture is challenging; innovation and experimentation are the norm. Employees are eligible for contributions which not only add to the company’s success, but also their own through the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). The motto, “Engineering and Science for Fun and Profit” sums up the ARA experience.