Propulsion System/Instrumentation and Controls Engineer

Job Title: Specialist, Propulsion System / Instrumentation and Controls Engineer

Job ID: 38690

Job Location: Orange, VA

Job Schedule: Shift: 9/80: Employees work 9 out of every 14 days – totaling 80 hours worked – and have every other Friday off

Job Description:

Propulsion / Instrumentation and Controls Engineers

Responsible for the integration of instrumentation, data acquisition, and controls for testing solid fuel and liquid propulsion systems ensuring the test instrumentation meets testing programs quality, schedule, and cost objectives. 

This role will require support of system design activities for test and integration of COTS-based control systems from the system design phase through development, documentation, installation and commissioning of complete systems. These systems are required for control room operation and data collection of solid and liquid rocket, ramjet / scramjet, aerothermal, and/or component tests.

Additionally the role will require knowledge of various instrumentation and control hardware for developing, planning, and implementing system test procedures for delivering customer data for production and development programs. Maintaining and supporting calibration processes for facility instrumentation and equipment for development and production programs is also an essential role of this position.

Expected to advise test engineering team members of instrumentation and data acquisition system requirements and capabilities. As part of a larger managed project team, will need to work with little supervision.

Trouble shooting and problem solving is essential in this role. You must have a passion for learning and understanding complex issues of instrumentation and controls systems. Will need to be able to resolve issues while working with custom equipment that may need to be designed out and replaced. Continuous improvement of operations through innovation is paramount.

Will need to communicate with multiple customers, vendors, and colleagues across the business and industry to fulfil project requirements, operational targets, and customer deliverables.

Essential Functions:

Under general supervision:

• 35% - Interface with Design/Project Engineering to develop/interpret instrumentation requirements.  Recommend, propose, and integrate test facility instrumentation, data acquisition, and control hardware to meet program objectives. This also includes maintaining configuration control of production test data acquisition, signal conditioning, control, and data reduction software. Taking ownership and maintaining test facility equipment.


• 25% - Prepare technical documentation, including software logs, test procedures, electrical schematics, and contributing to test readiness reviews.  Work with Quality and Safety to ensure test methods meet calibration and process safety requirements along with customer and government requirements/regulations.


• 25% - Provide training to Control Room Operators on data acquisition, calibration, and controls setup. Trouble shoot wiring harnesses, specify and fabricate needed cables for test programs to interface between data systems and sensors.


• 10% - Recommend, propose, plan, and execute (manage cost and schedule) facility upgrades, equipment acquisition and installation to meet ongoing and developing test program requirements. Coordinate cost and schedule planning/estimates. 


• 5% Occasional travel to support various programs within industry.

Qualifications:

Requires a bachelor’s degree in Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical or other closely related engineering discipline and a minimum of 4 years of prior related experience. Graduate Degree and a minimum of 2 years of prior related experience. In lieu of a degree, minimum of 8 years of directly related experience.

Preferred Additional Skills: 

• Familiar with the setup and installation in an academic or industrial lab / test environment where physical measurements of load cells, pressure/displacement transducers, LVDT’s, accelerometers, and thermocouples were utilized.


• A working knowledge of strain gage applications. The knowledge to apply strain gauges on any type of material, temperature range, and for any environment. The use of strain gauges in mechanical testing and the application of strain gauges for use in stress analysis.


• Familiar with volt meters, oscilloscopes, temperature reading equipment, hand-held meters, and data logging systems.


• Software (C/QNX, Pacific, Allen-Bradley PLC, LabView, C/C++ programming, Matlab/Simulink, etc.),


• Pneumatic valves and control hardware, systems, and applications.


• Experience making cables for various instrumentation needs and environments where electrical noise interference present challenges to good data collection.

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