You will serve as the Senior Scientist for Autonomous and Robotic Systems (NRL Code 8206) in the Spacecraft Engineering Division (Code 8200) of the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). You will report directly to the Superintendent of the Spacecraft Engineering Division. The primary purpose of the position is to provide an institutional senior technical expert and advisor for the Superintendent of Code 8200 and other NRL leadership on topics related to Autonomous and Robotic Systems.

Duties

You will serve as a technical expert in robotics and autonomy, UAVs, USVs, AUVs, advanced satellite servicing techniques, orbital construction techniques, artificial intelligence, perceptual modalities, machine learning and reinforcement learning. You will maintain a state-of-the-art research and development portfolio to advance national capabilities of both maritime/terrestrial and in-space robotic systems. You will provide technical advice at all levels on advances in the state-of-the-art in robotics, machine learning, and autonomous systems as relevant to national security applications in all domains, sea, air and space. You will lead a broad-based, multidisciplinary research program pushing the frontiers of robotics systems including EOD robotics, automated logistics, and autonomous defensive and offensive systems; in-space satellite servicing and assembly. You will research and apply cutting-edge research products to problems of Department of the Navy (DON) and Department of Defense (DoD) interest for naval and military operations. You will provide subject matter expertise to NRL Senior leadership, Navy, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and United States Space Force (USSF)), and other international partners. You will use scientific vision and organizational skills to market new research proposals to obtain funding and bring long term, multi-faceted research programs to successful completion in a Navy Working Capital Fund (NWCF) environment.

Requirements

• Must be a US Citizen.
• Must be determined suitable for federal employment.
• Must participate in the direct deposit pay program.
• New employees to the Department of the Navy will be required to successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit e-verify.gov
• You will be required to complete ethics orientation within three months of appointment and submit a Public Financial Disclosure Report, OGE-278e within 30 days of appointment.
• Within the Department of Defense (DoD), the appointment of retired military members within 180 days immediately following retirement date to a civilian position is subject to the provisions of 5 United States Code 3326.
• Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service.
• You will be required to obtain and maintain an interim and/or final security clearance prior to entrance on duty. Failure to obtain and maintain the required level of clearance may result in the withdrawal of a job offer or removal.
• Successful completion of a pre-employment drug test (including marijuana) is required. A tentative offer of employment will be rescinded if you fail to report to the drug test appointment or fail the test. You will be subject to random testing.
• This position may require travel from normal duty station to CONUS and OCONUS and may include remote or isolated sites. You must be able to travel on military and commercial aircraft for extended periods of time.
• This position is considered Key/Emergency-Essential. You will be required to provide immediate and continuing support to ensure the success of combat operations or the availability of combat-essential systems.

Qualifications

QUALIFICATIONS REQUIREMENTS: Applicants will be assessed against Mandatory Technical Qualifications (MTQs). Failure to provide a separate narrative statement which describes fully and concisely how your experience meets the Mandatory Technical Qualifications will eliminate you from consideration. MANDATORY TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS: (Each must be addressed separately in your Supplemental Narrative Statement. Each MTQ must not exceed 2 pages.) 1. Demonstrated competence in planning and conducting research in autonomous and robotic systems in areas including industrial and logistical robotics, EOD robotics, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), advanced satellite servicing techniques, orbital construction techniques, dexterous robotic manipulation/locomotion including nonlinear and adaptive controls, perceptual modalities, and robotics autonomy, including applications of artificial intelligence, machine learning and reinforcement learning. 2. Demonstrated ability to understand and apply cutting-edge research products to problems of DON and DoD interest, including a deep understanding of naval and military operations. Demonstrated ability to communicate, orally and in writing, the implications of new research developments to senior DON and DoD decision makers. 3. Demonstrated ability to publish research that significantly enhances knowledge in the areas of Navy-relevant maritime/terrestrial robotics, autonomous robotic systems, advanced satellite servicing techniques, orbital construction techniques, and robotic controls/machine learning. 4. Demonstrated ability to obtain research support from funding agencies through proposals in these areas. Additional qualification information can be found from the following Office of Personnel Management website: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/#url=GS-PROF and Professional Engineering Series Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., professional, philanthropic, religious, spiritual, community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment.

Education

Applicants must meet the following Basic Requirements of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Qualifications Standards Manual:

For 0800 Professional Engineering Series:
A. Degree: Engineering. Successful completion of a bachelor's or higher engineering degree from an accredited college or university. To be acceptable, the program must: (1) lead to a bachelor's degree in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by ABET; or (2) include differential and integral calculus and courses (more advanced than first-year physics and chemistry) in five of the following seven areas of engineering science or physics: (a) statics, dynamics; (b) strength of materials (stress-strain relationships); (c) fluid mechanics, hydraulics; (d) thermodynamics; (e) electrical fields and circuits; (f) nature and properties of materials (relating particle and aggregate structure to properties); and (g) any other comparable area of fundamental engineering science or physics, such as optics, heat transfer, soil mechanics, or electronics. Such education must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position.
-or-
B. Combination of education and experience -- college-level education, training, and/or technical experience that furnished (1) a thorough knowledge of the physical and mathematical sciences underlying engineering, and (2) a good understanding, both theoretical and practical, of the engineering sciences and techniques and their applications to one of the branches of engineering. The adequacy of such background must be demonstrated by one of the following:
(I) Professional registration or licensure -- Current registration as an Engineer Intern (EI), Engineer in Training (EIT), or licensure as a Professional Engineer (PE) by any State, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico. Absent other means of qualifying under this standard, those applicants who achieved such registration by means other than written test (e.g., State grandfather or eminence provisions) are eligible only for positions that are within or closely related to the specialty field of their registration. For example, an applicant who attains registration through a State Board's eminence provision as a manufacturing engineer typically would be rated eligible only for manufacturing engineering positions; or
(II) Written Test -- Evidence of having successfully passed the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination or any other written test required for professional registration by an engineering licensure board in the various States, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico; or
(III) Specified academic courses -- Successful completion of at least 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences and that included the courses specified in the basic requirements under paragraph A. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program as described in paragraph A; or
(IV) Related curriculum -- Successful completion of a curriculum leading to a bachelor's degree in an appropriate scientific field, e.g., engineering technology, physics, chemistry, architecture, computer science, mathematics, hydrology, or geology, may be accepted in lieu of a bachelor's degree in engineering, provided the applicant has had at least 1 year of professional engineering experience acquired under professional engineering supervision and guidance. Ordinarily there should be either an established plan of intensive training to develop professional engineering competence, or several years of prior professional engineering-type experience, e.g., in interdisciplinary positions. (The above examples of related curricula are not all inclusive.)

Contacts

• Address NAVAL RESEARCH LABORATORY 4555 Overlook Avenue SW Washington, DC 20375-5324 US
• Name: Dept of the Navy Executive Hiring
• Email: usn.seattle-wa.ochrsvdopscenwa.mbx.don-executive-hiring@us.navy.mil