Senior Principal Electrical-Optics Engineer

Basic Qualifications

Requires a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, or a related Science, Engineering, Technology or Mathematics field. Also requires 10+ years of job-related experience, or a Master's degree plus 8 years of job-related experience.

CLEARANCE REQUIREMENTS: Ability to obtain a Department of Defense TS/SCI with Polygraph security clearance is required at time of hire. Applicants selected will be subject to a U.S. Government security investigation and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information. Due to the nature of work performed within our facilities, U.S. citizenship is required.

• Direct experience designing and troubleshooting mixed-signal PWBs that combine precision analog, switching or linear power, digital logic, FPGAs, memories, and high-speed interfaces.
• Direct, relevant experience designing high-speed digital hardware and interfaces operating at frequencies up to 10 GHz.
• Direct experience with electro-optical hardware, including cameras, lasers, fiber-optic communications equipment, optical transceivers, optical attenuators, or optical switching.
• Recent hands-on use of PCB design, simulation, and analysis tools such as Xpedition, HyperLynx, LTspice, MATLAB, or closely comparable tools.
• Practical experience with schematic capture, PCB design review, design for test, design for manufacturability, board bring-up, laboratory troubleshooting, test procedures, and laboratory instrumentation.
• Ability to document hardware architectures and ICDs spanning electrical, optical, mechanical, FPGA/firmware, and software interfaces, and to brief management and customers at an appropriate level of detail.
• Demonstrated ability to distinguish technical symptoms from root causes and drive complex hardware and system issues to evidence-based resolution.

Responsibilities for this Position

ROLE AND POSITION OBJECTIVES:

We are seeking a senior electrical engineer to design, integrate, test, and sustain Free-Space Optical (FSO) communications systems, modem hardware, and associated development and test equipment. This role spans board-level circuit design through system architecture, customer engagement, and technical leadership.

What You Will Do

• Architect and design printed wiring boards and electro-optical systems for FSO communications products, modems, and test equipment, including COTS components, precision analog circuits, power supplies, FPGAs, memories, high-speed digital interfaces, and optical/network components.
• Integrate cameras, lasers, fiber-optic links, SFPs, variable optical attenuators, optical switches, and associated monitoring and control hardware into reliable end-to-end systems.
• Define electrical, optical, mechanical, firmware, and software interfaces; produce reviewable hardware architectures, ICDs, design analyses, schematics, test plans, and verification evidence.
• Perform circuit simulation and analysis, including tolerance, signal-integrity, power-integrity, thermal, and relevant worst-case electrical, timing, power, environmental, and tolerance analyses.
• Use current design and analysis tools, including Siemens/Mentor Xpedition, HyperLynx, LTspice, MATLAB, and comparable analog, digital, and electro-optical tools.
• Lead hardware bring-up, integration, troubleshooting, root-cause analysis, and corrective action at board and system levels.
• Develop test approaches, fixtures, and automated test capabilities; use Python, C, C++, or comparable languages for test automation, instrument control, data collection, and engineering analysis.
• Support proposals and customer engagement by defining technical approaches, risks, estimates, requirements, and user needs before Performance Work Specification (PWS) definition.
• Mentor engineers, delegate work intentionally, and share critical technical knowledge across multiple concurrent programs.

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressively responsible electrical-engineering experience and ownership of complex board- or system-level designs.
• Direct experience designing and troubleshooting mixed-signal PWBs that combine precision analog, switching or linear power, digital logic, FPGAs, memories, and high-speed interfaces.
• Direct, relevant experience designing high-speed digital hardware and interfaces operating at frequencies up to 10 GHz.
• Direct experience with electro-optical hardware, including cameras, lasers, fiber-optic communications equipment, optical transceivers, optical attenuators, or optical switching.
• Recent hands-on use of PCB design, simulation, and analysis tools such as Xpedition, HyperLynx, LTspice, MATLAB, or closely comparable tools.
• Practical experience with schematic capture, PCB design review, design for test, design for manufacturability, board bring-up, laboratory troubleshooting, test procedures, and laboratory instrumentation.
• Ability to document hardware architectures and ICDs spanning electrical, optical, mechanical, FPGA/firmware, and software interfaces, and to brief management and customers at an appropriate level of detail.
• Demonstrated ability to distinguish technical symptoms from root causes and drive complex hardware and system issues to evidence-based resolution.

Ideal Candidate

• Moves comfortably between system architecture, schematic review, simulation, bench measurement, and failure analysis while retaining the mission need and system-level context.
• Understands that electro-optical performance depends on optics, analog electronics, power quality, thermal behavior, digital interfaces, control software, packaging, and test methods.
• Identifies technical risks, incomplete requirements, weak interfaces, and verification gaps early; resolves them using disciplined analysis and measured evidence.
• Designs for manufacturability, serviceability, testability, and sustainment, not only nominal laboratory performance.
• Communicates concisely with leadership and customers, leads with the decision, status, risk, or recommendation, and provides circuit-level detail when asked.
• Is forward-leaning and self-directed, shares knowledge freely, mentors others, delegates effectively, and collaborates across multiple programs without waiting for detailed tasking.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with FSO communications systems, modem hardware, optical networking, RF/optical data links, AMD/Xilinx FPGA-based hardware, or high-speed interfaces.
• Experience with commercial optical/network test equipment such as Spirent, Viavi, Polatis, optical power meters, BER testers, or spectrum analyzers.
• Experience in defense, aerospace, government, or another mission-critical product-development environment; leading formal design reviews; or contributing to proposals, basis-of-estimate development, and customer technical exchanges.

Our Commitment to You:

• An exciting career path with opportunities for continuous learning and development.
• Research oriented work, alongside award winning teams developing practical solutions for our nation’s security
• Flexible schedules with every other Friday off work, if desired (9/80 schedule)
• Competitive benefits, including 401k matching, flex time off, paid parental leave, healthcare benefits, health & wellness programs, employee resource and social groups, and more
• See more at gdmissionsystems.com/careers/why-work-for-us/benefits

Workplace Options:

This position is On-site with flex optionsWhile on-site, you will be a part of the Annapolis Junction Team

Salary Note

Combined Salary Range

Company Overview

General Dynamics Mission Systems (GDMS) engineers a diverse portfolio of high technology solutions, products and services that enable customers to successfully execute missions across all domains of operation. With a global team of 12,000+ top professionals, we partner with the best in industry to expand the bounds of innovation in the defense and scientific arenas. Given the nature of our work and who we are, we value trust, honesty, alignment and transparency. We offer highly competitive benefits and pride ourselves in being a great place to work with a shared sense of purpose. You will also enjoy a flexible work environment where contributions are recognized and rewarded. If who we are and what we do resonates with you, we invite you to join our high-performance team!

Equal Opportunity Employer / Individuals with Disabilities / Protected Veterans