Junior Systems Engineer

Technology Advancement Group (TAG) is a warfighter focused systems integrator in Ashburn, Virginia. We design, build and integrate assured positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) hardware and software for the U.S. Military, U.S. allies, and the companies that build for them. Our products include anti-jam CRPA antennas, horizon-nulling antennas and a miniature M-code GPS receiver. All of them are shipping today, with test data behind them, and our engineers integrate them into the systems our customers already run.

We're hiring a Junior Systems Engineer to help take TAG electronics from the first requirement to a fielded product. You'll report to our Lead Systems Engineer and work in a matrixed team, supporting other engineers on specific projects across hardware and software. You'll be part of every phase of the product lifecycle: design, documentation, test, production, deployment and support. Much of the job starts with a customer's technical requirements. You'll work out what they mean for the design and how we'll prove the product meets them. You'll work on-site in Ashburn with a small team. There's no large engineering department to hand work off to here, so you'll see a product from first spec to shipped unit, and you'll give input directly to Engineering, Manufacturing, Configuration Management, Quality and executive leadership.

On an average day you'll handle some combination of the following. You'll design, document and test hardware and software components, writing requirements documents, performance specifications, architecture designs, configuration management records and Contract Data Requirements Lists (CDRLs). You'll support test and production by writing assembly procedures, functional test procedures and design verification procedures, and by running system tests. You'll develop and carry out verification and validation plans for system components, along with the test procedures, processes and fixtures needed for quality validation, and you'll keep all of that test documentation under revision control. You'll take part in design reviews and help build prototypes. When a design changes, you'll evaluate the Engineering Change Request (ECR) and work the change into the product and its documents.

Who You Are

Who you are

You're an early-career engineer who wants to work on the whole product, not one slice of it, and you want your work to end up in the field.

You like learning new technology. You want to know how a GNSS receiver holds a position fix under jamming, why an antenna design changed and what a test result is really telling you. When something is new to you, you read up and keep asking questions until it makes sense.

You're hands-on. You'd rather have a unit on the bench than spend all day in documents. You're comfortable with test equipment, cabling and assemblies, and you want to see the hardware your procedures describe.

You sweat the details. A wrong revision letter or a skipped step in a test procedure becomes a problem on the production floor or at the customer. You catch those before they leave your desk, and you keep your work organized so anyone can find the current version.

You can work on your own and with a team. You'll take tasks from the Lead Systems Engineer and support engineers on several projects. You can run with an assignment without someone checking in, and you know when to pull in help.

You adapt when plans change. Priorities shift with customer schedules, test results and design changes. You can move between projects in the same day without losing track of either one.

You care who's on the other end. Our products go to warfighters who need to know where they are when GPS is jammed or spoofed. A spec you get wrong or a test you rush ends up in their hands. You take that seriously, and it shows in your work.

Requirements

Electronics and the design process. You have one to five years of hands-on experience with electronics, assemblies and computer components. You've taken part in a design process from requirements through build and test. Pick a project and you can walk us through it: what it had to do, how you tested it, what failed and what you changed.

Attention to detail and organization. You keep your work accurate and organized while several tasks are open at once. You can show how you track revisions, manage your files and catch errors before they reach someone else.

Analytical skills. When a test fails or the data doesn't look right, you work the problem methodically until you find the cause. You can describe a problem you traced and how you knew you'd found the real cause.

Writing and documentation. Most of this job ends up in a document that someone else builds, tests or buys from. You write procedures and specifications clear enough that a technician can follow them without asking what you meant. You can also explain a technical issue out loud to engineers, technicians and managers. You can show us something you wrote.

Ability to lift 20 lbs. You'll move units, assemblies and test equipment around the lab and the production floor.

U.S. person status. This role involves access to technical data controlled under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). You must be a U.S. person as defined in 22 CFR 120.62. That includes U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and certain protected individuals such as refugees and asylees.

Clearance eligibility. You must be able to obtain and maintain a U.S. government security clearance, which requires U.S. citizenship.

Nice to Haves

GNSS experience. You've worked with GPS or other GNSS systems, whether receivers, antennas, timing equipment or the test gear around them. You understand the basics of how a receiver gets a position fix and what jamming does to it.

Active clearance. You hold a current DoD Secret or Top Secret clearance.