Principal Research Scientist / Principal Investigator

BAE Systems is a premier global defense and security company with approximately 90,000 employees delivering a full range of products and services for air, land and naval forces, as well as advanced electronics, security, information technology solutions and customer support and services.

We are seeking a highly creative experienced Research Scientist to lead and contribute to development of advanced algorithms and systems in diverse research areas applying machine learning, probabilistic reasoning, adaptive control, and/or optimization to cutting edge problems such as learning normal behavior patterns of tracked entities (e.g., dismounts, vehicles, vessels, aircraft, satellites, software-defined radios, cyber system users and hosts) to detect anomalous activity or changes in patterns, predict future behavior, or provide advance warning of impending threats to friendly assets. You must be highly motivated, have strong problem-solving abilities, and be willing to perform a wide variety of related tasks. You must be a team player with a proactive attitude and the capacity to be creative and productive in a dynamic, fast-paced environment. You must have strong writing and general communication skills, with strong presentation skills. You will participate in meetings with customers, co-contractors, and/or sub-contractors. Some travel may be required to support customer or collaborator meetings, software integration and testing, and/or capability demonstrations.

Our ideal Research Scientist is a strong entrepreneur who can develop novel adaptive incremental data-driven model learning and exploitation algorithms, present those ideas to colleagues and customers, write winning proposals, and then execute projects when awarded. You must have a demonstrated capacity to create and/or sustain lines of research by participating in proposal writing and other marketing efforts with research funding agencies such as DARPA. Typically our project workflow involves: (1) researching solutions developed in-house or published in scientific literature to determine applicability and identify strengths and weaknesses; (2) creating prototypes (typically in Matlab) to support demonstration and evaluation of key algorithmic ideas on (often real) data; and (3) developing robust, real-time implementations suitable for target hardware/software environments. You must be able to: (1) provide research and technical leadership as well as hands-on algorithm design, implementation, and evaluation; (2) quickly adapt to changing requirements; and (3) be involved in all workflow stages. Ultimately, you would be leading a team of dedicated research, software, and system engineers to execute your vision of the program you developed! As a successful candidate, you: (a) will lead small teams of research, software, and (potentially) systems engineers that may include members from collaborating universities, other companies, and customer organizations; and (b) will interact directly with customers to participate in design reviews, support integration, testing, and demonstration, and/or produce clear, user-friendly documentation. Strong general written and oral communication skills are critical to your professional success in this role.

**Minimum Education and Experience:** * Bachelor's Degree and 12 years work experience or equivalent experience **Required Skills and Education:** * Doctorate in Computer Science or Engineering-related discipline with 7+ years professional experience (specialization in Machine Learning, Statistics, Computational Neuroscience, and/or Controls and Optimization particularly valuable); Masters degree with 10+ years professional experience * Strong experience leading exploratory research and development efforts including overseeing activities of other, potentially junior, personnel * Strong experience presenting to technical audiences and directly interacting with customers to understand their requirements and guide research and development efforts to meet their needs * Track record of experience demonstrating detailed knowledge (including understanding of strengths and weaknesses of various approaches), application, analysis, and development in more than one of the fields of machine learning, probabilistic reasoning, adaptive control, and/or optimization - Demonstrated experience in successfully leading large (potentially diverse and distributed) research projects, proposals, and related marketing initiatives - Strong analytic, project, and personnel leadership skills - Strong writing and presentation skills sufficient to support: (a) creation and sustainment of lines of research through marketing via direct interaction with customers and proposal writing; and (b) publication of research results in professional, peer-reviewed journals and technical conferences - Supervision/leadership/mentorship of junior staff - Demonstrated experience in formulating and carrying out research agendas - Matlab proficiency to perform: (1) rapid design, prototyping, analysis, and simulation of, and experimentation with, advanced algorithms and applications; and (2) data analysis - Equally effective communication with lifelong academics, government customers, and professional engineers **Preferred Skills and Education:** - Doctoral degree - Demonstrable software engineering skills, with Java expertise preferable - Record of publications in relevant fields with real-world applications viewed favorably