
Electrical Propulsion and Power Systems Engineer
Penn State University Talent Acquisition
University Park, PAJobSeen 4 days agoSeen in employer's feed 4 days ago
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Job overview
Penn State’s Applied Research Laboratory seeks Electric Propulsion and Power Systems Engineers for its Electrical Power and Control Systems Department. The role develops electric and hybrid-electric propulsion and power systems for undersea vehicles, including design, integration, and testing of motors, controllers, and vehicle power systems. Work is fully on-site in State College and includes periodic travel to remote locations. Senior professional and higher-level positions also conduct and lead research and engineering activities.
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Full job description
APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS: 1. CURRENT PENN STATE EMPLOYEE (faculty, staff, technical service, or student), please login to Workday to complete the internal application process. Please do not apply here, apply internally through Workday. 2. CURRENT PENN STATE STUDENT (not employed previously at the university) and seeking employment with Penn State, please login to Workday to complete the student application process. Please do not apply here, apply internally through Workday. 3. If you are NOT a current employee or student, please click "Apply" and complete the application process for external applicants. Approval of remote and hybrid work is not guaranteed regardless of work location.For additional information on remote work at Penn State, seeNotice to Out of State Applicants. POSITION SPECIFICS Working location will be fully on-site, located in State College, PA.This role requires periodic travel to remote locations. We are searching for experienced and dedicated Electric Propulsion and Power Systems (EPPS) Engineers to join the Electrical Power and Control Systems (EPCS) Department within the Undersea Systems Office (USO) at the Applied Research Laboratory (ARL) at Penn State.You will lead multidisciplinary engineering teams in project development of cutting edge electric and hybrid electric propulsion and power systems for undersea vehicles. Specifically, you will oversee the detail design, documentation, integration, and testing of high-power electric propulsion motors and controllers for undersea propulsion applications along with overall vehicle power system design and control. This will include laboratory and field testing for U.S. military and related applications. ARL is an authorized DoD SkillBridge partner and welcomes all transitioning military members to apply. You Will: 1. Participate in full project life cycle design and development to deliver advanced, efficient and reliable electric and hybrid electric propulsion systems and power sub-systems 2. Participate in system requirements identification, flow-down, and functional allocation followed by design reviews, design acceptance and documentation packages 3. Execute detailed design stages including early design concept development, market surveys, analysis of alternatives, draft interface control and functional design documents, and write test plans/reports. 4. Test EPPS subsystems including advanced hardware-in-the-loop test methods to support integration with larger systems of systems 5. Use an array of advanced laboratory equipment to demonstrate the design satisfies the identified requirements and expectations 6. Capture approved hardware designs using state of the art CAD tools 7. Participate in large scale system integration exercises and requirement verification stages 8. Support laboratory and field testing of prototype EPPS systems to demonstrate and validate the final design Additional Responsibilities for Senior Professional and Higher-level Positions Include: 1. Conduct independent and collaborative research, development, testing, and evaluation activities to solve complex scientific and engineering challenges supporting Department of Defense sponsors and national security missions 2. Investigate, evaluate, and apply established and emerging engineering principles, scientific methodologies, and advanced technologies to develop innovative technical solutions 3. Plan, perform, and lead analytical studies, modeling and simulation, laboratory experimentation, field testing, and prototype demonstrations to validate engineering concepts and system performance 4. Design, develop, integrate, analyze, and evaluate complex hardware, software, embedded systems, sensors, communications systems, electromechanical systems, or other mission-critical technologies within assigned technical disciplines 5. Apply systems engineering principles throughout the project lifecycle, including requireme ts development, architecture definition, design trade studies, integration, verification, validation, risk management, and configuration management Required Skills/Experience areas include: 1. Single-phase AC, three phase AC, and DC power systems 2. Power conversion systems such as motors and drives, alternators, rectifiers, and DC-DC converters. 3. Open and closed-loop control methods 4. Analog and digital circuit design 5. Demonstrated ability to work within an engineering team and lead a team of technicians 6. Be hands-on, exhibit a solid understanding of electronics and power concepts 7. Possess a proven ability to build, troubleshoot, and integrate hardware into larger, more complex systems Additional Preferred Skills: 1. Electrical CAD tools including Altium Design Suite 2. Mechanical CAD tools including Siemens NX and/or Solidworks 3. Data acquisition hardware and software including LabVIEW and MATLAB 4. MATLAB, Simulink, Stateflow, and RT-LAB for simulation and control 5. Past success in design with low and high voltage power conversion 6. High voltage training and working experience 7. Hardware-in-the-loop HIL experience 8. Safely interfacing to various battery chemistries and battery management systems (BMS) 9. Operating power processing test equipment (Aerovironment, Arbin) 10. Planning and safely executing dynamometer testing 11. Embedded C/C++ and VHDL/Verilog 12. Current eligibility for access to classified information at the Secret level or higher and may be subject to a government background investigation to upgrade clearance eligibility, if required MINIMUM EDUCATION, WORK EXPERIENCE & REQUIRED CERTIFICATIONS If filled as R&D Engineer - Electrical (ARL) - Intermediate Professional, this position requires:Bachelor's Degree - Engineering or Science2+ years of relevant experienceRequired Certifications:NoneIf filled as R&D Engineer - Electrical (ARL) - Professional, this position requires:Bachelor's Degree - Engineering or ScienceNo prior relevant work experience requiredRequired Certifications:None ARL's purpose is to research and develop innovative solutions to challenging scientific, engineering, and technology problems in support of the Navy, the Intel Community (IC), and other federal government customers. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION on ARL, visit our website at www.arl.psu.edu . BACKGROUND CHECKS/CLEARANCES Employment with the University will require successful completion of background check(s) in accordance with Unive
How this job compares
Set against the 10,250 open Electrical Engineer jobs on Olive Jobs, counted October 27, 2026.
- Pay
- This postingNot listed
- Pennsylvania median$100–153K/yr188 salary ranges
- US median$44–55/hr388 hourly ranges
- Openings
- Olive Jobs lists 386 open Electrical Engineer jobs in Pennsylvania and 10,250 across the US. 3% of them nationwide are listed as remote or flexible.
- Hiring the most in Pennsylvania
- CDM Smith31 open
- Jacobs25 open
- Mitsubishi Electric Power Products, Inc.16 open
- Experience
- This posting asks for at least 2 years of experience — less than three in four Electrical Engineer postings that state a minimum ask for (median 5 years, across 8,568 postings).
- Education
- This posting asks for a bachelor's degree; 6,964 of the 10,250 open Electrical Engineer jobs (68%) ask for a bachelor's degree or higher.
Counted across the open, public US postings on Olive Jobs on October 27, 2026. Pay medians are the middle values of the low ends and of the high ends of postings that list both ends of a range in the same cadence (a yearly salary or an hourly rate); a range's midpoint is halfway between its ends. Pay and experience figures resting on fewer than 20 postings are left out.
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