Senior NLCC Communication Systems Engineer

Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) seeks a Senior NLCC Communication Systems Engineer to lead design, analysis, and integration of advanced communications systems supporting Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications (NC3) and related national security missions. You will architect robust end-to-end links, perform modeling and simulation, guide requirements, and support test and evaluation of RF, satellite, and secure networking solutions. Collaborating with multidisciplinary experts, you'll advance resilient, secure comms architectures while mentoring junior engineers and contributing to technical strategy and sponsor engagement.

Responsibilities

• Lead design and analysis of secure NLCC/NC3 communication systems and architectures
• Develop system requirements, interface definitions, and technical documentation
• Perform modeling, simulation, and link/performance analyses for RF and SATCOM links
• Guide integration, test, and evaluation of communication systems in lab and field environments
• Collaborate with cross-disciplinary teams to ensure mission resilience and security
• Engage with government sponsors to capture needs and present technical findings
• Mentor and provide technical guidance to junior engineers
• Support trade studies and technology assessments to inform future architectures

Required Skills

• RF communications engineering
• Digital signal processing (DSP)
• Network architecture and protocol design
• Link budget and performance analysis
• Modeling and simulation tools (e.g., MATLAB, STK)
• Systems engineering and requirements development
• SATCOM and tactical data links
• Cyber-resilient communications design
• Test and evaluation of comm systems
• Technical documentation and presentations