Senior Electrical Engineer/Control Systems Engineer

About Applied Energetics

Applied Energetics is redefining the state of the art in ultrashort pulse laser and directed energy technologies for defense and national security applications. Guided by our vision, "Directed Energy, Anywhere", we build compact, high-performance systems that protect the warfighter and enable decisive advantages across the modern battlespace.

Why This Role Matters

We are seeking a highly skilled Senior Electrical Engineer, to play a key role in the design, development, testing, and integration of advanced beam directors and optical control systems with the lasers that power our next generation directed energy systems. In this role you will be part of our multidisciplinary engineering team executing our mission by pioneering scalable ultrashort pulse directed energy solutions that defend and secure our nation's future.

What You'll Do

• Lead the design and development of custom electronics and control architectures that enable precision operation, safety, and real-time responsiveness of our directed energy systems.
• Design and develop precision electronics to control all aspects of advanced fiber and solid-state laser sources.
• Design and develop custom electronics for optical sub-systems such as actuators, sensors, acousto-optic and electro-optic modulators, and interlock systems.
• Design and develop custom control electronics for beam director sub-systems such as fast steering mirrors, galvos, deformable mirrors, and other motion control hardware.
• Design and develop control architectures to enable the required system performance and provide integration of subsystems such as laser controllers, power management electronics, and beam director control systems.
• Design and layout custom printed circuit boards and work with vendors to procure prototypes as well as production-ready parts.
• Collaborate with software engineers to develop and implement embedded systems and real-time control algorithms for essential system functions such as laser stabilization, pulse timing, beam steering, motion control, and sensor feedback.
• Integrate low-level hardware interfaces with higher-level systems to enable overall platform operation.
• Test and debug electronic systems to ensure proper operation within the integrated laser and beam director platform.
• Optimize designs for SWaP reduction (size, weight, and power) without sacrificing performance, reliability, or environmental robustness.
• Support the lab team by designing prototype electronics needed for experiments to build, characterize, and troubleshoot directed energy systems.
• Create and maintain hardware specifications, block diagrams, schematics, and interface documentation.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's in Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related field.
• 5+ years' experience in control systems engineering, or closely related disciplines.
• A deep understanding of electrical engineering principles in general and control electronics in particular.
• Proven track record designing control electronics for complex integrated systems, procuring prototypes, testing and debugging, and releasing the final optimized design for manufacture.
• Experience with software tools used for simulation, circuit design, and layout such as Altium, PADS, OrCAD, LTspice, COMSOL, SIMULINK, etc.
• Experience with signal conditioning, grounding, low-noise design, and EMC/EMI best practices.
• Knowledge and experience of communication protocols and hardware interfaces such as SPI, UART, CAN, USB, ethernet, I2C, etc.
• Experience with MIL-STD requirements and the design of ruggedized systems that operate in diverse environments.
• S. Citizenship with the ability to obtain and maintain a DoD security clearance.

Desired Qualifications

• Experience designing electronic controls for lasers and other optical devices and systems.
• Experience with control systems for ultrashort pulse lasers and systems.
• Experience with real-time embedded systems.
• Experience working in DoD or aerospace systems development environments.

Your Toolkit

• The ability to understand the overall system requirements and operating principles and design control schemes that enables successful operation.
• Strong hands-on experimental skills.
• Innovative thinking with solid analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced engineering environment with evolving requirements.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills and the ability to translate and explain complex ideas to non-experts.
• The ability to work cooperatively in a multidisciplinary team collaborating closely with mechanical, optical, software, and systems engineers to ensure the team's success.
• Demonstrate AE's core values of Trust, Innovation, Quality, Agility, and Bold Leadership.

Why Join Applied Energetics?

• Work on breakthrough directed energy systems at the frontier of defense innovation.
• Help shape next-generation beam directors and optical architectures for critical DoD missions.
• Collaborate with a world-class team pushing the limits of laser science and engineering.
• Competitive salary, equity participation, and comprehensive benefits including Medical, Dental, and Vision, PTO, Federal Holidays, Personal Holidays, Tuition/Loan Reimbursement and others.

How to Apply

Please apply on our company website Job Listings - Applied Energetics, Inc Jobs

Applied Energetics is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age (40 or older), disability, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. This policy applies to all employment decisions, including recruitment, hiring, promotion, compensation, benefits, training, and termination.

We comply with all applicable federal and state employment laws prohibiting discrimination and will administer all personnel actions in a nondiscriminatory manner.