Systems Engineer

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory seeks a Systems Engineer to support world-class radio telescopes in a mission-driven, research-focused environment. You will design, integrate, and maintain complex systems connecting instrumentation, control, and data networks for astronomy and astrophysics. Responsibilities include requirements analysis, system design, implementation, testing, and troubleshooting. You will collaborate with scientists and engineers worldwide, contribute to high-reliability operations, create thorough documentation, and continuously improve performance, scalability, and security of observatory systems.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and maintain radio telescope control and monitoring systems
• Integrate hardware, software, and networking components for observatory operations
• Troubleshoot and resolve complex systems and performance issues
• Collaborate with astronomers and engineers to translate scientific needs into technical solutions
• Develop and maintain system documentation, procedures, and configuration records
• Support reliability, security, and scalability of mission-critical infrastructure
• Participate in on-call or scheduled maintenance windows for system upgrades

Required Skills

• Systems engineering
• Linux administration
• Network engineering
• Scripting (Python/Bash)
• Systems integration
• Requirements analysis
• Systems architecture design
• Monitoring and observability tools
• Configuration management
• Cybersecurity fundamentals