Data Engineer

Overview

The Test Facilities Operations, Maintenance, and Engineering (TFOME) contract at the NASA Glenn Research Center, Neil A. Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, OH is searching for a Data Engineer to support the integrity of the overall data acquisition process and work closely with the test customers, electrical and instrumentation engineers, and computer programmers to ensure that high quality data is being collected.  The Data Engineer will provide engineering support and leadership in the planning, design, and technical execution of mechanical engineering and technical tasks for an assigned test or facility project at a test facility.

Responsibilities

1. Serves as a system manager for various facility systems at assigned test facilities.
2. Provides technical expertise to the users of the ground test facilities in planning test projects to ensure proper match of facility requirements with capabilities, balance of resources, and integration of schedules.
3. Works with the test customer to understand data requirements, measurement needs including accuracies, instrumentation requirements, and performance calculations.
4. Acts as a liaison between the test customer, electrical/instrumentation engineers, and the data acquisition system programmer.
5. Works with the test customer in the development of requirements for the data acquisition and analysis software then with the programmer to implement the requirements into the data collection and analysis software.
6. Works directly with electrical test engineers and technicians to ensure that the data systems are properly configured, and that all instrumentation is functioning properly.
7. Develops and supports development of code for data acquisition and analysis of test data. Develops on-line data displays (graphical and tabular displays) for use in data analysis and troubleshooting during testing.
8. Provides project management support for an assigned test project including developing detailed project plans and project schedules with a task list, durations and assignment of resources relevant to data acquisition, programming and instrumentation needs.
9. Works with the electrical engineers and programmers to develop the schedule input, and with the project lead for integration of the overall project schedule.
10. Supports large and small scale aerospace ground testing projects, including involvement of system and hardware installation, measurement and data requirements, data analysis, instrumentation specifications, and final report generation.
11. Prepares documentation supporting facility development efforts.
12. Prepares specifications and purchase requisitions for facility hardware.
13. Provides support for training of other engineers and technicians.
14. Develops presentations, and presents at design reviews, safety reviews, and other technical presentations.
15. Provides periodic status reports on each assigned task to contractor and customer management.
16. Conducts design of experiments and experimental error analyses.
17. Coordinates calibration activities for assigned systems.

Qualifications

1. Requires a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace, Electrical, Electronic, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or similar, and a minimum of three (3) years relevant experience.
2. General knowledge and understanding of aerospace testing, facility operations, and concepts being tested, such as aircraft performance, air-breathing engine performance, fluid dynamics, etc.
3. Understanding of mechanical test systems involving hydraulics, high vacuum, pneumatics, fluid mechanics, fluid dynamics, aerodynamics, and mechanical design.
4. General understanding of electronic test systems involving data acquisition, sensors, and signal conditioning.
5. Proficient in inspecting, editing, navigating, and performing basic file system and configuration tasks using the Command Line Interface (CLI) on systems running Microsoft Windows and Linux operating systems.
6. Proficient in using common command line tools such as PuTTy, Rsync, SSH, Cygwin, etc. to securely transfer data to and from ATF systems and system components.
7. Proficient with:
1. Data Acquisition Control (DAC) systems that use the Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS) software toolkit.
2. An Infrastructure-As-Code approach to Software Configuration Management using Ansible.
3. Python Programming Language.
4. Auto Cad (for 2D drawings).
5. SQL/MySQL Database Theory and Application.
6. EMI/EMC Theory and Application.
7. Database Theory and Application.