Air Combat Autonomy Program Manager - Hybrid - Ft. Walton Beach FL

Are you ready to take the helm in shaping the future of tactical mission autonomy, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with trailblazers who are turning cutting-edge dreams into tangible reality? As a vital member of the growing EpiSci team, your influence will be immediate and transformative as we propel towards a future where security and autonomy unite in unprecedented ways.
EpiSci isn't just another company; we're a rapidly ascending force of innovation, forging ahead with next-gen tactical mission autonomy technologies that span defense, aerospace, and commercial domains. At our core, we wield the latest advancements in artificial intelligence, autonomy algorithms, wireless communications, and digital signal processing to surmount the most formidable national security challenges. Our Tactical AI prowess is nothing short of extraordinary, offering robustness, dependability, and a rapid adaptability that thrives on the frontlines of emerging missions and obstacles. Picture developing AI aviators for cutting-edge aircraft like the F-22 and F-16, revolutionizing wireless tactical communication systems, and fueling the skies with swarms of autonomous UAVs supercharged by sensor fusion.
As a Program Manager at EpiSci, your role is pivotal, entailing dynamic endeavors that encompass running programs to design and actualize architectures and systems across a spectrum of Tactical AI applications. Here, you won't just follow the norm; you'll be leading groundbreaking work that redefines the boundaries of both commercial and defense applications. The challenge is profound and the rewards are immeasurable, as you build superior systems that empower our military with unrivaled capabilities.
We understand and cherish the richness that diverse perspectives and backgrounds bring to the table. At EpiSci, we wholeheartedly invite every exceptional individual, regardless of their journey, to join our ranks and become a driving force behind the secure and autonomous world of tomorrow. Your future at EpiSci awaits—ignite your potential and let's redefine what's possible, together.
Don't meet every single requirement? At EpiSci, we're committed to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workforce, so if you're excited about this role but your previous experience doesn't align perfectly with every qualification, we encourage you to apply anyway! You may be the perfect candidate for this or another role at EpiSci.

Core Responsibilities

• Program Management: Oversee the planning, execution, and completion of projects within the Air Combat Autonomy portfolio, ensuring they meet quality, schedule, and cost requirements. 
• Example Program Scope:  
•  Building autonomy software that operates real autonomous aircraft systems including F16 fighter jets, group 1-5 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), as well as simulated models and more to accomplish tactical military missions. 
• Research, design, implement, leverage, and improve state-of-the-art unmanned aerial system (UAS) autonomy algorithms in the following autonomy categories to perform tactical military missions: 
• Team Coordination: Work closely with cross-functional teams, including engineering, software development, tactics SMEs, and operations, to manage project timelines, deliverables, and resources. 
• Stakeholder Engagement: Serve as the primary point of contact for both internal and external stakeholders, providing regular project updates, addressing concerns, and ensuring alignment with organizational objectives. 
• Risk Management: Identify, assess, and manage project risks and challenges, implementing mitigation strategies as needed. 
• Process Improvement: Contribute to the continuous improvement of project management practices within EpiSci, ensuring efficient workflows and high-quality outputs 
• Manage programs that build, leverage, and improve robotic autonomy software architectures that can be deployed on real systems to accomplish military missions (including publish/subscribe architectures). 
• Manage programs that design autonomy software supporting the full integration with aircraft autopilots, datalinks, sensors, PNT/GPS/INS, ground control stations, etc. 
• Manage programs that take new autonomy capabilities from ideation through prototyping, M&S, flight testing, and fielding on front-line aircraft and robotic systems. 
• Manage programs that build, leverage, and improve vehicle dynamics models, sensor models, weapon models (and model interfaces) in modeling and simulation (M&S) environments needed to test and evaluate autonomy capabilities (e.g. AFSIM, NGTS, TacView, JSBsim, AirSim, PX4/MAVLink, QGC, TAK, etc). 
• Manage programs that build, leverage, and improve modeling and simulation environments (e.g. AFSIM, NGTS, AirSim, PX4/MAVLink, QGC, TAK, etc) to rigorously design and test new algorithms. 
• Manage programs that set-up and integrate hardware-in-the-loop (HWIL) systems, to test the performance of software solutions on real flight hardware. 
• Manage programs involve live flight test of autonomy software on F16s, group 1-5 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). 
• Manage programs that build, leverage, and improve analysis tools to analyze autonomy algorithm performance. 
• Collaborate with 3rd party UAS vehicle vendors on the integration of EpiSci autonomy software onto OEM UAS hardware. 
• Contribute novel ideas to improve programs and projects. 
• Collaborate with domain experts and prior DoD warfighters (ex. DoD fighter pilots) to build software autonomy solutions for military missions. 

Minimum Qualifications

• Education Requirements:
• Bachelor’s degree in computer science/related engineering field.
• 7+ years of program management experience managing cost, schedule, performance of defense contracts.
• 
  
• Technical Requirements:
• Strong experience program managing defense contracts such as firm, fixed, price (FFP), cost plus fixed fee (CPFF), etc.
• Strong experience interacting with government and prime contract customers.
• Strong experience managing cost, schedule, performance.
• Strong experience managing software teams using agile processes (spiral, scrum, kanban).
• Experience curating and managing software backlogs in Gitlab.
• Basic conceptual understanding of software development (programming, containerization, configuration management, DevOps) and autonomy software products.
• Experience leading programs that develop software for autonomous robotic systems in C++ and Python.
• Experience managing programs that design, implement, leverage, and improving state-of-the-art autonomy algorithms in 1 or more of the following areas:
• Autonomy loops such as: "Sense, Make Sense, Decide, Act (SMDA)”, “Observe, Orient, Decide, Act (OODA)” loops., “Perceive, Decide, Act’ (PDA)” loops.
• Sense: Environment sensing and modeling, computer vision, sensor processing, classification, anomaly detection.
• Make Sense: Environment mapping, data interpretation, 3D voxel grids, GeoGrids, WGS84, aerospace coordinate systems and reference frames (north east down (NED), Geocentri & Geodetic latitudes, Earth-centered-inertial (ECI), earth centered earth fixed (ECEF)), no fly zones, keep-in/keep-out zones, etc. Sensor fusion and target tracking. Find, fix, track, target (F2T2).
• Decide: State machines, behavior trees, optimization algorithms, constraint solving, classic algorithms (A*, RRT*, DFS, BFS, Branch & Bound, Random Forests), heuristics, optimization, Kalman filters, particle filters, etc. Artificial intelligence techniques such as deep reinforcement learning, reinforcement learning, machine learning, neural networks, supervised learning, unsupervised learning, generic algorithms, Bayesian networks, fuzzy logic, etc.
• Act: Autonomous 2D & 3D UAS trajectory/motion planning, route planning, SLAM. Classical controls systems, optimal control systems, adaptive control systems, model predictive control systems, especially for integration of 3rd party UAS autopilots. Guidance, navigation, and controls (GNC).
• Experience managing programs that take new autonomy capabilities from ideation through prototyping, M&S, flight testing, and fielding on front-line aircraft and robotic systems.
• Experience managing programs that build, leverage, and improve vehicle dynamics models, sensor models, weapon models (and model interfaces) in modeling and simulation (M&S) environments needed to test and evaluate autonomy capabilities (e.g., AFSIM, NGTS, TacView, JSBsim, AirSim, PX4/MAVLink, QGC, TAK, etc).
• Experience managing programs that leverage, build, and improve modeling and simulation environments (e.g., AFSIM, NGTS, AirSim, PX4/MAVLink, QGC, TAK, etc) to rigorously design and test new algorithms.
• Experience managing programs that set up and integrate hardware-in-the-loop (HWIL) systems, to test the performance of software solutions on real flight hardware.
• Experience supporting live flight test of autonomy software on F16 fighter jets, and/or group 1-5 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).


• Additional Requirements:
• Passion for solving complex problems with little supervision in a fast-moving team.
• Ability to balance multiple priorities in a fast-paced, highly collaborative, frequently changing, and sometimes ambiguous environment.
• Excellent analytical, communication, and documentation skills with demonstrated ability to collaborate across multiple teams.


• Travel Requirements
• Must be willing to travel as projects requires. Estimated average travel is once every other month for between 2 days up to 1 week. (~10%)


• Security Requirements
• Must be a U.S. Citizen. 
• Must be eligible for a U.S. SECRET security clearance with Special Access Program (SAP) eligibility. 
• Active TS/ SCI a plus 

Preferred Qualifications

• Education Requirements:
• Master’s degree in computer science/related engineering field.
• 10+ years of program management experience managing cost, schedule, performance of defense contracts.
• 
  
• Technical Requirements:
• Experience with Earned Value Managment System 
• Experience designing, implementing, leveraging, and improving state-of-the-art autonomy algorithms in 3 or more of the following areas listed under minimum qualifications. 
• Experience with autonomous Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) integration including: Command and control of systems, Datalinks & IP networks (TCP/UDP/Mesh), Sensor payloads, Autopilot integration, GPS/INS systems, Flight hardware (e.g., VPX Chassis) 
• Familiarity with software-in-the-loop (SIL) and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) development and testing. 
• Proficiency with AFSIM, NGTS, AirSim, PX4/MAVLink, QGC, and/or TAK. 
• Experience with flight testing real autonomous systems. 
• Experience working projects related to national security for one or more government agencies. 
• Interdisciplinary background, with evidence of continual learning. 
• Experience with Jira and Confluence 
• Experience writing scripts and building tools to aid in automation of financial tracking/ program management tasks 


• Security Requirements
• Current U.S. SECRET security clearance with Special Access Program (SAP) eligibility.

EpiSci is proud to be an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. We value our differences and we’re excited to learn what you can add to our team.
Don't meet every single requirement? At EpiSci, we're committed to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workforce, so if you're excited about this role but your previous experience doesn't align perfectly with every qualification, we encourage you to apply anyway! You may be the perfect candidate for this or another role at EpiSci.