Talon is a small business staffing and engineering firm providing innovative, end-to-end, rapid turn solutions to our government and commercial clients. Founded in 2019, Talon employs over 125 Aerospace and Defense engineers and other support staff to solve problems for a variety of applications to include aircraft, ballistics, cybersecurity, motorsports, armor development, biological systems, missiles, and warheads. Talon has an office in Tucson, AZ that is providing staffing solutions, technical services support, and manufacturing to Fortune 500 companies.

Position Role Type: Contract Labor/Part-time

Location: Tucson, AZ - Hybrid

Senior Engineer (SME) Job Description:

The Senior Engineer will work with, and make recommendations to, our customer on the maturity of our Technology, Technology Critical Elements, support Technology Readiness Assessments (TRA), and perform evaluations of, and make recommendations on industry standard technologies. This is a perfect opportunity to work part-time and still enjoy retirement. In this role you must be comfortable working directly with the customer and identifying future work. This position requires a strong knowledge of and experience with US Government Technology Assessment processes, specifically having experience determining maturity levels of assigned technologies and assisting the customer in reaching desired level ratings.

Primary Qualifications:

Experience leading or supporting a Technology Readiness Assessment (TRA) OR participating as a subject matter expert part of an Independent Review Team (IRT) for a similar system in a challenging technical field, i.e., UAV, NASA program, etc.
Experience supporting new capability development and objectively assessing Technology Readiness Level (TRL)
Experience drafting or working with early program acquisition documents such as the Capability Development Document (CDD) for Milestone B, or Capability Production Document (CPD) for Milestone C
Familiar with the analyses, metrics and investigations performed to assess technology maturity (e.g., examination of test setups, discussions with test personnel, analysis of test data, review of related or similar technology, etc.)
Familiar with Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), system architectures and software architectures
Strong technical writing and organizational skills to manage data, references, technical data, reports, and results.
Identify components and systems applicable to watercraft and maritime technologies and research TRL and assess capability status.
Review completed TRA reports on similar components and systems (i.e., aviation, NASA programs, etc.) to familiarize with TRA processes methods to execute.
Collaborate with & influence the Design and Manufacturing Teams to develop manufacturing solutions that meet cost, quality, and schedule requirements.
Act as a liaison between manufacturing and design teams to ensure alignment and effective communication.
Provide vendor support for technical, manufacturing and design queries.
Examine program concepts, technology requirements, and demonstrated technology capabilities to determine technological maturity.
Research and identify current state of the art components, sensors, and systems to establish baseline capabilities of USV performance.
Evaluate evidence and determine TRL rating for each technology identified.
Collect additional information as necessary to support TRL rating.
Identify additional information needed for tests, demonstrations, or analyses.
Document the TRL evaluation in a TRA report; including data and information to support ratings.

Identify similar critical technologies, level of maturity associated with critical technology, available data, gaps in performance data and OQE, and recommendations to establish TRL.
Identify alternate components and systems capable of supporting, offset, or contributing to technology requirements.
Develop plan to further mature technology to reach TRL 8.
Identify technology function, performance and intended operational environment conditions (system, subsystem, component, or technology).
Document methods, processes, work and lessons learned to support future TRA efforts.

Support Developmental Testing (DT), Operational Testing (OT), Integrated Testing (IT), and Software Testing (ST).
Identify previous tests completed and identify results obtained to support informed test planning and focus areas to target and prioritize test cases.
Support development of test cases and test matrices using Design of Experiments tools and techniques.
Conduct and/or support designated tests, trials, and evaluations, ranging from component-level testing on a bench in a laboratory to full system level testing on-water on designated watercraft.
Develop test methods and procedures to demonstrate component and system performance in the intended operational environment.
Collaborate with system developers to support continuous evaluation of component and system performance to include documentation of configuration, conditions tested in, testing executed, data obtained and analyzed, results documented.
Develop data acquisition capabilities and integrate components and systems under test to log performance data for further analysis.
Reduce, analyze, tabulate, and interpret sensor and system performance data to understand how well sensors and systems meet performance requirements or how well sensors operate.
Document test methods, processes, analyses, and results in technical reports. Develop data management plans to organize data collected and establish analyses and plans for data collected.

Must Have Qualifications:

Degree in a relevant engineering discipline with a minimum of four years’ relevant engineering experience post-qualification.
OR: A higher qualification such as HND/HNC in a relevant engineering discipline with at least five years’ relevant engineering experience.
Proven track record of leading projects or process
Demonstrate a strong understanding of technologies and tools relevant to manufacturing or assembly processes.
Problem solving skills – Show the ability to diagnose and resolve complex technical issues
Demonstrate ability to Work autonomously.
Experience of Coaching, providing support and direction to engineers
Demonstrate ability to foster collaboration, build trust, and influence others within & outside your work area.
U.S. citizenship is required, as only U.S. citizens are authorized to access information under this program/contract
Active and transferable U.S. government issued security clearance is required prior to start date. U.S. citizenship is required, as only U.S. citizens are eligible for a security clearance.

Compensation:

Offering a competitive hourly wage
Flexible work schedule
Part-time schedules available
401K, Medical, and Dental

Talon is An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or veteran status, age or any other federally protected class.

Engineering Fellow (SME)