Summary:

Do you have a passion for technology, finding yourself backing random Kickstarter or IndieGoGo projects or attending tech meetups in your local area? Do have a desire to conceptualize and design technology applications that can disrupt current practices and truly augment and extend human cognitive, physical, sensory, or other capabilities? Have you ever wanted to be a part of the revolutionary projects that you read about coming out of organizations like DARPA? Does working on across a range of exciting R&D projects with the potential to set your own research agenda excite you?

If so then Charles River may be the place for you!

Building end-to-end decision support systems that incorporate multimodal user interfaces for next generation military command and control (C2); prototyping virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) bicycle simulators to study the effects of connected vehicles and novel multimodal human-machine interfaces (HMI) on cycling safety; designing and developing endlessly scalable modeling and simulation solutions for live, virtual, and constructed (LVC) training applications; conducting empirical research on the psychophysics and ability of humans to acclimate to virtually augmented fields of vision; studying physiological and psychophysiological signals of human users to understand and predict training or task performance – these are only a handful of the exciting and forward-looking technology applications that Charles River Analytics is currently working on.

To contribute to our growing technical project portfolio, and help ensure our technology-driven solutions are attuned to the needs, capabilities, and limitations of their intended human users, we are seeking an individual with applied Human Factors and/or Cognitive Systems Engineering expertise to serve lead and support technology driven research and design (R&D) efforts across a range of domains and on a variety of platforms and applications.

In this role, you will work with small teams of research scientists, software engineers, and subject matter / domain experts to design, guide development of, and evaluate interactive prototypes that leverage cutting edge technology to empower humans to efficiently and effectively augment their natural abilities. You will employ principled and creative approaches to move from research concepts to design prototypes, and ultimately oversee development into functional software systems. The systems engineering process you will contribute to includes knowledge elicitation, requirements analysis, prototyping new user interactions through dynamic mock-ups that ensure exceptional design execution, and planning, executing, and analyzing results from empirical human subjects research and evaluation efforts. You will support evaluation and application of research ideas throughout the systems engineering process and create documentation of your results for technical and scientific presentation.

Being comfortable as a contributor on fast-paced research projects that often result in a degree of ambiguity with respect to future directions (as the technology evolves and novel concepts and capabilities emerge and are validated) is essential. An ideal candidate will have a passion for immersing oneself in new technologies (e.g., following industry trends, reaching out to potential collaborative partners in the space, attending local tech meetups, and diving in head first to try out new tech first hand) to become a technical expert on the human factors of emerging technologies as a means to conceptualize novel applications and translate those concepts into applied designs with potential to benefit end-users within the context of their operations.

You will learn about and apply business development skills as you support and eventually take the lead on the generation of proposals, customer presentations, technology industry days and other activities related to acquisition of new funding to support R&D efforts. As you grow and learn about business development, you will then have the unique opportunity to set and pursue your own research interests and agenda within the wide bounds of Charles River’s and your team’s strategic goals.

Major Responsibilities/Activities:

• Apply human factors and cognitive systems engineering methods to study/model/understand diverse customer needs, complex operating environments, and cognitive and physical tasks and procedures in complex systems
• Coordinate and provide leadership at a program, project, and/or task management level to ensure collaboration, shared team vision, and an effective use of individual skills lead to progress towards implementing truly innovative solutions
• Conduct technical discussions with customers, academic and industry collaborators, and representative end-users with support from other scientists as needed
• Lead the writing of and/or contribute to technical reports, progress reports, technical presentations, and other customer facing deliverables
• Lead the writing of and/or contribute to technical publications for presentation at industry and academic conferences or publication in peer-reviewed journals
• Learn about business development and contribute to generation and review of new proposals
• Lead the writing of new R&D business proposals and business development pursuits, with support from other scientists and technical staff as needed
• Willingness to travel to customer briefings, knowledge elicitation events, technical conferences, and other events to present and promote technical work, foster relationships with potential collaborators, and ensure Charles River remains abreast to cutting edge science and technology

Requirements/Qualifications:

• U.S. Citizenship
• Bachelor’s degree in Cognitive Systems Engineering, Human Factors, or Interaction Design (or a related field) or a strong track record conducting research and development in these areas
• Familiarity and experience in the application of human factors and cognitive systems engineering methodologies (e.g., work domain analysis, cognitive task analysis) as it pertains to the design and evaluation of complex human-computer interactions and engineering systems development
• True passion for new and emerging technology with the ability to conceptualize novel applications to benefit intended and unintended end-users, and the confidence to challenge assumptions, conventions, and the status quo in terms of what is possible
• Strong verbal and written skills to support technical proposal writing, interaction with customers, and presentations at technical conferences
• Strong aesthetic design sense and functional reasoning skills with superior attention to detail
• Self-starter with motivation and ethic to drive progress forward without constant oversight
• Experience with augmented, virtual, and/or mixed reality technology or software development

Nice to Have: 

• 2+ years of hands-on experience creating systems engineering and user-experiences
• Master’s degree or Ph.D. in Cognitive Systems Engineering, Human Factors, or Interaction Design (or a related field) or a strong track record conducting research and development in these areas
• Experience in proposal or grant writing for R&D services / products
• Data Science skills and experience implementing data-driven design prototypes
• 3D modeling, CAD, or other physical prototype design and rapid prototyping experience (e.g., additive manufacturing)
• Experience commercializing and/or transitioning R&D products and services
• Strong portfolio of interface design and writing that shows high quality of work
• Technical or peer-reviewed publications in any of the above fields
• Military Service or DoD work experience

Benefits:

Charles River Analytics offers competitive compensation plus bonus and profit-sharing, with an attractive benefits package including: up to 92% employer-paid medical and 100% employer-paid dental, vision, life and disability insurance, paid maternity/paternity leave, tuition reimbursement, monthly gym allowance, free parking, generous paid time off, and a casual environment. We are also accessible by public transportation.