This is an exciting opportunity for an entrepreneurial-minded individual with an interest in developing cutting-edge solutions to America’s most challenging problems. Charles River Analytics is a (R&D) small business that thrives on developing new ideas to address user needs and advance the state-of-the-art of software support for the US Government (e.g., Department of Defense, Department of Transportation, NASA) and commercial customers. Charles River is a 100% employee-owned company, encouraging employee participation, innovation, and responsibility, and we are proud to have been recently selected as one of the Boston Business Journal’s 2017 Best Places to Work in Boston! You know those cool projects coming out of places like DARPA? That’s what we work on!

We have a number of ongoing and upcoming projects that involve Augmented, Virtual, and Mixed Reality for which we are seeking scientific and technical leadership. You will work with our science and software teams to determine the requirements for a range of different problems and domains, to conceptualize innovative and scientifically-rigorous methods for solving those problems, to design cognitively- and perceptually-based interfaces (on mobile, traditional, AR, and VR displays) to empower end-users, and to assist in implementing these designs in software. You will also support evaluation of research ideas (both empirical and qualitative) and document your results in a form suitable for peer-reviewed publication.

You will need to be able to quickly read and understand scientific papers in new domains, and apply previous research to create new designs, while remaining abreast of current design trends, scientific advances, and software development practices. This position is one that is best suited to an independent thinker with an entrepreneurial drive, as there will be significant opportunity to define your own areas of specialization through generation of novel proposals to develop awesome technical solutions as you grow into your role.

Since our focus is to create novel, game-changing technologies, the ideal candidate will thrive in the face of changing or loosely-defined requirements, take pride in their work, and embrace learning new tools and technologies.

Major Responsibilities/Activities:

• Provide scientific support to help drive the design and development of cutting edge technology-based system prototypes
• Evaluate daily progress and influence the direction of software and hardware engineering teams (e.g., coordinate day-to-day responsibilities with other scientists and software engineers) to implement product visions and solutions
• Shape abstract, ambiguous product design goals into concrete, and scientifically-backed experiences
• Develop prototypes to collect and analyze experiments in 2D/3D interaction design
• Examine user experience concepts to support key platform features (e.g., room-scale tracking, hand visualization and interaction, environmental awareness) starting from storyboards to fully interactive vignettes
• Research and communication of AR/VR/MR technology trends and emerging interaction design patterns relevant to AR/VR/MR applications at Charles River
• Self-directed playtesting, competitive analysis, and reporting on VR/AR/MR platforms
• Conduct technical discussions with customers with support from other scientists
• Present work at briefings and conferences
• Pursue novel applications of technologies to address challenging real-world problems, including establishing new areas of research
• Write and contribute to proposals, project status reports, technical white papers, and other written deliverables

Requirements / Minimum Qualifications / Experience

• U.S. Citizenship is required
• Bachelor’s degree in Human Factors Engineering, Human-Computer Interaction, Cognitive Systems/Science/Psychology, New Media, or a related field (e.g., Computer Science with HCI or Interaction Design focus)
• Ability to translate user needs and system features into actionable requirements software engineering teams to define the direction of technical solutions
• Ability to operationalize scientific theories and findings to drive feature definition and system engineering requirements
• Ability to identify and articulate creative and technically-sound solutions to challenging scientific and operational human-machine system problems
• Willing and self-motivated to quickly learn by searching and reading, by example, and by trial and error
• Strong portfolio of advanced user interaction design, including demonstrated experience with:
  • Hands-on prototyping experience with Unity or other 3D game engines
  • HCI and natural gesture interaction within virtual environments (AR or VR)
  • Data-driven design techniques and requirements generation
  • Rapid HCI prototyping

• Have a passion to create and try new ideas, including exploration of ways to apply technology areas beyond just AR/VR/MR
• Demonstrated ability to lead innovative, self-directed research
• Demonstrated success working cooperatively with a cross-discipline team
• Demonstrated success working from higher-level requests and ideas to tactical completion independently

Desired Experience

• Master’s or PhD in Human Factors Engineering, Human-Computer Interaction, New Media, Cognitive Science/Psychology, or a related field (e.g., Computer Science with HCI or Interaction Design focus)
• At Charles River we work on an exciting diversity of technology-based R&D efforts, as such familiarity with any of the following technical areas would be an added benefit:
  • Augmented and virtual reality human-computer interaction (HCI) design
  • Machine learning
  • Computer vision
  • FDA medical device certification processes
  • Diagnosis and rehabilitation of mTBI
  • 3D modeling and additive material prototyping
  • Geospatial route optimization
  • Motor vehicle systems diagnostics
  • Connected vehicle / intelligent transportation system standards and communications protocols
• Familiar with common software engineering practices
• Experience directly interacting with customers and/or users, including knowledge elicitation experience
• Proven ability to generate proposals, publications, or similar written materials

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.