Internship Pax River Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Jaster Engineering Technology (JET) Systems develops, maintains, and innovates systems for specific and common mission capabilities, combat aides, and surveillance systems. We provide solutions through cost-effective, tailored strategies to meet mission requirements. JET is committed to working with government agencies and commercial partners to develop modern autonomous and operator-interfaced control systems. The UAS Integration Engineer (Junior) supports the design, assembly, integration, testing, and improvement of drone airframes, electronics, propulsion systems, flight-control hardware, and related ground-support equipment. This hands-on role is well suited for an early-career engineer, current engineering student, or technically skilled candidate with a strong interest in drones, radio-controlled aircraft, robotics, electronics, and rapid prototyping. 

The position reports to the Product Development Team Lead and works as part of a small, multidisciplinary engineering team. Candidates must reside within the St. Mary’s County/ NAS Pax River commuting area and be available to report onsite as required. The role requires regular hands-on work with aircraft, electronic components, fabrication equipment, bench-test systems, and flight-test activities. The employee must be able to obtain and maintain a DoD Secret clearance if future program or customer requirements make one necessary. Compensation and work schedule will be based on education, experience, technical capability, and company policy. As a valued team member, we provide the following employee benefits: Health, dental, and vision insurance; Life Insurance, Paid Time Off; and a 401(K) with employer matching.  

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Design, assemble, modify, and test drone airframes, propulsion systems, payload mounts, landing gear, enclosures, and related mechanical hardware. 
• Integrate motors, electronic speed controllers, batteries, power-distribution components, sensors, telemetry radios, GPS units, receivers, and flight controllers. 
• Configure and support autopilot and ground-control systems such as Pixhawk, ArduPilot, Mission Planner, or comparable platforms. 
• Design, source, assemble, inspect, and test custom circuit boards, wiring harnesses, connectors, power systems, and electronic interfaces. 
• Create or modify 3D models and produce custom drone parts, mounts, enclosures, fixtures, and prototypes using additive-manufacturing methods. 
• Perform soldering, wiring, connector assembly, continuity checks, electrical measurements, debugging, repair, and component replacement. 
• Plan and support bench testing, ground testing, subsystem testing, flight testing, and post-flight inspection and analysis. 
• Troubleshoot mechanical, electrical, software-interface, communications, power, vibration, control, and flight-performance issues using a disciplined and methodical approach. 
• Record configurations, test conditions, results, defects, corrective actions, build procedures, drawings, parts lists, and lessons learned. 
• Assist with identifying, evaluating, sourcing, and purchasing parts, components, tools, materials, fabrication services, and replacement items. 
• Contribute practical ideas that improve reliability, safety, manufacturability, maintainability, flight performance, weight, power efficiency, and ease of assembly. 
• Maintain an organized and safe workspace while properly using hand tools, soldering equipment, test instruments, three-dimensional printers, CNC equipment, adhesives, batteries, and small components. 
• Collaborate with software, electrical, mechanical, and systems personnel to resolve integration issues and support demonstrations, design reviews, and customer objectives. 

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:  

• Bachelor's degree, current pursuit of a bachelor's degree, or equivalent demonstrated capability in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Robotics, Mechatronics, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a closely related technical field. 
• Hands-on experience building, modifying, maintaining, or flying drones, radio-controlled airplanes, quadcopters, helicopters, robotic vehicles, or comparable electromechanical systems through employment, coursework, laboratories, clubs, competitions, internships, or personal projects. 
• Basic knowledge of electric motors, propellers, electronic speed controllers, batteries, power distribution, sensors, telemetry, GPS, receivers, and flight-control systems. 
• Basic electronics skills, including soldering, wiring, connector assembly, use of multimeters, continuity testing, and interpretation of simple schematics or wiring diagrams. 
• Experience with or willingness to learn three-dimensional modeling, rapid prototyping, three-dimensional printing, and fabrication of custom components. 
• Ability to use common hand tools, soldering stations, small connectors, adhesives, fasteners, test equipment, and fabrication tools safely and effectively. 
• Ability to troubleshoot technical problems patiently, document findings, follow procedures, and communicate progress and risks to team members. 
• Ability to work independently on assigned tasks while collaborating effectively within a small engineering team. 
• Able to perform medium strength work and lift 50 lbs.  
• Must be a U.S. Citizen and able to pass a background check. 
• Must be able to obtain and maintain a DoD security clearance in the future, if requested. 

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:  

• FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate or willingness to obtain the certificate. 
• Familiarity with ArduPilot, Mission Planner, Pixhawk, PX4, QGroundControl, or similar autopilot and ground-control technologies. 
• Experience selecting and matching motors, propellers, electronic speed controllers, batteries, power systems, and airframe components for custom aircraft. 
• Experience with computer-aided design software, slicing software, three-dimensional printers, CNC machines, laser cutters, or other digital-fabrication equipment. 
• Exposure to printed-circuit-board design, circuit-board purchasing, electronics prototyping, wiring-harness design, or embedded systems. 
• Experience collecting, reviewing, or interpreting flight logs, telemetry, vibration data, power-consumption data, or post-flight test results. 
• Experience supporting engineering clubs, drone teams, robotics teams, maker spaces, competitions, research laboratories, internships, or defense-related technical projects. 
• Basic scripting, programming, configuration-management, or software troubleshooting experience that supports hardware and flight-system integration. 

DESIRED CHARACTERISTICS:  

• Genuine enthusiasm for drones, radio-controlled aircraft, robotics, electronics, fabrication, and hands-on engineering. 
• Curious, creative, and willing to learn unfamiliar technologies, tools, processes, and aircraft configurations. 
• Methodical problem solver who can isolate variables, test assumptions, learn from failures, and safely iterate toward a working solution. 
• Detail-oriented and committed to workmanship, configuration control, test discipline, documentation, and safe operating practices. 
• Comfortable moving between mechanical assembly, electronics, software configuration, fabrication, testing, documentation, and parts research. 
• Self-directed, dependable, and able to identify useful work, propose improvements, and communicate when guidance or additional resources are needed. 
• Professional, coachable, collaborative, and able to work effectively with technical and non-technical personnel.