Electro-Optical & Infrared EO/IR Engineer - Allen Control Systems

Allen Control Systems (ACS) is a cutting-edge defense startup founded by two former Navy electrical engineers with a proven track record in robotics and software. We are developing an autonomous gun turret using advanced computer vision and control systems to precisely detect, track, and neutralize enemy drones.

Position Overview

Allen Control Systems is seeking an experienced Electro-Optical/Infrared (EO/IR) Engineer with Digital Signal Processing (DSP) experience to join our engineering team. In this role, you will apply your expertise in optical and infrared sensor systems and DSP to model and predict sensor performance across a range of operational environments, develop and refine system

requirements

for current and future EO/IR programs, and contribute to business development activities by supporting the creation of technical proposals and customer-facing presentations. The successful candidate will play a critical role in shaping the technical direction of our EO/IR portfolio and helping the organization win and execute new work.

What You'll Do

• Build, validate, and maintain physics-based and empirical models in Python to predict EO/IR sensor performance, including detection, recognition, and identification ranges across visible, NIR, SWIR, MWIR, and LWIR bands.
• Conduct sensor performance trade studies that account for atmospheric effects, target signatures, background clutter, optical design parameters, detector characteristics, and signal processing chains.
• Apply advanced DSP techniques to event-based camera data to develop next-generation target detection, tracking, and discrimination algorithms that exploit the high temporal resolution, wide dynamic range, and sparse output of event sensors.
• Develop, document, and flow down system and subsystem

requirements

for EO/IR payloads, ensuring traceability from customer needs through hardware and software implementation.

• Support the full systems engineering lifecycle, including concept development,

requirements

analysis, architecture definition, verification planning, and integration and test.

• Contribute to business development efforts by authoring technical sections of proposals, generating performance predictions and supporting analyses, and developing white papers in response to customer needs and solicitations.
• Prepare and deliver technical presentations to internal stakeholders, customers, and partners, clearly communicating complex sensor performance concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams including optical engineers, mechanical and electrical designers, software developers, and program management to ensure technical solutions meet program objectives.