See Yourself at APL as a member of the Electronic and Photonic Systems Department! We are seeking several full-time Software Engineers to join the team. This position will work on all phases of software application development ranging from requirements gathering through final release and life cycle maintenance for major software components, and small projects. This position will work closely with the team’s Technical Project Manager but must also operate independently and with other developers.
Job opportunities
Your next chapter begins here
Careers at APL-UW span across research and engineering, field and technical roles, software, principal investigators, business operations and administration, postdocs, internships, and more.
Every member of the APL-UW community, from brand-new team members to long-timers celebrating decades of work at the lab, is critical to the development of cutting-edge, impactful research. And our everyday work is all the more interesting because of it! Apply now for a role where your skills make a difference.
Be Boundless!
Be Boundless at the University of Washington as a UW employee! You can build a fulfilling and impactful career while enjoying the beautiful Pacific Northwest with an all-encompassing compensation and benefits package and limitless professional growth opportunities.
See Yourself at APL!
See Yourself at APL! Take advantage of those opportunities and more at the Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington. As an APL-UW employee, you not only get to enjoy the opportunities and benefits of UW, but also be a member of a team of world-renowned researchers, scientists, and engineers dedicated to bettering our campuses, state, country, and world by solving complex challenges and pioneering new technologies.
Questions? Visit our Common Questions page to learn more.
Featured job
The University of Washington (UW) seeks an energetic and empowering leader with proven research, administrative, and communication skills for the position of Executive Director of the Applied Physics Laboratory.
Through collaborative pooling of technical expertise, in-house engineering, and prototype manufacturing resources, the APL-UW has positioned itself as a leader in complex and large-scale marine-related engineering projects, remote and extensive field operations, and quick and efficient advanced technology transfer to industry and government sectors. The Executive Director of APL-UW must be an individual with proven excellence in leading independent research and in the management of programs of significant size at research or educational institutions. The Executive Director of APL-UW must provide a strong strategic vision, as well as leadership to guide research operations and funding initiatives.
For more information on the position’s duties and responsibilities, requirements, and application components visit the official position post on UW Hires.
Meet the APL-UW’s current Executive Director, Dr. Kevin Williams.
Career opportunities
Are you searching for a meaningful career in instrumentation programming and field engineering? If so, then join the APL’s Ocean Physics Team as a Field Engineer! As a Field Engineer, you will work with a team of research scientists and engineers to support the fabrication, testing, deployment, and maintenance of commercial and APL-built oceanographic instrumentation, where the primary focus will be on Lagrangian profiling floats and associated systems. Work will be performed in a laboratory environment and in the field aboard research/installation vessels.
Join APL’s Ocean Engineering Team as a Vessel Operations Engineer! As a Vessel Operation Engineer, you have the opportunity to have a direct impact on oceanographic research. You will provide direct support to the APL Marine Operations Manager in operating, maintaining, and managing APL’s fleet. This role will include serving as Captain for research cruises.
The Electronic & Photonic Systems Department of APL-UW is hiring a Principal Mechanical Engineer to work on cutting-edge applied ocean projects for a diverse set of customers and applications. The successful candidate will be part of an integrated engineering team that designs, builds, installs, operates, and maintains complex electrical/mechanical systems to solve challenging problems in novel ways. The incumbent hired will be responsible for the mechanical design, testing, and production of highly integrated ocean instrumentation packages. This position will be responsible for analyzing requirements, presenting material at formal design reviews, and documenting designed systems.
APL is hiring a Senior Electrical Engineer with Analog, Digital, and Power Electronics experience to work on cutting-edge applied ocean projects for diverse customers and applications. The successful candidate will be part of an integrated engineering team that designs, builds, installs, operates, and maintains complex electrical/mechanical systems to solve challenging problems in novel ways. The candidate will be responsible for designing, testing, and producing new electronics systems, including low-noise acoustic data collection systems, high-power acoustic amplifiers, and control electronics in highly integrated ocean instrument packages. The candidate will analyze requirements, present material at formal design reviews, and document designed systems.
Want to learn more about the people in APL’s Electronic & Photonic Systems Department? This story will introduce you!
Join the Environmental and Information Systems Department as an Electrical Engineer. As a technical expert, the Electrical Engineer will assess project feasibility and will plan, schedule, conduct, and coordinate detailed phases of the work in a part of a major project or a total project of moderate scope. The incumbent hired will perform work that involves conventional scientific or engineering practice but may include a variety of complex features such as conflicting design requirements, unsuitability of standard materials, and difficult coordination requirements.
Want to learn more about the people in APL’s Environmental and Information Systems Department? This story will introduce you!
The Ocean Engineering Department welcomes applicants for a Senior Hardware Design Engineer position! The Senior Hardware Design Engineer will be responsible for the design, construction, and field deployment of specialized electrical systems for oceanographic, marine robotics, marine renewable energy, and acoustic instrumentation. Design tasks will be varied and may range from custom circuit boards to extremely complex data acquisition systems.
Come see yourself at APL as a Hardware Design Engineer in the Ocean Engineering Department! As a Hardware Design Engineer, the incumbent will be responsible for the design, construction, and field deployment of specialized electrical systems for oceanographic, marine robotics, marine renewable energy, and acoustic instrumentation. Special emphasis will be placed on the design of electrical systems for long-term operation in the ocean.
The Electronic & Photonic Systems department is hiring for a full-time Field Engineer. This position will support the operations and maintenance of the National Science Foundation’s Regional Cabled Array (RCA) portion of the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI). The Field Engineer will work as a technical lead and will function as part of a team of research scientists and engineers to support long-term oceanographic observing systems, including three offshore moorings, six water column profiling systems, and over 100 cabled instruments. Work will be performed in a laboratory environment and in the field aboard research vessels.
Does this job make you curious about working at APL-UW? Check out this story to learn more about Field Engineers in our community!
We are hiring an Electrical Engineer with Digital Electronics experience to work on cutting edge applied ocean projects for a diverse set of customers and applications. The successful candidate will be part of an integrated engineering team that designs, builds, installs, operates and maintains complex electrical/mechanical systems to solve challenging problems in novel ways. The person selected will be responsible for the design, test and production of new electronics systems including acoustic data collection systems, high power acoustic amplifiers and control electronics in highly integrated ocean instrument packages.