Staff Systems Engineer - Architecture & Interfaces

Merlin (NASDAQ: MRLN) is a publicly traded aerospace and defense company building a non-human pilot to deliver full-stack autonomy for any aircraft from takeoff to touchdown. The Merlin Pilot autonomy system powers a growing range of aircraft and mission profiles and has been proven through hundreds of autonomous flights from Merlin's global flight test facilities, including Kerikeri, New Zealand; Smithfield, Rhode Island; and soon, Bedford, Massachusetts. Headquartered in Boston, Merlin is expanding its organization to accelerate the development and deployment of its autonomy platform, helping customers solve some of aviation's most pressing challenges, from pilot shortages to improving flight safety. Backed by some of the world's leading investors prior to its public listing, Merlin continues to advance the certification and commercialization of autonomous flight across commercial and defense aviation.

About You:

You are an experienced systems engineer with a strong background in system architecture, interface definition, requirements management, and system validation for civil-certified or DOD safety-critical avionics systems. You excel at capturing and communicating architectures, and at translating customer needs into top-level system requirements that decompose cleanly into subsystems. You have a passion for new product development and a proven record of delivering high-quality systems engineering work products in a fast-moving R&D flight test environment while keeping safety at the forefront. You work effectively across engineering domains and communicate clearly with hardware, software, safety, and flight test teams, as well as customers, suppliers, and partners.

Responsibilities:

• Execute assigned segments of the Merlin Pilot System architecture and interface definition, including functional/logical architecture, functional behaviors, and physical architecture.

• Capture and maintain system architectures in models (MBSE), keeping them current as the design evolves.

• Translate customer needs into top-level system descriptions and requirements that decompose to the Mission Autonomy and Flight Autonomy teams. Develop CONOPs, Use Cases, and other tools to capture customer needs.

• Define and assess the interfaces between mission autonomy and flight autonomy, ensuring correctness and feasibility, and document Merlin Pilot’s architecture interfaces to support interoperability and integration across multiple aircraft types.

• Develop system-level requirements for features, functions, interfaces, performance, and operational needs, and support allocation of requirements to sub-systems and items.

• Specify physical interfaces and data protocols, and produce detailed interface definitions and supporting documentation.

• Support Merlin Pilot software releases, providing systems engineering support from requirements definition through validation.

• Perform change impact assessments in response to change requests, problem reports, and new requirements from Air Vehicle Integration.

• Execute trade studies and present results and recommendations to appropriate Engineering Review Boards.

• Collaborate with System Safety and Product Cybersecurity to capture system-level safety and cybersecurity requirements.

• Participate in reviews of artifacts with customers, suppliers, and regulatory authorities as required.

Qualifications:

• BS in Systems/Aerospace/Electrical Engineering or a related subject, MS preferred.

• 10+ years of experience conducting systems engineering in FAA/EASA/DOD certification programs (7+ years with MS degree, 5+ years with PhD).

• Demonstrated ability to independently own and deliver complex systems engineering work products with minimal supervision.

• Hands-on experience in integrated avionics equipment using ARP4754A/B and RTCA DO-178B/C for flight-critical systems.

• Demonstrated ability to develop system-level requirements, architectures, and interfaces, and decompose down to lower levels.

• History in requirements validation and verification.

• Demonstrated experience capturing system architectures using Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) tools (e.g., Cameo).

• Demonstrated familiarity with general aviation aircraft and integration.

Nice to Have:

• Demonstrated ability to lead projects or work packages from a technical perspective.

• Specific experience in the area of Automatic Flight Controls, Flight Management, or Display Systems.

• Specific experience in developing software requirements and performing software verification.

Logistics:

• We welcome remote applicants for this role, with a preference for candidates based in or willing to relocate to Boston, MA for a hybrid work schedule at our HQ.

Merlin Labs offers an innovative, entrepreneurial, and team-focused startup environment. We also offer a top-notch benefits package (health, dental, life, flexible paid time off, and 401k with match) and work/life integration. Being part of the Merlin team…