Flight Vehicles Systems Engineer

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At Leidos, we deliver innovative solutions through the efforts of our diverse and talented people who are dedicated to our customers’ success. We empower our teams, contribute to our communities, and operate sustainable. Everything we do is built on a commitment to do the right thing for our customers, our people, and our community. Our Mission, Vision, and Values guide the way we do business.

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The Small Airborne Effectors Division at Leidos, is seeking a talented Avionics Systems Engineer to join a diverse team to create unique solutions for complex problems. With offices across the United States engaging in the defense, space, cyber and commercial fields, Leidos provides responsive, cost-effective engineering, scientific and IT solutions.

The focus of the Small Airborne Effectors Division is to apply core disciplines of modeling and simulation, aerodynamics design, guidance and control, software, integrated vehicle design and system integration in an agile approach based on tightly coupled engineering staff to meet and exceed our customers’ shared vision for affordable, effective and novel integrated flight systems while building effective, motivated teams of engineering and support staff.

The Avionics Systems Engineer will support multiple programs at once in a variety of engineering fields with all different team environments. The Mission and Aviation Solutions Division has a diverse portfolio of projects and programs which specialize in strike systems, unmanned aerial vehicles and modeling & simulation of internally-developed, domestic, and foreign flight vehicles. The successful candidate will serve multiple key functions in leading the design evolutions of flight vehicles, to include Systems Engineering and Test and Avionics Software and Hardware Design.

The selected candidate will interface directly with program management, military and other government personnel, and a team of multi-discipline design and development engineers, both internal and external, to support the group’s agile, rapid, flexible, and tailored development process.  A firm understanding of flight system architectures, system interfaces, performance requirements verification and validation techniques is essential for the role.

If this sounds like the kind of environment where you can thrive, keep reading!

Leidos Defense Systems Sector provides a diverse portfolio of systems, solutions, and services covering land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace for customers worldwide. Solutions for Defense include enterprise and mission IT, large-scale intelligence systems, command and control, geospatial and data analytics, cybersecurity, logistics, training, and intelligence analysis and operations support. Our team is solving the world’s toughest security challenges for customers with “can’t fail” missions. To explore and learn more, click here!

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Primary Responsibilities.  

• Develop tailored Systems Engineering artifacts derived from customer needs for product development programs associated with the DoD.

• Interface with program management and design engineers to support a program’s systems engineering needs throughout its design life cycle, including modeling system behavior, defining the system architecture, dictating system interfaces, performing requirements verification, helping develop and execute test programs.  Due to the nature of the programs that the Missile and Aviation Solutions Division supports, the willingness to tailor each program’s Systems Engineering approach is absolutely critical to the successful execution of this role.

• Develop a Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) model of some programs’ flight systems. The Avionics Systems Engineer must possess a functional knowledge of interacting with MBSE models in order to support MBSE activities.  Other programs may require a less formal Systems Engineering approach to facilitate their rapid, agile development efforts.

• The successful candidate must also be able to perform other flight system design activities outside of Systems Engineering.  Avionics Software and Hardware design will fall under the realm of the Avionics Systems Engineer, so a technical background in a related area (e.g., aerospace, mechanical, electrical, or software engineering) that can be utilized in flight system design and development is a must.

• Specific duties may encompass team leadership, requirements development & derivation, system and subsystem architecture design, interface development & documentation, test planning, traceability, and test execution, including ground, hardware-in-the-loop, and flight testing.  Oversight of mechanical & electronics design for flight vehicle avionics subsystems, as well as software design leadership, are included as well.

Basic Qualifications.  

• A Bachelor’s degree in Systems Engineering, Software Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or equivalent degree from an ABET-accredited university with 4-8 years of experience or an MS with 2+ years.

• Ability to accept potentially disparate, stated or implied, high-level objectives from multiple stakeholders and work collaboratively to translate into a vision for the design evolution of system

• Strong technical background in defense systems (or subsystems)

• Familiarity with Systems Engineering-based requirements development, derivation, and test planning, preferably for flight systems

• Experience with software and/or hardware architecture and interface design

• The ideal candidate will have hands-on work in developing, documenting, and executing test processes and procedures for flight systems.

• Good organizational skills and attention to detail to document work and interface with team members to ensure flow of information.

• Position requires candidates to be capable of performing in a collaborative engineering environment working closely with multi-disciplinary teams.

• Demonstrated experience effectively leading a team of engineers.

• Ability to work collaboratively with customers, subcontractors, and partner organizations to build consensus around high-level design decisions.

• Resident of the North Alabama area or willing to relocate to the Huntsville - North Alabama, AL area.

• DOW Secret clearance required.

Preferred Qualifications.

• Model Based System Engineering (MBSE) modeling tools

• Requirements database tools

• Flight systems & understanding of flight principles

• Establishing design artifacts, supporting or leading design reviews, assisting with Technical Data Packages (TDP) and supporting production and test of flight systems

• Testing of flight system components, subsystems, systems and related test equipment, including sensor instrumentation and datalinks

• Hardware-in-the-loop integration, testing and test planning in a real-time environment

• Familiarity with software development, integration, and test and as well as requirements development and verification (modeling and simulation background a plus).

• Candidates with 7-10 years of experience are preferred