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# LEAD ENGINEER - PRINCIPAL ENGINEER - Aerospace Systems Engineer

- **Company:** Southwest Research Institute
- **Location:** San Antonio, TX, United States
- **Experience:** Expert
- **Contract:** Permanent contract
- **Skills:** Artificial Intelligence, Systems Engineering, Firmware, Failure Mode Effects Analysis, Hardware Design, Software Requirements Analysis, Systems Architecture
- **Published:** August 15, 2026
- **Apply:** https://www.jofdav.com/jobs/59250156-lead-engineer-principal-engineer-aerospace-systems-engineer

## About the Role

* Requires a Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering or equivalent engineering degree field with related experience.
 * 10+ years: Experience developing, deriving, and allocating tiered Systems Engineering requirements in Avionics applications/LRU's.
 * Broad, basic understanding of engineering activities/disciplines in avionics development (e.g. Systems, Hardware Development, Firmware, software, Integration, Testing, Bid and Proposal efforts, CONOPS, Qualification, Certification, System Safety, FMEA, Lab activities, etc).
 * Experience developing CONOPS and System/LRU Architectures and basic/Intermediate experience with Model Based System Engineering (MBSE).
 * A valid/clear driver's license is required.

## Description

* Responsible to develop System level and LRU Architectures.
 * Lead the development of CONOPS, develop requirements, requirement allocation, and test.
 * Guide multi-disciplinary engineering teams to develop hardware, firmware, and software for complex flight worthy avionics/mission LRU's/payload hardware.
 * Interact directly with clients to establish system requirements and architectures to meet client expectations.
 * Provide technical project leadership throughout each program.
 * Must be willing to travel.
 * Utilize Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) processes to support system designs/architectures.
 * Support department management in specific technical marketing activities, proposal development of embedded systems, and in the development of product/technical roadmaps.

Daily and Monthly Responsibilities:

 * System Engineer over embedded avionics/aerospace programs.
 * Lead a multi-disciplinary team to develop, integrate, and test embedded complex flight worthy systems. This includes electrical, mechanical, firmware, software, and AI/ML.
 * Meet with internal and external customers to establish system technical requirements and facilitate development of specification documents and system architectures.
 * Lead trade analyses within and across the relevant domains.
 * Work with stakeholders to allocate functions to components/systems and develop those allocations into requirements for the engineers, designers, and managers to design, develop, integrate and test.


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