Senior Principal System Engineer

Systems Engineer / Senior / Principal Systems Engineer – Advanced Aircraft & Autonomy (Defence)

$180,000 – $260,000 Base Salary + Equity

Remote, with 1 week on-site per month in California

⚠️ Please read before applying:

✈️ Travel: the role is remote, but you will be expected to be on-site in California for one week every month. Please make sure this works for you.

US Citizenship: you must be a US citizen due to contract requirements.

Defence: you must be happy working in the defence sector.

I’m working with fast-growing aerospace and defence companies building next-generation autonomous and advanced aircraft. They need Systems Engineers who can own how the whole aircraft comes together and works as one system.

⚠️ This is a systems role, not a design role. We’re looking for engineers who define, integrate and verify across disciplines, not engineers who detail-design individual components.

The Role

You’ll be the technical integrator across avionics, flight controls, propulsion, landing systems, software and mission systems. You’ll also cover the functions that keep the aircraft safe in the air: separation from traffic, terrain and weather.

You’ll work across the full lifecycle, from architecture and requirements through integration, test and flight readiness. At Senior and Principal level you’ll own major system areas, drive technical decisions and set how systems engineering is done across the team.

Key Responsibilities:

• Own system architecture and requirements across avionics, flight controls, propulsion, landing and mission systems
• Define and manage interfaces and ICDs between hardware, software and subsystems
• Lead system integration and verification & validation, from lab through flight test
• Own requirements flow-down and traceability into software and subsystem teams
• Define system-level behaviour for traffic, terrain and weather separation and avoidance
• Run trade studies, safety assessments (FHA, FMEA, fault trees) and technical risk reviews
• Drive MBSE and requirements management best practice
• Coordinate technical interfaces with suppliers, certification authorities and customers
• Support anomaly investigation and system performance analysis
• Mentor engineers and lead technical reviews

✅ Required Experience:

• 5+ years in aerospace systems engineering
• Hands-on systems integration across multiple aircraft subsystems (avionics, flight controls, propulsion or software)
• Strong requirements, ICD and verification planning experience
• Experience taking systems through integration, test and operational readiness
• Able to work across disciplines and communicate clearly with engineering teams, suppliers and customers
• US citizen
• Able to travel to California for one week every month

⭐ Senior / Principal Level:

• 8–10+ years in aerospace systems engineering
• Ownership of major aircraft or system-level technical areas
• Proven record of leading technical decisions and influencing cross-functional teams
• Experience with system architecture, integration and test campaigns, and flight readiness

⭐ Preferred:

• Autonomous aircraft, UAS, eVTOL or advanced air mobility
• Detect-and-avoid, terrain awareness or weather avoidance systems
• Flight test and flight readiness experience
• Safety and certification standards (ARP4754A, ARP4761, DO-178C, DO-254)
• MBSE and requirements tools such as SysML, DOORS, Jama
• MATLAB/Simulink and Python
• DoD or government aerospace programmes

Compensation & Benefits:

• $180,000 – $260,000 base salary depending on level and experience
• Equity / stock options
• Comprehensive healthcare
• 401(k)
• Competitive PTO and paid holidays
• The chance to work on genuinely new aircraft technology

If you’re a US-citizen Systems Engineer who wants to own how a complete aircraft works, and you’re happy with a monthly week on-site in California, I’d love to hear from you.

Apply via the link and I’ll reach out directly.