Lead Systems Engineer

Lead Systems Engineer

St Petersburg, FL

Avionics - Recorders - Engineering /

Full Time Reg | F /

On-site

About Acron Aviation (Avionics - Recorders):

Acron Aviation designs, engineers, and manufactures certified avionics systems that support safety-critical flight operations across commercial and military aviation. Within Avionics, the Recorders product line develops and sustains cockpit voice recorders, flight data recorders, and integrated data acquisition systems that enable regulatory compliance, safety insight, and operational performance across global fleets. These systems are deployed across commercial, military, and rotorcraft platforms and require deep expertise across systems, hardware, software, and lifecycle sustainment in highly regulated environments.

Position Summary

We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Lead Systems Project Engineer to lead the design, development, integration, and testing of advanced avionics systems for aerospace platforms. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in avionics architecture, systems engineering processes, and regulatory compliance, with a proven ability to manage complex projects and mentor junior engineers.

The Lead Systems Engineer (LSE) is an individual contributor who carries both the full project coordination responsibilities for their assigned program and the systems engineering responsibilities for their technical scope. This person does not manage other engineers in a supervisory sense - they are a peer-level technical contributor who reports to an Engineering Manager - but they are accountable for planning, scheduling, and tracking the work of the entire project team, not just their own.

What distinguishes this role from a pure systems engineer is dual accountability: the LSE defines the WBS for the whole project, maintains the IMS for all contributors, tracks every team member's deliverables against schedule, and surfaces risks and variances to the Engineering Manager - while simultaneously producing systems engineering artifacts for their own technical scope. The project coordination function is not delegated to a separate PM; the LSE owns it.

Project Coordination

• Define and maintain the project WBS and IMS for the full program scope across all disciplines; baseline the schedule against contractual milestones and update weekly to reflect actual progress

• Track deliverable status for every contributor on the project - software, hardware, systems, test, supplier - and report consolidated schedule performance (SPI, critical path variance) to the Engineering Manager

• Own and maintain the project action item register from all reviews, audits, and customer meetings; assign owners and due dates and drive every item to closure

• Prepare consolidated project status packages for internal program reviews and customer IPT meetings; present on behalf of the Engineering Manager when delegated

• Lead biweekly risk reviews with the full project team; maintain the risk register, assign mitigation owners across disciplines, and escalate high-exposure items

• Coordinate all formal design reviews (SRR, PDR, CDR, TRR, FCA/PCA) - schedule, entry criteria packages, facilitation, and action item distribution - for the full project

• Manage subcontractor and supplier deliverable tracking within the project: CDRL schedule, acceptance criteria, receipt confirmation, and risk escalation

• Coordinate project resource loading with the Engineering Manager; flag schedule conflicts, over-allocations, and critical path dependencies across the team

• Maintain the project configuration baseline; process ECPs and deviation/waiver requests from all team members through CCB with completed impact assessments

Systems Engineering (own technical scope)

• Own all systems engineering deliverables for the assigned product or subsystem scope - requirements, ICDs, RTM, SVVP, safety inputs - from program kickoff through delivery and sustaining

• Translate customer SOW and specification requirements into a decomposed DOORS requirements baseline with full traceability to test

• Prepare and present subsystem-level artifact packages for formal design reviews; close all systems engineering action items assigned to this role

• Develop and maintain the verification and validation plan for the assigned systems engineering scope; define test cases and coordinate test execution

• Coordinate DO-160G environmental qualification test planning for assigned hardware elements; review test reports and disposition discrepancies

• Support FAA/EASA DER or ODA activities for the assigned scope: prepare compliance checklists, issue papers, and MOPS compliance matrices

• Support cybersecurity compliance activities per DO-326A / DO-356A for avionics network interfaces within the assigned scope

• Contribute to process improvement initiatives under AS9100 / CMMI-DEV and share lessons learned with the broader team

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree with 9+ years of relevant experience, Master's degree with 7+ years of relevant experience, or 13+ years of related experience in lieu of a degree.

• 8+ years of experience in avionics systems engineering, or prior relevant experience

• Strong knowledge of systems engineering lifecycle, and requirements management tools (e.g., DOORS)

• Experience with Project Coordination, Schedule Management, and Risk Management

• Experience with embedded systems, real-time software, and hardware/software integration

• Familiarity with ARP-4753, MIL-STD, ARINC, and RTCA standards

• Experience with system requirement authoring and traceability, interface definition, validation and verification, system integration, lab testing, and flight test support

• Excellent communication, documentation, and project leadership skills

Preferred Additional Skills

• Experience with data recorder products (FDR/CVR/CVDR), crash survivability and data recovery standards

• Familiarity with DO-160G, DO-178C, DO-254, and ED-112A standards

• Knowledge of System Safety, Functional Hazard Assessments, and fault tree analysis

• Knowledge of cybersecurity in avionics systems (DO-326A / DO-356A)

Equal Opportunity Statement

Acron Aviation is proud to be an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to treating all employees and applicants with respect and dignity and to maintaining a workplace free from unlawful discrimination. All applicants will be considered for employment regardless of race, color, religion, age, national origin, ancestry, ethnicity, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, or other related medical conditions), gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status, disability, genetic information, citizenship status, or any other legally protected characteristic.

Additional Information:

Acron Aviation maintains a drug-free workplace and conducts pre-employment substance abuse testing and background checks, where allowed by law. Acron Aviation is an E-Verify employer.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.