Mission Systems Integration Engineer

Odys Aviation•Long Beach, CA

About The Position

Odys is building safe, sustainable aircraft to reduce travel time on busy corridors. Their flagship aircraft, Alta, uses city helipads and local airports for shorter inter-city travel, significantly reducing CO2 emissions. They are currently deploying their UAV, Laila, for various commercial, medical, humanitarian, and defense missions, with firm orders and launch partners like Fiji Airways and the US Navy. The engineering team at Odys focuses on rapid iteration and mastery of aircraft certification. The role of Mission Systems Integration & Test Engineer is crucial for ensuring the autonomous and reliable operation of advanced unmanned aircraft. This position involves integrating, testing, and validating systems that manage diverse mission-specific payloads (e.g., sensors, cargo systems, medical transport, ISR packages) onto the Laila platform. The engineer will integrate and validate onboard and ground system architectures, focusing on command & control, payload integration, and autonomous operations. Collaboration with avionics, systems, payload, and GCS teams is essential to deliver safe, reliable, and certifiable systems. The role requires hands-on experience in payload-to-aircraft integration, system integration, SIL/HIL testing, field validation, and flight test campaigns, with opportunities for software development to support validation efforts.

Requirements

Degree in Computer Science, Electrical/Electronic, Aerospace, or Systems Engineering (or equivalent).
2+ years of experience in system integration, test, or verification & validation for UASs, eVTOLs, or other embedded aerospace/robotics systems.
Hands-on experience integrating payloads and avionics subsystems onto a vehicle or platform sensors, controllers, actuators, communications, and data links - including their mechanical, electrical, power, and data interfaces.
Experience with SIL/HIL test setups, ground/flight test campaigns, and real-time debugging of integrated hardware/software systems.
Strong understanding of hardware/software interaction and real-time debugging on SoMs such as NVIDIA Jetson or NXP iMX.
Working proficiency in C/C++ and Python sufficient to build test tooling, harnesses, and support integration efforts.
Strong experience with Linux (embedded and desktop) and middleware for robotic or avionics applications.
Excellent teamwork and communication skills across mechanical, electrical, and software domains.

Nice To Haves

Experience integrating multiple interchangeable or modular payloads onto a shared platform (e.g., EO/IR gimbals, cargo/delivery systems, comms relays, ISR packages).
Experience with payload interface standards and considerations such as weight & balance, power budgeting, EMI/EMC, and thermal management.
Experience with simulation and HIL testing for UASs, avionics, or robotic systems.
Experience with software test & code analysis tools such as VectorCast, LDRA, Coverity, and Understand.
Experience with data communication protocols such as RS-232/422/485, CAN, ARINC 429, and MIL-STD-1553.
Experience with MAVLink, STANAG-4586, or similar command and telemetry protocols.
Experience with network protocols, network configuration, and analysis tools (e.g., Wireshark).
Experience with video/data streaming technologies (e.g., GStreamer, FFmpeg, OpenCV).
Background in flight-critical or safety-critical software development and verification (DO-178C or equivalent).
Knowledge of system safety, fault tolerance, and reliability methods such as FDIR or fail-safe redundant architectures.
Experience with model-based development tools (Simulink, System Composer, Cameo, Capella, SCADE, UML, SysML, etc.).
Experience with RTOS, ROS/ROS2, or equivalent robotics frameworks.
Experience integrating GNSS, vision, or RF-based navigation systems.
Experience with SORA/SAIL frameworks and the EASA UAS regulatory environment.
Experience with DevOps, CI/CD pipelines, containerization (Docker), and Git-based workflows.
Exposure to modular avionics or networked flight control computer (FCC) architectures.
Experience with cybersecurity concepts, techniques, mitigations, and testing.
Experience in UAS autonomy, perception, and future GNSS-denied operations.

Responsibilities

Integrate diverse mission-specific payloads - EO/IR and vision sensors, cargo/delivery mechanisms, medical transport modules, communications relays, ISR and defense packages onto the aircraft as safe, reliable, mission-ready configurations.
Define and validate the mechanical, electrical, power, data, and software interfaces between payloads and the airframe, and capture them in payload ICDs.
Establish reusable, modular payload integration patterns so new payloads can be brought onto the platform quickly and repeatably.
Verify payload command, control, and data flow through the autopilot, onboard compute, and GCS across each mission configuration.
Characterize the impact of payloads on aircraft-level behavior (power budgets, EMI/EMC, weight & balance, thermal, latency) and drive resolution of integration issues.
Integrate avionics, sensors, and payloads into a cohesive onboard system - including autopilot, navigation, vision, electrical, mechanical, and power management components.
Own the integration between airborne systems and the Ground Control Station (GCS), enabling robust telemetry, video, payload control, and C2 links.
Integrate real-time communication and streaming protocols across subsystems (e.g., MAVLink, Ethernet, CAN, RTSP, UDP, or proprietary links).
Bring up and integrate flight control, mission logic, communication links, and payload interfaces into a validated end-to-end system.
Lead software-hardware integration, debugging, and validation using SIL/HIL test setups and during ground or flight test campaigns.
Plan, execute, and document payload and system integration and test campaigns, verifying each mission configuration end-to-end and driving issues to closure.
Develop automated test environments and contribute to CI/CD workflows for verification and regression testing.
Analyze flight logs and system data to characterize system performance and identify integration and optimization opportunities.
Support requirements definition, ICD documentation, and traceability for integration, verification, and validation tasks in collaboration with system engineering.
Collaborate with avionics and systems teams to verify compliance with redundancy, fault tolerance, and safety design principles.
Participate in software and system reviews, interface discussions, integration planning, and verification & validation activities across hardware and software domains.
Develop and maintain embedded and application-level scripts, test harnesses, and tooling that enable integration and validation of UAS subsystems.
Contribute to onboard autonomy, sensing, detection, and vision-based navigation features as needed to support integration and test objectives.