Senior Principal Avionics Systems Engineer (Onsite)

RTX•Cedar Rapids, IA

1d•Onsite

About The Position

Collins Aerospace is seeking a Senior Principal Systems Engineer with extensive avionics systems engineering expertise, strong accountability, and the ability to thrive in an Agile team environment. The role covers the systems engineering life cycle, from defining and designing new features through development, integration, testing, and delivery to OEM aircraft platforms. It also includes supporting OEM flight-test campaigns and completing certification activities. The engineer is expected to supervise Integrated Product Teams and apply advanced knowledge of aircraft systems, including ATA chapters, while designing safety into systems under development. The position leads customer-facing engineering work and cross-functional development with Collins Aerospace subject-matter experts and customer engineers. It involves capturing and decomposing OEM requirements, developing systems architectures and human-machine interface requirements, creating design approaches and prototypes, and planning verification and validation. The engineer also leads certification and compliance work, responds to customer questions and product issues, manages root causes and corrective actions, and supports scope, schedule, cost, and engineering-resource management. This is an onsite, U.S.-based role in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The company may offer immigration sponsorship if needed and will seek export authorization if required; it must be able to obtain and maintain the necessary authorization. A security clearance is not required. The salary range is $132,400–$251,600. The posted range is an estimate across experience levels, and offers may depend on factors including role responsibilities, experience, location, education, and skills.

Requirements

Typically requires a STEM degree and at least 10 years of relevant experience, or an advanced degree in a related field and at least 7 years of experience.
Advanced knowledge of avionics systems on civilian commercial aircraft.
Deep experience leading avionics engineering development phases.
Demonstrated experience leading customer-facing engineering teams and interacting and communicating with commercial aircraft OEMs.
Practical experience capturing design change proposals and leading feature development from inception through delivery.
Proven ability to interpret and manage requirements, interface control documents, concepts of operations (CONOPS), technical specifications, TRDs, and verification matrices.
Successful experience as a systems project engineer creating bids and presenting them to all levels of leadership.
Experience using JIRA, JAMA, and DOORS, and working with the Agile process.
Deep knowledge of aircraft certification standards, including ARP-4754, DO-178B/C, and DO-160.
Experience working with FAA TCRs, TCCA, and EASA.
Deep experience designing avionics systems architectures.
Experience interacting with commercial airline end users at their base of operations or at Flight Operations Steering Committee meetings.

Nice To Haves

Flight Management Systems (FMS) testing experience.
Private Pilot License; an IFR rating is a plus.
Drone Flight Certified qualification.
A&P License.
Proficiency in Python, C/C++, or Java.
Proficiency with the MS Office Suite, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Responsibilities

Lead engineering activities across the development life cycle, from systems design through testing and delivery.
Lead capture of aircraft OEM requirements and decompose and allocate them to appropriate engineering domains.
Lead creation of innovative design approaches and prototypes, and present design approaches in internal and customer reviews.
Lead creation of test procedures and analysis methods to verify and validate requirements.
Support preparation of certification artifacts, including Systems Certification Summaries, TSO compliance reports, and process-compliance materials.
Lead creation of artifacts for Stages of Involvement (SOI) 1, 2, 3, and 4, as well as TSO submittals.
Interpret and participate in ARP-4754 customer audits.
Lead responses to customer questions and investigations of issues involving software and hardware delivered to OEMs.
Lead Root Cause and Corrective Action activities for must-fix issues found during flight tests and in-service aircraft operations.
Support management of scope, schedule, and cost while optimizing engineering resources.
Lead cross-functional Integrated Product Team development involving Collins engineering subject-matter experts and customer engineers.
Communicate engineering design solutions orally and in writing to customers, engineers, technicians, pilots, and leadership.
Lead development of systems architecture and human-machine interface requirements for new aircraft development.
Lead Change Impact Analysis for HIRF and lightning qualification under DO-160.
Supervise Integrated Product Teams.
Support OEM flight-test campaigns and completion of certification activities.
Design safety into systems under development.

Benefits

Medical, dental, and vision insurance.
Three weeks of vacation for newly hired employees.
401(k) plan with employer matching funds and a separate employer retirement contribution, including a Lifetime Income Strategy option.
Tuition reimbursement program.
Student Loan Repayment Program.
Life insurance and disability coverage.
Optional pet, home and auto, additional life and accident, critical illness, group legal, and identity theft protection coverage.
Birth, adoption, and parental leave benefits.
Adoption Assistance.
Autism Benefit.
Employee Assistance Plan, including up to 10 free counseling sessions.
Healthy You Incentives wellness rewards program.
Doctor On Demand virtual doctor visits.
Bright Horizons child and elder care services.
Teladoc Medical Experts second-opinion program.
Flexible spending accounts.
Flexible work schedules.
Paid time off and holidays.
Annual short-term and/or long-term incentive compensation programs may be available depending on position level and collective-bargaining coverage; payments are not guaranteed.