Senior Systems Engineer

SAIC•Huntsville, AL

1d•Onsite

About The Position

SAIC is seeking a mid-level Senior Systems Engineer to support the Common Translator (CT), an embedded software module that translates between existing aircraft software and a new Identification, Friend or Foe (IFF) transponder. The position is based in Huntsville, Alabama, and supports lifecycle systems engineering activities for safety-critical avionics software developed under DO-178C DAL C objectives. The engineer will work closely with software and test engineers to translate operational and certification requirements into system and software requirements, architectures, interfaces, and verification strategies. The role emphasizes rigorous requirements engineering, system architecture, and disciplined verification in a standards-driven aerospace environment. It also includes data analysis and testing in customer or third-party laboratories, with some travel.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree and five years of experience; an additional four years of experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.
Must possess an active Secret security clearance and be able to maintain it; U.S. citizenship is required.
Experience in requirements engineering, including elicitation, analysis, decomposition, allocation, baselining, and traceability.
Experience developing system and software architectures, defining interfaces, and working with multidisciplinary teams to realize designs.
Experience collaborating closely with software engineering teams and discussing software design and implementation trade-offs in the context of requirements.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, including impact analysis and resolving complex integration and requirements issues.
Proficiency with requirements management practices and tools, including traceability matrices, baseline control, and change management.
Clear written and verbal communication skills, including producing technical documentation and participating in formal reviews.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with DO-178B/C concepts and the role of systems engineering and requirements management in safety-critical software development and certification.
Experience in aerospace, avionics, or other safety-critical domains, such as flight displays, flight management systems, or navigation/mission systems.
Knowledge and experience with MIL-STD-1553 databuses, including bus monitoring and analysis.
Experience developing and using Interface Control Documents (ICDs), particularly those related to MIL-STD-1553.
Hands-on experience with requirements management tools, preferably IBM Engineering Requirements Management DOORS (DOORS Classic or DOORS Next Generation).
Prior experience mentoring engineers or acting as a technical lead for systems and requirements engineering activities.

Responsibilities

Elicit, analyze, and document system-level and software-level requirements for transponder-based capabilities.
Ensure requirements are clear, consistent, testable, and traceable to customer needs, standards, and DO-178C DAL C objectives.
Decompose and allocate system requirements to software components and interfaces, maintaining traceability from high-level requirements through design and test.
Manage requirements baselines and changes, including impact analyses on architecture, design, integration, and verification activities.
Maintain requirements traceability matrices and support audits and reviews focused on requirements completeness and consistency.
Develop and refine system and software architectures for CT configurations, data interfaces, and integration with avionics systems.
Define and maintain interface control documents (ICDs) and data models for integration with aircraft flight management systems and other avionics subsystems.
Collaborate with software engineers to ensure architecture and requirements support performance, safety, configurability, and maintainability goals.
Perform data analysis and testing in customer and/or third-party laboratories, including some travel.
Apply DO-178C and related aerospace standards and guidance to systems engineering and requirements activities.
Support development of plans, standards, and guidelines for CT-based solutions.
Produce and review systems engineering and requirements artifacts supporting audits and certification reviews.
Define and maintain verification and validation strategies, mapping system and software requirements to test plans and procedures.
Develop and review test plans, procedures, and cases to ensure requirements coverage and coverage of key operational scenarios.
Support integration and system testing, including anomaly investigation, root cause analysis, and requirements-focused corrective actions.
Work with test engineers to evaluate test results, confirm requirement satisfaction, and improve test effectiveness and traceability.
Participate in agile ceremonies, representing systems and requirements engineering concerns.
Collaborate with software engineers, test engineers, and customer stakeholders to refine features and ensure they meet operational needs and certification constraints.
Lead or contribute to technical reviews, including requirements, architecture/design, and test readiness reviews.
Develop and maintain systems engineering documentation, including requirements specifications, architecture descriptions, ICDs, and verification reports.
Ensure systems engineering and requirements artifacts are baselined, controlled, and integrated with configuration management tools and processes.
Identify and help implement improvements to requirements management, architecture practices, verification workflows, processes, and tools.
Support customer interactions and technical presentations, communicating requirements rationale, system capabilities, constraints, and trade-offs.