Senior Systems Propulsion Engineer

PDS Tech•Elkton, MD

2d•Onsite

About The Position

PDS Tech Commercial is partnering with a leader in the aviation industry to hire an accomplished Senior Systems Propulsion Engineer in Elkton, Maryland. This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced systems engineering professional to make an immediate impact on the development of sophisticated propulsion systems and controls. You'll support programs progressing through Critical Design Review (CDR), working across engineering disciplines to ensure requirements, designs, verification strategies, risks, and technical deliverables come together as one integrated solution. You'll work closely with the Lead Systems Engineer across two programs and have the opportunity to step into a technical leadership role when needed. In this highly collaborative role, you'll apply systems thinking to plan, coordinate, and execute critical technical activities throughout the development lifecycle.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Systems Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related STEM discipline.
Professional experience performing systems engineering activities involving requirements, design, integration, or testing.
Experience developing and managing clear, measurable, and testable requirements while maintaining a controlled requirements baseline.
Experience establishing and maintaining requirements traceability from stakeholder needs through system and lower-level requirements, design, and testing.
Experience supporting or leading formal technical reviews such as SRR, PDR, CDR, or equivalent design and requirements reviews.
Experience running formal Risk Review Boards.
Experience developing or contributing to Verification and Validation (V&V) plans.
Understanding of verification methods including test, analysis, inspection, and demonstration.
Experience performing requirements change-impact analysis.
Demonstrated ability to collaborate across multidisciplinary engineering organizations to resolve requirements and design issues.
Experience with at least one requirements management platform such as DOORS, Jama, JIRA, or a comparable tool.
Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities, including identifying technical risks and developing appropriate mitigations.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to present technical information effectively to stakeholders.

Nice To Haves

U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, strategic deterrence, or related defense system programs.
Solid rocket motors, propulsion systems, or related energetic systems, including performance, environmental, or testing considerations.
Legacy system redesign and working within established legacy standards and requirements.
Hands-on manufacturing environments.
DoD contracting processes.
Developing and executing subsystem-level V&V plans, including test requirements, test procedures, data review, and Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA).
Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) and SysML.
Cameo/MagicDraw, Rhapsody, or comparable MBSE tools.
Integrating system models with requirements management platforms such as DOORS.
Siemens Teamcenter or comparable Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and configuration management systems.
Coordinating and developing Contract Data Requirements Lists (CDRLs) and other contractual technical deliverables.

Responsibilities

Provide technical leadership and coordination among engineering disciplines, program management, and external stakeholders.
Support the Lead Systems Engineer and assume lead responsibilities when required.
Develop and maintain key systems engineering artifacts, including requirements specifications, Interface Control Documents (ICDs), V&V matrices, risk registers, and verification technical reports.
Define and maintain requirements decomposition strategies across systems, subsystems, and engineering disciplines.
Perform requirements change-impact analysis based on contract change notices and evolving design configurations.
Lead requirements and technical reviews supporting PDR and CDR-level milestones, ensuring requirements are complete, consistent, feasible, and testable.
Lead Risk and Opportunity meetings on behalf of technical and program teams.
Develop comprehensive verification strategies that map requirements to verification methods, including test, analysis, inspection, and demonstration.
Assign and coordinate verification responsibilities across appropriate technical owners.
Support development of the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and technical schedules based on systems engineering activities.
Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to identify and resolve requirements, integration, and design challenges.
Communicate complex technical information clearly to engineering teams, program leadership, and other stakeholders.
Build consensus across teams while developing strong working relationships throughout the organization.