{"id":123901,"url":"https://alion.io/job/merlin-labs-staff-engineer-avionics-integration","title":"Staff Engineer, Avionics Integration","company":{"id":46278,"name":"Merlin Labs","domain":"merlinlabs.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/merlin-labs","size_band":"201-500","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Lever","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":78,"open_postings":6,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.667,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":70,"computed_at":"2026-10-17T05:46:00Z"}},"role":"Hardware","role_family":"Hardware","seniority":"staff","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Boston, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":165000,"max":220000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":220000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":8,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"KiCad","optional":true},{"name":"SolidWorks","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-08-25T14:59:31Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-08-25","last_verified_at":"2026-10-18T07:08:31Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":53,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":53},"description":"About You:\nYou're a seasoned avionics integration engineer who thinks in systems, not just circuits. You've spent years pulling together sensors, computers, software, and airframes into aircraft that actually fly and get certified - and you're ready to own the technical strategy for how Merlin integrates the Merlin Pilot across an entire fleet of platforms, not just a single program. You're comfortable being the person a room full of engineers looks to when an integration problem doesn't have an obvious owner, and you know how to turn ambiguity into a plan, a schedule, and a working aircraft.\nResponsibilities:\nOwn the avionics integration architecture across multiple aircraft platforms - defining how flight computers, sensors, actuators, communications, power, and software subsystems come together as a certifiable, flyable system.\nSet integration strategy and technical standards used across the Aircraft Engineering team, including interface control documents, integration test methodology, and design review criteria.\nLead systems-level integration and verification of COTS/MOTS avionics, custom hardware, and software components across lab and aircraft installations, spanning multiple concurrent platforms.\nAct as the senior technical authority in design reviews, flight test readiness reviews, and certification discussions, representing avionics integration to internal leadership, customers, and regulators.\nIdentify systemic integration risks across programs and drive root-cause resolution, rather than working platform-by-platform issues in isolation.\nMentor and provide technical direction to other integration engineers and installation technicians, raising the bar for integration rigor across the team, without formal people-management responsibility.\nPartner with Systems Engineering, Software, Flight Test, Certification, and Maintenance to ensure integration decisions hold up end-to-end, from architecture through flight test and into sustainment.\nDrive and review electrical/electronic, mechanical, and software interface definitions and installation and certification documentation package produced by the broader team.\nThis position may require up to 50% travel, sometimes with short notice, to domestic and international locations to support aircraft and system integration.\nQualifications:\nBS in Electrical, Aerospace, Systems, or related Engineering discipline (or equivalent experience).\n8+ years of experience integrating complex systems onto aircraft, with demonstrated ownership of integration architecture across more than one platform or program.\nDeep, hands-on experience integrating and debugging systems spanning COTS/MOTS avionics modules, custom hardware, embedded software, sensors, and human-machine interfaces - not limited to any single engineering discipline.\nWorking knowledge of standard avionics interface protocols (e.g., Ethernet, ARINC 429, RS-232/422/485, CAN, MIL-STD-1553) and the judgment to choose and defend an interface architecture, not just implement one.\nTrack record of leading integration efforts through design review, lab test, and flight test, including managing cross-discipline dependencies and schedule risk.\nExperience authoring or approving system schematics, interface control documents, and subsystem architecture diagrams.\nDemonstrated ability to mentor engineers and act as a technical reference point across a team, without necessarily holding a management title.\nOutstanding organizational, analytical, and problem-solving skills, with the judgment to prioritize across competing program needs.\nExcellent written, verbal, and presentation communication skills, including comfort presenting to executives, customers, and regulatory bodies.\nNice to Have:\nDirect experience with certified avionics on fixed-wing aircraft, particularly flight management systems (FMS), autopilot, or other flight control system components.\nWorking knowledge of environmental qualification and regulatory frameworks: RTCA DO-160, DO-178, DO-254, MIL-STD-461, and MIL-STD-810.\nExperience standing up integration or systems engineering practices for a new program or platform from scratch.\nFamiliarity with lab test equipment (oscilloscopes, multimeters, current probes, data acquisition, bus analyzers) sufficient to guide others, even if not performing hands-on bench work daily.\nExposure to aviation/aerospace wire harness design and electro-mechanical system integration (motors, EMI/EMC), useful for evaluating others' work even if not a primary daily task.\nExperience with design tools such as SolidWorks, Altium, or KiCAD.","description_format":"text","description_chars":4589,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":8,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Artificial Intelligence","Drone AI"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-08-25T14:59:31Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":64,"band":"ok","label":"Likely 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