Director, Autonomous Systems Engineering

Merlin; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 230,000 - 320,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Dental insurance

Life insurance

Flexible paid time off

401k with match

Job summary

Merlin Labs seeks a seasoned systems engineering leader to define and drive the architecture, requirements, and verification for its autonomous flight platform. You will own the system-level planning, safety case, and cross‑functional collaboration with hardware, software, and flight controls teams in a fast‑moving R&D environment.

You will mentor engineers, shape the system engineering processes, and partner with executive leadership to balance speed and rigor while advancing certifiable

Qualifications

• Define system-level requirements, architecture, and interfaces and drive verification.
• Lead safety, security and human factors considerations without slowing development pace.
• Experience in early-stage R&D for safety-critical systems and cert programs.

Responsibilities

• Own the systems engineering roadmap, strategy, processes, and standards across Merlin’s program.
• Set technical direction for operation concepts and architecture; own critical decisions.
• Define features and autonomous behaviors aligned to safety case and requirements traceability.
• Lead Safety, Security and Human Factors teams to maintain front-line focus.
• Collaborate with Core Architecture and Chief Engineer to drive strategy and execution.
• Represent artifacts in reviews with customers, suppliers, and regulators.
• Build, hire, and mentor the systems engineering team as the company scales.
• Prioritize systems engineering work with executive leadership and program leads.
• Own requirements development, validation, and traceability across disciplines.
• Lead test strategy design and verification activities from simulation to flight test.

Skills

Systems engineering leadership

Architecture definition

Requirements management

Safety-critical systems

Agile / Jira

Mentoring & hiring

Education

BS in Electrical, Aerospace, Systems Engineering

MS or PhD preferred

Tools

Jira

MBSE tools

Simulink

Cameo

IADS

Jama

Job description

Merlin Labs seeks a seasoned systems engineering leader to define and drive the architecture, requirements, and verification for its autonomous flight platform. You will own the system-level planning, safety case, and cross‑functional collaboration with hardware, software, and flight controls teams in a fast‑moving R&D environment.

You will mentor engineers, shape the system engineering processes, and partner with executive leadership to balance speed and rigor while advancing certifiable