Director, Features System Engineering

merlinlabs; United States; Remote; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Dental insurance

Life insurance

Flexible PTO

401(k) matching

Job summary

MerlinLabs is seeking a senior leader to drive systems engineering for safety-critical autonomous aviation products. You will own system architecture, requirements, interfaces, and safety strategies across hardware and software teams.

You will hire and mentor engineers, shape verification plans, and align cross-functional stakeholders including regulators. This is a hands-on leadership role with broad strategic influence and impact.

Qualifications

• Led systems engineering teams with strategic planning and people development.
• Experience defining system behavior, interfaces, and verification strategies for new products.
• Background in safety-critical systems with emphasis on human factors under schedule pressure.
• Ability to define autonomous or AI-enabled system behaviors and functions.
• Strong communication and judgment when aligning technical teams and presenting decisions.
• Authorized to work in the United States without visa sponsorship.

Responsibilities

• Establish systems engineering plans, standards, and processes to balance speed and rigor.
• Define system and subsystem requirements, expected behaviors, and verification strategies.
• Guide architecture and interface decisions across hardware and software, safety, and flight controls.
• Explain design intent and safety arguments to engineers, executives, customers, suppliers, and regulators.
• Hire, mentor, and develop systems engineers and managers, building technical leadership.
• Make significant technical decisions and resolve disagreements across engineering disciplines.

Skills

Systems leadership

Safety-critical engineering

Autonomy/AI systems

Cross-functional collaboration

Job description

Role overview

Lead systems engineering for safety-critical autonomous aviation products, setting the technical direction from early concepts through verification and certification. The role combines organizational leadership with hands‑on ownership of system architecture, requirements, interfaces, and safety considerations across hardware and software teams.

Responsibilities

• Establish systems engineering plans, standards, and processes that help teams move quickly while maintaining engineering rigor.
• Define system and subsystem requirements, expected behaviors, and verification strategies for new product development.
• Guide architecture and interface decisions, aligning software, hardware, safety, and flight controls around a shared technical direction.
• Explain design intent and safety arguments to engineers, executives, customers, suppliers, and regulators.
• Hire, mentor, and develop systems engineers and managers, building technical leadership across the organization.
• Make significant technical decisions and resolve disagreements across engineering disciplines.

Requirements

• Experience building and leading a systems engineering function, including strategic planning and team development.
• Background leading systems work on new product development programs, from ambiguous concepts to testable requirements and verification.
• Experience with safety-critical systems and the ability to keep safety and human factors central under schedule pressure.
• Ability to define behaviors and functions for autonomous or AI-enabled systems; experience with product, mission, or vehicle autonomy is relevant.
• Strong communication and judgment when aligning technical teams and presenting engineering decisions to varied audiences.
• Authorization to work in the United States without current or future visa sponsorship.

Benefits and work setup

The role offers health, dental, and life insurance, flexible paid time off, and a retirement plan with employer matching. The team describes a collaborative, small-team environment with opportunities for professional development.