Head of Flight Vehicle Systems Integration

Merlinlabs; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 190,000 - 270,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Dental insurance

Life insurance

Unlimited vacation

401k with match

Job summary

Merlin Labs in the United States is seeking a seasoned Systems Integration Lead to own end-to-end integration across flight vehicle, avionics, controls, and software programs. You will drive interface definitions, risk mitigation, and cross‑disciplinary collaboration to ensure program success in a high‑stakes aerospace environment.

You will build and lead the integration team, define ICDs, verification strategies, and support certification activities with authorities.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience in systems engineering or systems integration on complex aerospace programs
• At least 4 years in a technical leadership capacity
• Experience with interface definition and control: ICD development, requirements traceability, configuration management, and system-level verification and validation
• Experience leading integrations on programs with both hardware and software
• Familiarity with civil/defense certification frameworks (DO-178C, DO-254, ARP4754A) and how integration evidence maps to certification
• Proven ability to lead across organizational boundaries and hire/develop strong systems engineers
• Strong written and verbal communication skills for reviews, audits, and briefings

Responsibilities

• Own systems integration end-to-end: define and maintain the integration architecture, ICDs, and system-level verification strategy across Merlin’s flight vehicle, avionics, controls, and software programs
• Lead integration planning and execution across the full development lifecycle—from requirements decomposition through subsystem verification, system test, and aircraft-level validation
• Identify and manage interface risk across all technical disciplines, driving resolution of conflicts and tracking open items
• Define and own the system-level test and integration planning, including ground testing, hardware-in-the-loop validation, and transition to aircraft-level testing
• Partner with Flight Ops, Flight Controls, Avionics, Software, and Product Systems Engineering to establish and hold interface agreements
• Lead major integration reviews (bid/Proposal, system integration, test readiness, configuration audits) and prepare for certification milestones
• Build and lead the systems integration team: define roles, hire technical leads, and develop engineers
• Drive root cause analysis and corrective actions for system-level issues surfaced in test or flight
• Serve as a key technical interface to certification authorities on system-level integration evidence
• Establish scalable integration processes and tooling for development and deployment

Skills

Systems integration leadership

Interface control documents

Requirements traceability

Cross-functional collaboration

Certification frameworks (DO-178C/DO-"

Education

BS or MS in Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical, or Systems Engineering

Tools

ARINC data bus architectures (ARINC 429/664/825)

Job description

Merlin Labs in the United States is seeking a seasoned Systems Integration Lead to own end-to-end integration across flight vehicle, avionics, controls, and software programs. You will drive interface definitions, risk mitigation, and cross‑disciplinary collaboration to ensure program success in a high‑stakes aerospace environment.

You will build and lead the integration team, define ICDs, verification strategies, and support certification activities with authorities.