Principal Systems Safety Engineer — Avionics & Certification

LTA Research; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 165,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

Company-paid life, AD&D, disability

Parental leave

PTO + holidays

401(k) matching

Lunch and snacks provided

Wellness stipend

Cell phone stipend

Education stipend

Job summary

LTA Research in Sunnyvale, CA seeks a Systems Safety Engineer (Principal) to serve as a technical authority across disciplines, owning the system-level safety strategy for vehicle programs and guiding integration and certification.

This leader mentors engineers, defines architectures, and partners with regulators to ensure airworthiness per ARP4754A/ARP4761, DO-178C/DO-254, and MIL-STD-882, while applying MBSE to complex system-of-systems.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in systems, aerospace, electrical, or mechanical engineering with 8+ years of experience.
• Master's degree with 6+ years of experience.
• PhD with 3+ years of experience.
• Direct aerospace systems experience through the certification lifecycle with airworthiness authorities (FAA / EASA) and as SME during regulatory interactions and audits.
• Experience conducting System Safety Assessments (SSA) and FHA, PSSA, FMEA/FMECA, and FTA to ARP4761.

Responsibilities

• Innovate system-safety approaches for high-stakes integration and certification and own the system-level safety-assessment strategy.
• Conduct and own SSA and the supporting analyses — FHA, PSSA, FMEA/FMECA, and FTA per ARP4754A / ARP4761.
• Architect and validate new, complex system-of-systems and integration approaches where no legacy solution exists; establish architectures as program standards.
• Apply MBSE using Cameo/MagicDraw to support requirements analysis, system design, and interface definition.
• Lead major long-term system programs — full vehicle architecture, Iron Bird integration, and avionics/flight-controls integration; define verification and integration strategy.
• Support system-level certification strategy and means-of-compliance for airworthiness (ARP4754A).
• Mentor and coach senior engineers; lead cross-functional teams to deliver against milestones.

Skills

Systems engineering leadership

MBSE

Safety analysis

ARP4754A/ARP4761

Regulatory audits

Cross-functional mentoring

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Master’s degree

PhD

Tools

DOORS

Jama

Cameo/Rhapsody

MATLAB

Python

Simulink

Job description

LTA Research in Sunnyvale, CA seeks a Systems Safety Engineer (Principal) to serve as a technical authority across disciplines, owning the system-level safety strategy for vehicle programs and guiding integration and certification.

This leader mentors engineers, defines architectures, and partners with regulators to ensure airworthiness per ARP4754A/ARP4761, DO-178C/DO-254, and MIL-STD-882, while applying MBSE to complex system-of-systems.