Senior Principal Platform Engineer - Connected Aviation (Remote)

Prattwhitney; Washington; Hybrid; USD 132,000 - 252,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

401(k) plan with matching

Tuition reimbursement

Life insurance

Job summary

Collins Aerospace seeks a Senior Platform Engineer for the Aviation Intelligence team to lead critical data and ML infrastructure initiatives. You will own AWS-based data platforms, design containerized services, and drive reliability across production pipelines.

Collaborate with Data Science, ML Engineering, and Data Engineering to productionize models and data workflows, while strengthening security and cloud/on-prem connectivity.

Qualifications

• Degree in STEM with extensive relevant experience ( typically 7–10+ years).
• Proficiency with Python.
• Strong experience with AWS including EKS, IAM, VPCs, networking.
• Hands-on Kubernetes experience operating production workloads.
• Experience managing Kafka (or Redpanda) in production.
• Proficiency with Terraform for infrastructure as code.
• Experience building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines with GitLab or GitHub Actions.
• Solid understanding of distributed systems, reliability, and scaling.
• Experience supporting production data pipelines or ML systems.
• Experience with observability stacks (Prometheus, Grafana, Thanos).
• Preferred: Kafka Connect, Rust, Dagster, Airflow, or other ETL tools.

Responsibilities

• Own and evolve AWS infrastructure supporting data platform, ML training, and analytics workloads.
• Design, deploy, and maintain Kubernetes workloads.
• Build and manage Terraform infrastructure across environments.
• Design and maintain CI/CD pipelines for infra and app deployment.
• Operate and improve Kafka/Redpanda clusters.
• Improve reliability and observability of prediction services.
• Collaborate with Data Science and ML teams to productionize models and data pipelines.
• Strengthen AWS IAM, networking, and cloud/on-prem connectivity.
• Support cyber hardening efforts with RTX cyber team.
• Identify and incrementally improve deployment patterns.

Skills

Python

AWS

Kubernetes

CI/CD

Distributed systems

Data pipelines

Education

Bachelor's or higher in STEM

Advanced degree (MS/PhD) in related field

Tools

Terraform

GitLab/GitHub Actions

Kafka/Redpanda

Dagster

Iceberg/Trino

Kubernetes

Spark/Elasticsearch

Prometheus/Grafana/Thanos

Job description

Date Posted: 2026-09-01

Country: United States of America

Location: US-WA-REMOTE

Position Role Type: Remote

U.S. Citizen, U.S. Person, or Immigration Status Requirements: Must be authorized to work in the U.S. without the company’s immigration sponsorship now or in the future. The company will not offer immigration sponsorship for this position. The company will not seek an export authorization for this role. Security Clearance Type: None/Not Required Security Clearance Status: Not Required

Aviation connects the world and Connected Aviation (CA) connects Aviation. Sustainably. Seamlessly. Securely. Connected Aviation (CA) is a business unit within Collins Aerospace’s Avionics portfolio which aims to bring many connectivity and digital solutions to life and fulfill Connected Ecosystem, one of the strategic pillars of our company. The Aviation Intelligence (AI) team within CA Engineering has the end-to-end responsibility to ensure that Collins Aerospace and broader RTX data assets are managed with integrity and quality while being consumed by our critical customer facing applications - whether via API’s, analytics and/or data visualizations, or data reporting. We would like to offer you an opportunity to be a Senior Platform Engineer within our team where you will play an integral role in a high growth and high visibility area of the Collins Aerospace company. As a Senior Principal Platform Engineer on the Aviation Intelligence team, you will be responsible for leading critical projects and coordination for the department, supporting our Ascentia and FlightAware crews that focus on AI/ML projects, data science and data management.

What You Will Do:

• Own and evolve AWS infrastructure supporting data platform, ML training, and analytics workloads (Iceberg/Trino, ETL pipelines, Kubeflow/MLflow)


• Design, deploy, and maintain EKS-based services and Kubernetes workloads


• Build and manage Terraform infrastructure across environments (dev/staging/prod)


• Design and maintain CI/CD pipelines for infrastructure and application deployment (GitLab/GitHub)


• Operate and improve Kafka/Redpanda clusters


• Improve reliability, observability, and performance of prediction services


• Support Dagster for data workflow orchestration


• Collaborate with Data Science, ML Engineering, and Data Engineering to productionize models and data pipelines


• Strengthen AWS IAM, networking, and connectivity between cloud and on-prem systems


• Support cyber hardening efforts with our RTX cyber team


• Identify and incrementally improve existing infrastructure and deployment patterns

Qualifications You Must Have:

• Typically requires a degree in Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (STEM) and minimum 10 years prior relevant experience or an Advanced Degree in a related field and minimum 7 years of experience


• Proficiency with Python.


• Strong experience with AWS (EKS, IAM, VPCs, networking)


• Hands‑on Kubernetes experience operating production workloads


• Experience managing Kafka (or Redpanda) in production environments


• Proficiency with Terraform for infrastructure as code


• Experience building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines (GitLab, GitHub Actions, or similar)


• Solid understanding of distributed systems, reliability, and scaling


• Experience supporting production data pipelines or ML systems


• Experience with observability stacks (Prometheus, Grafana, Thanos, etc.)

Qualifications We Prefer:

• Experience with Kafka Connect


• Experience with Rust or a willingness to learn it.


• Familiarity with Dagster, Airflow or other modern ETL orchestration tools


• Background supporting ML/AI systems in production (MLOps)


• Experience optimizing infrastructure for performance and cost


• Familiarity with Iceberg, Spark, Elasticsearch and other large-scale data processing systems


• Experience working in hybrid infrastructure environments (cloud + on-prem Kubernetes)

What We Offer:

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance


• Three weeks of vacation for newly hired employees


• Generous 401(k) plan that includes employer matching funds and separate employer retirement contribution, including a Lifetime Income Strategy option


• Tuition reimbursement program


• Student Loan Repayment Program


• Life insurance and disability coverage


• Optional coverages you can buy: pet insurance, home and auto insurance, additional life and accident insurance,critical illnessinsurance, group legal, ID theft protection


• Birth, adoption, parental leave benefits


• Ovia Health, fertility, and family planning


• Adoption Assistance


• Autism Benefit


• Employee Assistance Plan, including up to 10 free counseling sessions


• Healthy You Incentives, wellness rewards program


• Doctor on Demand, virtual doctor visits


• Bright Horizons, child and elder care services


• Teladoc Medical Experts, second opinion program


• And more!

The salary range for this role is 132,400 USD - 251,600 USD.

The salary range provided is a good faith estimate representative of all experience levels.

Hired applicants may be eligible for benefits, including but not limited to, medical, dental, vision, life insurance, short-term disability, long-term disability, 401(k) match, flexible spending accounts, flexible work schedules, employee assistance program, Employee Scholar Program, parental leave, paid time off, and holidays.

Specific benefits are dependent upon the specific business unit as well as whether or not the position is covered by a collective‑bargaining agreement.

Hired applicants may be eligible for annual short-term and/or long-term incentive compensation programs depending on the level of the position and whether or not it is covered by a collective‑bargaining agreement. Payments under these annual programs are not guaranteed and are dependent upon a variety of factors including, but not limited to, individual performance, business unit performance, and/or the company’s performance.

This role is a U.S.-based role. If the successful candidate resides in a U.S. territory, the appropriate pay structure and benefits will apply.

RTX anticipates the application window closing approximately 40 days from the date the notice was posted. However, factors such as candidate flow and business necessity may require RTX to shorten or extend the application window.

RTX is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability or veteran status, or any other applicable state or federal protected class.

RTX provides affirmative action in employment for qualified Individuals with a Disability and Protected Veterans in compliance with Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act.

Privacy Policy and Terms:

RTX is an aerospace and defense company that provides advanced systems and services for commercial, military and government customers worldwide. It comprises three industry-leading businesses – Collins Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney, and Raytheon. Its 195,000 employees enable the company to operate at the edge of known science as they imagine and deliver solutions that push the boundaries in quantum physics, electric propulsion, directed energy, hypersonics, avionics and cybersecurity. The company, formed in 2020 through the combination of Raytheon Company and the United Technologies Corporation aerospace businesses, is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.