Senior / Staff Aircraft Systems Engineer

Xwing; Santa Cruz (CA); On-site; USD 164,000 - 273,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

RSUs

Healthcare benefits

401(k) plan

Job summary

Joby Flight Research in Santa Cruz, CA, seeks a Senior/Staff Aircraft Systems Engineer to own physical systems integration across aircraft hardware and subsystems, from concept through certification. You will drive functional breakdown, requirements allocation, and ensure traceability to vehicle objectives while collaborating with Software, Hardware, Flight Controls, Propulsion, and GCS teams.

Responsibilities include leading integration workstreams, defining V&V strategies across MIL/SIL/LIL

Qualifications

• Bachelor's in Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical or Systems Eng with 8+ years experience, or Master's with 6+ years / PhD with 3+ years.
• Strong fundamentals in systems engineering, including breakdowns, requirements mgmt, and physical integration.
• Experience with ARP4754A/B, ARP4761/4761A, and DO-178C/DO-254/DO-160.
• Proven ability to operate in a fast-paced, high-quality environment and solve diverse problems.
• Collaborative mindset with track record of cross-disciplinary teamwork.
• Willingness to travel to flight test locations for troubleshooting and data correlation.

Responsibilities

• Lead functional breakdown and requirements allocation for physical aircraft systems with traceability.
• Own and manage systems integration workstreams; adapt approaches independently.
• Understand how multiple physical parts and systems integrate to meet program objectives.
• Bridge Software, Hardware, Flight Controls, Propulsion and GCS teams to integrate the aircraft system.
• Act as stakeholder for ConOps, DAA, and C2 initiatives; reflect physical constraints.
• Define V&V strategy across analysis, simulation, HIL/LIL, and flight test with clear objectives.
• Contribute to TRR and FRR; provide analytical green light for flight testing.

Skills

Functional breakdown

Requirements management

Systems integration

Cross-disciplinary collab

Travel readiness

Education

Bachelor's degree in Aerospace/Mechanical/Electrical/Systems Eng

Master's degree (preferred)

PhD (optional)

Tools

ARP4754A/B

ARP4761/4761A

DO-178C/DO-254/DO-160 family

Job description

Senior / Staff Aircraft Systems Engineer

Job Locations US-CA-Santa Cruz

ID 2026-5254

Category Flight Research

Type Regular Full-Time

Company Overview

Joby Flight Research designs, develops, and flight-tests novel aircraft using a software-first autonomy approach. We build and deploy autonomy, perception, planning, and radar systems across conventional, electric, and hydrogen-electric aircraft in both CTOL and VTOL configurations.

Overview

As a Systems Engineer focused on physical systems Integration, you will play a critical role in how our aircraft's hardware and systems come together. You will focus heavily on functional breakdown and requirements allocation across various physical systems on the aircraft, ensuring seamless integration from concept through certification. Operating as a skilled professional, you will own key integration workstreams, navigate complex technical challenges, and influence design solutions across adjacent disciplines. While you will serve as a key stakeholder and contributor for Concept of Operations (ConOps), Detect and Avoid (DAA), and Command and Control (C2), your primary ownership will remain rooted in physical systems architecture and integration.

Responsibilities

• Lead the functional breakdown and requirements allocation for physical systems across the aircraft, ensuring traceability and alignment with vehicle-level objectives.
• Own and manage systems integration workstreams, working independently to adapt existing approaches and devise solutions based on limited precedent.
• Deeply understand how multiple physical parts and systems integrate to achieve overarching program objectives.
• Serve as the technical bridge across Software, Hardware, Flight Controls, Propulsion, and GCS teams to integrate the aircraft system.
• Act as an influential stakeholder for ConOps, DAA, and C2 initiatives, providing systems engineering support and ensuring physical system constraints and capabilities are accurately represented.
• Define V&V strategy. Allocate requirements across analysis, simulation (Model-in-the-Loop / Software-in-the-Loop), Hardware-in-the-Loop, system integration lab, and flight test, with explicit verification objectives, credit claims, and configuration baselines.
• Key contributor to Technical Readiness Reviews (TRR) and Flight Readiness Reviews (FRR). Provide the analytical green light that aircraft systems are safe to transition to the flight test team.

Required

• Bachelor's degree in Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical, Systems Engineering, or a related field with a minimum of 8+ years of relevant experience; or a Master's degree with 6+ years / PhD with 3+ years of experience.
• Demonstrated competence in systems engineering fundamentals, including functional breakdown, requirements management, and physical systems integration in support of aircraft development.
• Experience with ARP4754A/B, ARP4761/4761A, and the DO-178C / DO-254 / DO-160 family.
• Proven ability to operate in a fast-paced, high-quality environment, solving problems of diverse scope.
• Strong collaborative skills with a track record of building productive working relationships to resolve mutual interdisciplinary problems.
• Willingness to travel to flight test locations to support experimental troubleshooting and correlate flight data to system models.

Desired

• 10+ years of demonstrated success in systems engineering within the aerospace industry or complex hardware development.
• Experience serving as a "Super-User" or subject matter expert for specific systems engineering tools and methodologies.
• A broad and deep understanding of aircraft systems that allows you to intuitively grasp how different functional areas impact one another.
• Experience with SORA / SORA Annex F v2.5 (or equivalent operational risk assessment framework) and JARUS AMC RPAS.1309 Issue 2.
• Experience with Group 5 UAS or BVLOS operations.
• Digital flight control systems development.
• Clean-sheet aerospace development.

Additional Information

Compensation at Joby is a combination of base pay and Restricted Stock Units (RSUs). The target base pay for this position is $161,400 - $273,000/yr. The compensation package will be determined by job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.

Joby also offers a comprehensive benefits package, including paid time off, healthcare benefits, a 401(k) plan with a company match, an employee stock purchase plan (ESPP), short-term and long-term disability coverage, life insurance, and more.

This position must meet US export control compliance requirements, therefore a candidate must qualify as a “US Person” as defined by 22 C.F.R. § 120.15. “US Person” includes US Citizens, lawful permanent residents, refugees, or asylees.

Joby is an Equal Opportunity Employer