Staff Engineer, Systems Engineering

Colonial Group; Irvine (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Supernal is seeking a Staff Engineer, Systems Engineering at its Irvine location. You will act as the technical authority to ensure architecture, requirements, and certification align with FAA standards throughout the aircraft lifecycle.

You will oversee system-level sizing, configuration control, and verification, coordinating with Strategy and other engineering functions to meet customer and business needs.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in aerospace, electrical, mechanical engineering, or related field is required.
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Responsibilities

• Review FAA-recognized development standards across program phases.
• Identify gaps to achieve certification readiness at major milestones.
• Lead transfer of engineering systems and certification governance.
• Review architectures and decisions from vehicle integration and safety perspectives.
• Maintain vehicle-level sizing, margins, and performance allocations.
• Evaluate trades and interface definitions for compliance alignment.
• Monitor cross-functional interfaces to prevent architectural inconsistencies.
• Provide technical reviews at SRR, PDR, TRR, and CCB milestones.
• Identify integration, safety, and certification risks and mitigate.
• Ensure outputs align with FAA Part 21 Applicant obligations.
• Escalate deviations that impact regulatory commitments.
• Represent technical positions in governance reviews.

Skills

Requirements management

Systems engineering

MBSE

Systems integration

Cross-functional collaboration

Configuration control

Architecture review

Education

Bachelor's degree in aerospace/ electrical/ mechanical engineering

Advanced degree preferred

Tools

DOORS

Cameo

Job description

What we do:

The Staff Engineer, Systems Engineering serves as Supernal's Systems Engineering technical authority in Irvine location, ensuring that engineering execution, system architecture, requirements, and certification activities remain aligned with FAA-recognized development standards and Supernal's Part 21 Applicant obligations throughout the aircraft development lifecycle. This position requires an experienced professional with expertise in requirements definition and management across the whole aircraft, plus performance measurement within a product development environment.

This role oversees system-level consistency across sizing, architecture, configuration control, and verification activities, while maintaining disciplined alignment with ARP4754A/ARP4761A processes and certification readiness milestones. Acting as the systems engineering focal point, the position ensures that cross-functional technical decisions support vehicle-level performance, safety, and compliance objectives. In addition, the role supports Supernal's readiness to assume FAA Part 21 Applicant responsibilities by reviewing major design milestones, identifying integration and certification risks, and ensuring technical outputs- including requirements, verification artifacts, compliance data, and configuration records- remain aligned with Supernal's FAA Part 21 Applicant obligations and certification strategy. The position works closely with different engineering functions and liaises closely with the Strategy Team to ensure requirements meet the needs of the customer and business.

What you can do:

• Review and assess engineering processes and technical governance to ensure alignment with FAA-recognized development standards, including ARP4754A, ARP4761A, DO-178C, and DO-254, across all program phases
• Identify gaps between engineering processes and FAA-compliant systems frameworks, and define process enhancements required for certification readiness at major milestones
• Lead the structured transfer and internalization of engineering systems, compliance methodologies, and certification governance to maintain Applicant-level configuration and compliance control
• Review system architectures, system-level designs, and major technical decisions from a vehicle integration, safety, and certification perspective across all development phases
• Ensure consistency of sizing assumptions, margin strategies, performance allocations, safety budgets, and architectural trade-offs at the vehicle level
• Evaluate trade studies, configuration changes, and interface definitions for alignment with vehicle performance, safety targets, certification basis, and Means of Compliance
• Monitor cross-functional interfaces (powertrain, flight controls, structures, avionics, etc.) to prevent architectural inconsistencies and maintain configuration coherence
• Provide Supernal technical review positions and concurrence at major design milestones (SRR, PDR, TRR) and Configuration Control Boards for design baselines and significant changes
• Identify vehicle-level integration, safety, compliance, and certification risks from technical activities and require mitigation within delegated authority
• Ensure technical outputs- including requirements, verification artifacts, compliance data, and configuration records- remain aligned with Supernal's FAA Part 21 Applicant obligations and certification strategy
• Escalate material technical deviations or certification risks to Supernal leadership when exceeding delegated authority or impacting Applicant obligations

What you can contribute:

• Bachelor's degree in aerospace, electrical, mechanical engineering, or related field is required; advanced degree preferred
• Minimum of ten (10) years of experience in aircraft systems engineering, integration
• Strong knowledge of SAE ARP4754A and ARP4761
• Working knowledge of DO-178C and DO-254 in certified aircraft programs
• Solid understanding of FAA certification frameworks, including 14 CFR Part 21
• Experience supporting certification programs and engaging with regulatory authorities
• Experience with requirements management and configuration control tools (e.g., DOORS)
• Familiarity with MBSE methodologies and modeling tools (e.g., Cameo, SysML)
• Aircraft safety experience preferred
• Ability to assess and improve engineering processes to ensure certification alignment
• Strong system-level integration and architecture review capability
• Ability to ensure vehicle-level design consistency across sizing, performance allocation
• Capability to evaluate trade studies and configuration changes from a compliance perspective
• Ability to manage cross-functional technical interfaces across multiple engineering domains
• Strong risk identification and structured mitigation planning skills
• Demonstrated ability to represent technical positions within engineering governance and key milestone / change reviews (e.g., SRR, PDR, CDR TRR, CCB)