Systems Engineer. Aircraft Software

Swarm Aero; Oxnard (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Meaningful equity

Competitive base salary

Medical, dental, vision, and 401k

PTO and paid sick leave

Wellness stipend

Daily catered lunch

Parental leave

Impact on national security mission

World-class engineering team

Job summary

Swarm Aero is building the largest swarming UAV and a versatile control network. We seek a Software Systems Engineer to ensure reliable software across aircraft subsystems and verification activities, collaborating with propulsion, avionics, and flight control teams.

You will lead standards implementation, refine architecture, derive requirements, and manage verification artifacts while addressing risk and integration testing needs in a defense-focused environment.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of systems engineering experience on aerospace, defense, or UAS platforms with a software focus.
• Ability to write clear, verifiable, and testable requirements using industry patterns.
• Experience with modern digital tools for requirements (Jama, Polarion, JIRA).
• Expertise in software development and verification for civil or military aircraft.
• Familiarity with DO-333, DO-178/DO-254, MIL-STD-882, and JSSSEH standards.

Responsibilities

• Lead implementation of software standards, processes, and development approaches.
• Maintain and refine the software system architecture.
• Derive software requirements from aircraft subsystem decomposition.
• Define clean interfaces for software interoperability.
• Collaborate with propulsion, avionics, and flight-control design teams.
• Produce and manage verification artifacts for traceability.
• Participate in design reviews to balance performance, risk, and complexity.
• Support HIL/SIL integration testing and investigate anomalies.
• Coordinate with test teams to define software verification plans.
• Identify, track, and mitigate technical risk across the program lifecycle.

Skills

Systems engineering

Requirements writing

Software development

Verification & validation

Aircraft software standards

Tools

Jama

Polarion

JIRA

Job description

Swarm Aero is redefining air power, building the largest swarming UAV and the most versatile swarming aircraft network in the world. The company is moving quickly to launch the first aircraft designed specifically for swarming, as well as the Command & Control software to mobilize swarms of thousands of heterogeneous autonomous assets and empower human operators to achieve superhuman results.

The team has created and exited multiple startups, negotiated defense deals worth billions of dollars, and designed and built 30+ novel aircraft, with aerospace experience from Scaled Composites, Airbus, Archer Aviation, Blue Origin, and Boom Supersonic.

Swarm Aero is building large, autonomous, swarming UAS for operations at scale in contested environments. Our aircraft are complex platforms that will operate at the edge of what's possible in non-segregated airspace with high levels of automation. We need a Software Systems Engineer who can support the software that makes it work reliably and robustly.

What You'll Do

• Lead implementation of software standards, process, and development approaches
• Maintain and refine the software system architecture
• Derive software requirements from the functional decomposition of aircraft subsystems
• Define clean interfaces for software interoperability
• Work closely with design engineers in propulsion, avionics, and flight control
• Produce and manage verification artifacts for requirements traceability
• Participate in design reviews to drive architecture decisions that balance performance, risk, schedule, and complexity constraints
• Support hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) and software-in-the-loop (SIL) integration testing including investigation and resolution of anomalies
• Coordinate with ground and flight test teams to define software verification plans
• Identify, track, and mitigate technical risk across the program lifecycle, escalating issues with data-driven recommendations
• Contribute to airworthiness and flight authorization documentation

What We're Looking For

• 7+ years of experience in systems engineering on aerospace, defense, or UAS platforms with a focus on software
• Strong foundation in systems engineering principles and practices
• Ability to write clear, verifiable, and testable requirements using industry-standard patterns
• Familiarity with authoring and maintaining requirements using modern digital tools (e.g. Jama, Polarion, JIRA, etc.)
• Expertise in software development and verification activities for civil or military aircraft
• Experience with formal methods for verification and validation (e.g. DO-333)
• Experience with software development standards for civil aviation (e.g. DO-178, DO-254)
• Experience with software aspects of military safety standards and handbooks (e.g. MIL-STD-882, JSSSEH)
• Ability to obtain US Government clearance required

Nice to Have

• Background in flight control, avionics, or propulsion subsystem integration
• Experience with ARP4754 and ARP4761
• Exposure to defense programs, military airworthiness, or flight authorization processes including MIL-HDBK-516
• Active security clearance

ITAR requirement

To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Swarm Aero is an equal opportunity employer. We value diverse backgrounds and experiences and make employment decisions without regard to race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, or disability.

What We Offer

• Meaningful equity in a high-growth defense technology company
• Competitive base salary commensurate with experience
• Medical, dental, vision, and 401k
• PTO and paid sick leave
• Monthly wellness stipend
• Daily catered lunch (office)
• Paid parental leave
• Direct impact on a critical national security mission
• A world-class team of engineers and operators solving genuinely hard problems