Systems Engineer

SAIC is seeking a mid- to senior-level Systems Engineer to support the eXtensible Flight System (XFS), a configurable, modular software product used to develop advanced flight displays. In this role, you will lead and support systems engineering activities across the lifecycle of safety-critical avionics software developed under DO-178C (DAL C) objectives.

You will work closely with software, test, and human-factors/UX engineers to translate operational and certification requirements into well-structured system and software requirements, architectures, interfaces, and verification strategies. This position is ideal for an engineer who thrives on rigorous requirements engineering, system architecture, and disciplined verification in a standards-driven aerospace environment. This role will be onsite in Huntsville, AL.

Responsibilities and Duties

Requirements Development & Management

• Elicit, analyze, and document system-level and software-level requirements for XFS-based flight display capabilities.
• Ensure requirements are clear, consistent, testable, and traceable to customer needs, standards, and DO-178C DAL C objectives.
• Decompose and allocate system requirements to software components and interfaces, maintaining end-to-end traceability from high-level requirements through design and test.
• Manage requirements baselines and changes, performing impact analyses on architecture, design, integration, and verification activities.
• Maintain requirements traceability matrices and support audits and reviews focused on requirements completeness and consistency.

System Architecture & Design

• Develop and refine system and software architectures for XFS configurations, including modular display components, data interfaces, and integration with avionics systems.
• Define and maintain interface control documents (ICDs) and data models for integration with sensors, flight management systems, and other avionics subsystems.
• Collaborate with software engineers to ensure the architecture and requirements support performance, safety, configurability, and maintainability goals.
• Analyze system behavior and performance, including resource usage, timing, and reliability in embedded/real-time environments.

Safety-Critical & Standards-Driven Engineering

• Apply DO-178C and related aerospace standards and guidance to systems engineering and requirements activities.
• Support the development of plans, standards, and guidelines (e.g., requirements standards, architecture guidelines) for XFS-based solutions.
• Participate in safety, hazard, and risk analyses; derive safety-related requirements and constraints and ensure they are properly captured and traced.
• Contribute to compliance evidence by producing and reviewing systems engineering and requirements artifacts required for audits and certification reviews.

Verification, Validation & Test Support

• Define and maintain verification and validation strategies, including mapping of system and software requirements to test plans and procedures.
• Develop and review test plans, procedures, and cases, ensuring they provide adequate coverage of requirements and key operational scenarios.
• Support integration and system test activities, including anomaly investigation, root cause analysis, and requirements-focused corrective actions.
• Work closely with test engineers to evaluate test results, confirm requirement satisfaction, and improve test effectiveness and traceability.

Agile Collaboration & Technical Leadership

• Participate in agile ceremonies (backlog refinement, sprint planning, daily standups, reviews, retrospectives) representing systems and requirements engineering concerns.
• Collaborate with software engineers, human-factors/UX specialists, and customer stakeholders to refine features and ensure they meet operational needs and certification constraints.
• Lead or contribute to technical reviews (requirements reviews, architecture/design reviews, test readiness reviews) to ensure quality and compliance.
• Provide mentorship and guidance to junior systems engineers and cross-functional team members on requirements and systems engineering best practices.

Documentation, Configuration Management & Continuous Improvement

• Develop and maintain systems engineering documentation, including requirements specifications, architecture descriptions, ICDs, and verification reports.
• Ensure systems engineering and requirements artifacts are properly baselined, controlled, and integrated with configuration management tools and processes.
• Identify opportunities to improve requirements management, architecture practices, and verification workflows, and help implement process and tool enhancements.
• Support customer interactions and technical presentations, clearly communicating requirements rationale, system capabilities, constraints, and trade-offs.

Education Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Systems Engineering, Electrical/Computer Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or related technical field and five (5) years’ experience; Additional six (6) years’ experience can be considered in lieu of degree.

Clearance Requirements

• Must hold, or be eligible to obtain and hold, security clearance of Secret or higher; US Citizenship required.

Required Skills and Qualifications

• Typically 5–10+ years of experience in systems engineering or closely related roles, preferably on complex software-intensive or avionics systems.
• Strong experience in requirements engineering: elicitation, analysis, decomposition, allocation, baselining, and traceability.
• Experience developing system and software architectures, defining interfaces, and working with multidisciplinary teams to realize designs.
• Familiarity with DO-178B/C concepts and the role of systems engineering and requirements management in safety-critical software development and certification.
• Experience collaborating closely with software engineering teams; ability to understand and discuss software design and implementation trade-offs in the context of requirements.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, including the ability to perform impact analyses and resolve complex integration and requirement issues.
• Proficiency with requirements management practices and tools (e.g., traceability matrices, baseline control, change management).
• Clear written and verbal communication skills, with experience producing technical documentation and participating in formal reviews.

Preferred

• Experience in aerospace, avionics, or other safety-critical domains (e.g., flight displays, flight management systems, or navigation/mission systems).
• Direct experience supporting DO-178C DAL C or higher programs, including certification evidence preparation and audit support.
• Hands-on experience with requirements management tools, preferably IBM Engineering Requirements Management DOORS (DOORS Classic or DOORS Next Generation).
• Experience with configuration management and issue tracking tools (e.g., Git-based repositories, Jira).
• Experience with Microsoft Azure DevOps for work item tracking, requirements organization, and coordination with development and test pipelines.
• Familiarity with scripting or basic programming (e.g., Python, C) to support data analysis, requirements verification, or tool integration.
• Prior experience mentoring engineers or acting as a technical lead for systems and requirements engineering activities.