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Merlin Labs

Robot type
Drone · Defense
Location
BostonMassachusettsUSA
Job type
Hardware
Posted
Aug 25, 2026
Salary
$165,000–$220,000 a year
Full-time

Staff Engineer, Avionics Integration

Job description

Merlin Labs — Staff Engineer, Avionics Integration (Boston, Massachusetts).

Job responsibilities

  • Own the avionics integration architecture across multiple aircraft platforms — defining how flight computers, sensors, actuators, communications, power, and software subsystems come together as a certifiable, flyable…
  • Set integration strategy and technical standards used across the Aircraft Engineering team, including interface control documents, integration test methodology, and design review criteria.
  • Lead systems-level integration and verification of COTS/MOTS avionics, custom hardware, and software components across lab and aircraft installations, spanning multiple concurrent platforms.
  • Act as the senior technical authority in design reviews, flight test readiness reviews, and certification discussions, representing avionics integration to internal leadership, customers, and regulators.
  • Identify systemic integration risks across programs and drive root-cause resolution, rather than working platform-by-platform issues in isolation.
  • Mentor and provide technical direction to other integration engineers and installation technicians, raising the bar for integration rigor across the team, without formal people-management responsibility.
  • Partner with Systems Engineering, Software, Flight Test, Certification, and Maintenance to ensure integration decisions hold up end-to-end, from architecture through flight test and into sustainment.
  • Drive and review electrical/electronic, mechanical, and software interface definitions and installation and certification documentation package produced by the broader team.

Job requirements

  • BS in Electrical, Aerospace, Systems, or related Engineering discipline (or equivalent experience).
  • 8+ years of experience integrating complex systems onto aircraft, with demonstrated ownership of integration architecture across more than one platform or program.
  • Deep, hands-on experience integrating and debugging systems spanning COTS/MOTS avionics modules, custom hardware, embedded software, sensors, and human-machine interfaces — not limited to any single engineering…
  • Working knowledge of standard avionics interface protocols (e.g., Ethernet, ARINC 429, RS-232/422/485, CAN, MIL-STD-1553) and the judgment to choose and defend an interface architecture, not just implement one.
  • Track record of leading integration efforts through design review, lab test, and flight test, including managing cross-discipline dependencies and schedule risk.
  • Experience authoring or approving system schematics, interface control documents, and subsystem architecture diagrams.
  • Demonstrated ability to mentor engineers and act as a technical reference point across a team, without necessarily holding a management title.
  • Outstanding organizational, analytical, and problem-solving skills, with the judgment to prioritize across competing program needs.

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