Electrical Sustainment Engineer

Position Summary

The Electrical Sustainment Engineer is responsible for maintaining, improving, and supporting certified aerospace electrical and electronic products throughout their lifecycle, from production through in-service operation.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead investigation and resolution of electrical issues from production test, qualification, and in-service field reports.
• Perform structured root cause analysis on board- and system-level failures (RMA/FRACAS, 8D, 5-Why, fault tree).
• Provide engineering dispositions for nonconformances, concessions, and deviations (MRB support).
• Support customer service and airline/MRO teams with technical assessments and corrective actions.
• Own and implement electrical Engineering Change Requests/Orders (ECRs/ECOs) for certified aerospace hardware (PCBs, harnesses, LRUs, electronic control units, sensors, power electronics).
• Manage component obsolescence and DMSMS: identify alternates, perform form/fit/function and risk assessments, and qualify replacements.
• Implement design improvements to address reliability, manufacturability, serviceability, and cost, while preserving performance, safety, and certification basis.
• Maintain strict configuration control, traceability, and documentation in accordance with AS9100 and internal procedures.
• Support production test yield improvement and recurring production issues, including test procedure updates and fixture/interface improvements.
• Aid in introducing design changes into production: pilot builds, first-article inspections, and build validation.
• Provide technical guidance on electrical inspection, acceptance test requirements, and troubleshooting to production and repair stations.
• Perform analysis of analog, digital, and power electronics circuits to justify changes and assess performance margins.
• Define and/or review verification and validation plans and test procedures for design changes, regression testing, and re-qualification (bench, environmental, EMC, vibration, HIRF, etc.).
• Support or lead execution of tests in environmental and EMI/EMC labs; review test data and document results.
• Contribute to certification artifacts and continued airworthiness documentation (e.g., compliance matrices, test reports, impact assessments, safety and reliability inputs).
• Ensure that design changes maintain compliance with applicable aerospace standards and regulations, which may include: RTCA/DO-160, RTCA/DO-254 (if applicable), MIL-STD-461/810 or similar aerospace/defense standards, company and customer specifications, DER/ODA/Designated Engineering Representative requirements.
• Support quality, regulatory, and customer audits; prepare technical responses and corrective action plans as needed.
• Work with supply chain and suppliers to qualify alternate components, review supplier changes, and resolve technical issues.
• Interface with customers’ engineering and airworthiness organizations to address technical queries and in-service findings.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to junior engineers and technicians on sustaining engineering practices.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, or closely related discipline.
• 5+ years of experience in electrical/electronic design, sustaining engineering, or product support, with significant experience in aerospace, defense, or aviation.
• Strong hands-on troubleshooting skills for PCBAs and electronic systems using lab equipment (oscilloscopes, DMMs, power analyzers, logic analyzers, etc.).
• Proficiency reading and creating schematics, BOMs, and PCB documentation; experience with at least one major ECAD tool (e.g., Altium, OrCAD, Mentor).
• Demonstrated experience implementing and documenting engineering changes in a controlled PLM/ERP and configuration-managed environment.
• Working knowledge of aerospace quality and documentation practices (e.g., AS9100, first article inspection, configuration and change control).
• Experience with structured root cause and corrective action methodologies (8D, Ishikawa, FMEA, FTA, 5-Why, etc.).
• Strong written and verbal communication skills; ability to produce clear technical reports and communicate with customers and non-electrical stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with avionics, flight controls, actuation systems, power distribution, or high-reliability airborne electronics.
• Familiarity with one or more of: RTCA/DO-160, DO-254, DO-178 interface expectations, ARP4754/ARP4761 flows, MIL-STD-461/464/810 or equivalent aerospace environmental/EMI standards.
• Experience with reliability and in-service performance tools/processes (FRACAS, FMECA, reliability growth analysis).
• Background supporting certification or major changes on Part 23/25/27/29 or military platforms (TC/STC, TSO, PMA, etc.).
• Experience working with external labs for environmental and EMI/EMC testing.
• Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering or a related field.
• Prior mentoring or technical leadership of other engineers/technicians.

Key Competencies

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with a practical, hands-on mindset.
• High attention to detail and discipline in documentation and configuration control.
• Customer- and safety-focused, with a strong sense of ownership and urgency in resolving production and in-service issues.
• Able to work independently while effectively collaborating across engineering, operations, quality, and customer-facing teams.
• Comfortable balancing design rigor and certification needs with production and schedule pressures.