Principal Aerospace Systems Architect/Engineer (Directed Energy)

About the role

The Principal Aerospace Systems Architect/Engineer will provide technical leadership and strategic direction across multi-year, high-consequence programs to join our team in Albuquerque, NM.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership and vision for directed energy system architectures, advancing technology roadmaps to meet near-term and future warfighter needs
• Act as the primary technical interface with senior customer stakeholders, program leadership, and external partners to translate operational needs and doctrine into capability-level requirements and measurable success criteria
• Lead development of high-level concepts of operation, mission use cases, and architecture trade studies that balance lethality, throughput, range, power/energy budgets, survivability, and cost
• Drive functional decomposition and requirements derivation for complex DE systems and subsystems (laser source, power electronics, energy storage, beam director, beam control, sensors, thermal management, safety systems), ensuring traceable, verifiable requirements
• Leverage extensive, demonstrable experience leading directed energy weapon system development (solid-state, fiber, slab, or other high-energy laser technologies) through PDR/CDR to successful integration, test, and fielding
• Apply deep knowledge of beam control, optical propagation physics, atmospheric effects modeling, power/thermal subsystem scaling, and laser safety/regulatory regimes
• Champion MBSE adoption and governance across program portfolios: establish modeling standards, manage MBSE configuration and workflows, and integrate engineering toolchains to support program scalability and decision-making
• Lead cross-functional technical teams to produce physical decompositions and detailed design solutions; resolve architecture-level hardware/software partitioning, define interfaces, and allocate performance requirements
• Own verification and validation strategy across programs: define verification logic, acceptance criteria, test architectures, and demonstration plans for optical performance, energy-on-target, tracking/pointing accuracy, reliability, and safety
• Lead and prioritize modeling & simulation and algorithm development activities (beam propagation, atmospheric effects, target interaction, opto-electrical behavior) to inform design trades and operational employment decisions
• Ensure incorporation of safety, product assurance, regulatory, and certification considerations into architecture and program plans—particularly laser safety standards, range operations, and environmental/EMC requirements
• Direct risk management, technical maturation plans, and mitigation strategies for key DE uncertainties (atmospheric propagation, scaling of power/thermal, beam control latency, countermeasures)
• Prepare technical content for SRR/SDR/PDR/CDR and other milestones; respond to review findings, drive corrective actions, and maintain configuration and documentation to support audits and program reviews
• Drive cost-, schedule-, and resource-informed engineering decisions; support technical input to program cost estimates, trade studies, and roadmap prioritization
• Mentor and develop engineering leads and cross-disciplinary teams; set technical standards, review critical designs, and cultivate a culture of rigorous analysis and engineering best practices
• Represent the program and company at technical forums, customer briefings, industry consortia, and advanced technology strategy discussions
• Support deployment and sustainment strategies, including integration with host platforms (airborne, shipboard, ground), logistics tail planning, and field validation under operationally relevant conditions

  Requirements

  • Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering, Engineering Technology (including Manufacturing Technology), Computer Science, Data Science, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry or non-US equivalent qualifications directly related to the work statement
  • 10+ years of experience in systems engineering

  Qualifications

  • Experience leading large, multi-disciplinary engineering efforts, influence program strategy, and interact effectively with senior government stakeholders and prime contractor leadership
  • Experience overseeing and validating electronic/electrical system requirements and subsystem designs, including PWB layouts, power distribution architectures, thermal management strategies, EMI/EMC mitigation, and grounding for high-power DE environments
  • Experience integrating cybersecurity and product security concerns at the architecture level: assessing vulnerabilities, defining protections, and coordinating with security and product assurance teams
  • Experience directing assembly, integration, and test planning and execution at system and subsystem levels; ensure AIT approaches de-risk fielding and produce defensible test evidence for program milestones and contractual reviews

  Skills

  • Deep knowledge of beam control, optical propagation physics, atmospheric effects modeling, power/thermal subsystem scaling, and laser safety/regulatory regimes
  • Extensive, demonstrable experience leading directed energy weapon system development (solid-state, fiber, slab, or other high-energy laser technologies) through PDR/CDR to successful integration, test, and fielding
  • Leadership and mentoring experience in engineering teams
  • Technical writing and presentation skills
  • Experience with modeling and simulation tools
  • Experience with risk management and technical maturation plans

  Benefits

  Generous company match to your 401(k).

  Industry-leading tuition assistance program pays your institution directly.

  Fertility, adoption, and surrogacy benefits.

  Up to $10,000 gift match when you support your favorite nonprofit organizations.

  Other benefits may include:

  • Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs)
  • Health Savings Accounts (HSAs)
  • Retirement Savings Plans
  • Life and Disability Insurance Programs
  • Paid Time Off (PTO)
  • Voluntary Benefits

  Pay

  $164.900 - $223,100

  Schedule

  1st shift

  Equal Opportunity Employer

  Boeing is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, physical or mental disability, genetic factors, military/veteran status or other characteristics protected by law.