Principal Software Engineer – Digital Engineering AI Enablement and Automation (AEA) (Onsite)

At RTX, the world's largest aerospace and defense company, 185,000 great minds are united by purpose and inspired to make a difference solving the world’s most complex problems. Collins Aerospace, a leader in technologically advanced, intelligent solutions, helps redefine the aerospace and defense industry. Join us and help shape the future of aerospace and defense.

About the role

The Principal Software Engineer – Digital Engineering AI Enablement and Automation (AEA) will drive engineering efficiency across Collins Aerospace by leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) and solution automation to deliver transformative solutions. This role focuses on enabling faster cycle times, reducing total lifecycle costs, minimizing technical debt, and enhancing reusability across all business units and engineering disciplines. The position requires a forward-thinking engineer who thrives on innovation, collaboration, and delivering impactful solutions at scale.

This is an onsite role located in Cedar Rapids, IA. U.S. citizenship is required, as only U.S. citizens are authorized to access information under this program/contract.

Responsibilities

• Lead initiatives to identify manual engineering tasks that can be optimized or replaced with AI-driven solutions and automation.
• Develop, implement, and maintain AI and automation tools to enhance engineering workflows and processes.
• Collaborate with cross-functional engineering teams to understand their requirements and provide impactful, scalable solutions.
• Analyze workflows and data to identify inefficiencies and deliver solutions that improve precision, speed, and productivity.
• Stay current with advancements in AI, machine learning, and automation technologies to ensure solutions remain cutting-edge.
• Design and execute proof-of-concept projects to validate the effectiveness of proposed AI and automation strategies.
• Ensure all solutions comply with Collins Aerospace and RTX standards, including security and performance requirements.
• Provide training and documentation to teams to facilitate the adoption of new tools and workflows.
• Continuously monitor and refine existing tools to improve their performance and effectiveness.

Requirements

• Typically requires a degree in Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (STEM) and minimum 8 years prior relevant experience or an Advanced Degree in a related field and minimum 5 years of experience.
• Experience building internal AI developer tools or platforms — e.g., coding assistants, documentation summarizers, test-case generators, or requirements-traceability aids tailored to safety-critical domains.
• Proficiency with GenAI implementation patterns — including retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), prompt engineering, agentic workflows, and strategies to constrain non-deterministic outputs for reliable use in regulated environments.
• Hands-on LLMOps experience with evaluation metric platforms such as MLflow (or equivalent tools like Arize, Braintrust, Fiddler) for experiment tracking, model monitoring, tracing, and reproducible evaluation pipelines in regulated environments.
• Strong programming skills in languages such as Python or C/C++.

Qualifications

• Excellent communication and collaboration skills with ability to translate complex AI architectures into clear guidelines and training for engineering teams.
• Experience in integrating AI into safety-critical workflows such as test automation, requirements analysis, code review assistance, or documentation generation with human-in-the-loop controls.
• Familiarity with aerospace security and compliance constraints (e.g., ITAR/EAR, on-prem/private cloud deployments).
• Evidence of measurable impact from AI initiatives (e.g., reduced cycle time, improved code quality, scaled best practices).

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• Three weeks of vacation for newly hired employees.
• Generous 401(k) plan that includes employer matching funds and separate employer retirement contribution, including a Lifetime Income Strategy option.
• Tuition reimbursement program.
• Student Loan Repayment Program.
• Life insurance and disability coverage.
• Optional coverages: pet insurance, home and auto insurance, additional life and accident insurance, critical illness insurance, group legal, ID theft protection.
• Birth, adoption, parental leave benefits.
• Ovia Health, fertility, and family planning.
• Adoption Assistance.
• Autism Benefit.
• Employee Assistance Plan, including up to 10 free counseling sessions.
• Healthy You Incentives, wellness rewards program.
• Doctor on Demand, virtual doctor visits.
• Bright Horizons, child and elder care services.
• Teladoc Medical Experts, second opinion program.
• Eligible for relocation.

Pay

The salary range for this role is 107,500 USD - 204,500 USD. The salary range provided is a good faith estimate representative of all experience levels. RTX considers several factors when extending an offer, including but not limited to, the role, function and associated responsibilities, a candidate’s work experience, location, education/training, and key skills.