Test Data Engineer
About the role
Merlin is a venture-backed aerospace startup building a non-human pilot to enable both reduced crew and uncrewed flight. Backed by some of the world’s leading investors, Merlin is scaling alongside its customers to begin leveraging autonomy today to solve some of aviation’s biggest challenges.
About you
You will be the primary interface between our internal data customers and various vendors (e.g., Marpin Labs, Epsilon3), ensuring the external products can be used by Merlin engineers by any combination of training Merlin employees or helping to develop external services to suit company needs. This mission-critical role combines engineering process leadership, systems-engineering, technical domain experience, understanding test data workflows, and configuration control and change management.
Responsibilities
Own Merlin's Test Data Platform Strategy
Drive adoption of scalable data platforms supporting laboratory, simulation, ground test, and flight test activities
Establish platform standards, governance, and best practices across Engineering
Manage strategic vendor relationships, roadmap alignment, and platform performance
Evaluate emerging technologies and lead continuous platform improvement and deployment
Ensure vendor solutions meet Merlin's technical, operational, and long-term business requirements
Own Merlin's Engineering Data Strategy
Define the long-term vision for engineering test data management across Merlin
Standardize data workflows, governance, and engineering processes across programs
Lead the transition from legacy workflows to modern digital engineering platforms
Advisory executive leadership on investments, capabilities, and future data strategy
Identify opportunities to improve engineering efficiency through automation and data-driven decision making
Partner Across Engineering
Serve as the primary partner to Systems Engineering, Flight Test, Instrumentation, Software, and Program Management teams
Gather and prioritize platform requirements while balancing competing stakeholder needs
Drive integration between engineering platforms and enterprise systems
Ensure platform security, availability, access controls, and operational excellence
Establish Enterprise Data Standards
Define enterprise standards for telemetry, instrumentation, metadata, data quality, retention, permissions, and knowledge management
Enable cross-program data reuse and scalable collaboration
Advance Analytics & Digital Engineering
Champion analytics, reporting, AI/ML, and digital engineering capabilities across the organization
Develop common metrics, dashboards, and automated data processing pipelines
Enable reusable analysis workflows that accelerate engineering insight and decision making
Qualifications
Bachelor degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Data Science, Information Systems, or related technical discipline. Advanced degree preferred.
5+ years of experience in aerospace, aviation, defense, transportation, or other complex engineering environments.
Experience with engineering systems, test operations, telemetry systems, data platforms, or digital engineering initiatives.
Experience with FTI management, telemetry systems, aero integration and test operations.
Experience managing enterprise software implementations and deployments.
Experience working across multiple technical disciplines and organizational levels.
Technical Knowledge:
- Data acquisition systems typical of aircraft
- Telemetry systems
- Instrumentation systems
- Engineering data management
- Systems engineering
- Configuration management
- Data analytics platforms
- Cloud-based engineering systems
- Digital engineering frameworks
Nice to Haves
Authoritative voice on test engineering information systems and data management.
Understand both the technical details of test operations and information systems, as well as the organizational challenges of enterprise transformation.
Can discuss avionics and telemetry architecture with engineers, data platform strategy with executives, and operational / security details with IT administrators.
Vision to establish (CloudTS and Epsilon3.io) test data platforms as strategic enterprise capability rather than a low-priority software application maintenance side-project.