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Mission Systems & Payloads Integration Engineer, Airborne Systems

Hermeus

Hermeus

Los Angeles, CA, USA
USD 140k-190k / year + Equity
Posted on Dec 15, 2025
Hermeus is a high-speed aircraft manufacturer focused on the rapid design, build, and test of high-Mach and hypersonic aircraft for the national interest. Working directly with the Department of Defense, Hermeus delivers capabilities that will ensure that our nation, and our allies, maintain an asymmetric advantage over any and all potential adversaries.
The Mission Systems and Weapons Integration Engineer is responsible for the mechanical, electrical, and software integration of weapons, pylons, Stores Management System (SMS) functions, and mission equipment into the aircraft, ensuring safe separation, standards compliance, and seamless digital interoperability across the mission system architecture. This role requires deep expertise in Open Mission Systems (OMS) and the Universal Command and Control Interface (UCI), including service definition, command-and-control message structures, telemetry mapping, state-machine behavior, and API-level integration. The engineer integrates legacy standards such as MIL-STD-1760, MIL-STD-1553, and the Universal Armament Interface (UAI) with OMS/UCI-compliant mission software, ensuring all mission and weapons subsystems conform to the aircraft Interface Control Document (ICD) and integrate reliably into Software-in-the-Loop (SITL), Hardware-in-the-Loop (HITL), and Joint Simulation Environment (JSE) environments.

Responsibilities:

  • Lead weapons and pylon integration: own the mechanical, electrical, and software integration of weapons, pylons, and Bomb Release Units (BRUs); interpret weapons interface specifications, technical orders, ICDs, wiring diagrams, and software interface definitions to produce subsystem-level integration plans and acceptance criteria.
  • Ensure OMS and UCI software compliance: develop, implement, integrate and validate mission service behaviors, command-and-control messages, telemetry structures, and state-machine logic under Open Mission Systems (OMS) and Universal Command and Control Interface (UCI) standards; ensure weapon-related services conform to the authoritative service catalog and system-level schema definitions.
  • Translate engineering artifacts into OMS/UCI service implementations: convert aircraft-level ICDs, interface requirements, and Stores Management System (SMS) behaviors into OMS/UCI service definitions; develop subsystem requirements that specify how weapons publish, subscribe, and exchange command and telemetry data.
  • Develop API adapters and message translators: create or validate API-level adapters, protocol translation layers, and OMS/UCI service stubs that allow legacy 1760/1553/UAI interfaces to communicate with higher-level mission systems; enforce consistent schema validation, error handling, and interface versioning.
  • Conduct safe separation analysis and integrate logic into software: collaborate with aerodynamicists and test engineers to model safe separation trajectories and embed release conditions, timing constraints, and safety logic into OMS/UCI services, simulation models, and flight software behavior.
  • Support SITL, HITL, and JSE weapon integration: integrate weapon behaviors, messaging flows, timing models, and state-machine transitions into Software-in-the-Loop (SITL), Hardware-in-the-Loop (HITL), and Joint Simulation Environment (JSE) frameworks; ensure fidelity and determinism between simulated and real hardware behaviors.
  • Collaborate with autonomy and mission planning teams: ensure OMS/UCI weapon services interface correctly with autonomy behaviors, mission planning outputs, operator workflows, and Stores Management System logic; define schemas, command structures, and telemetry paths that allow autonomy to reason about weapon availability and constraints.
  • Support ground and flight test execution: contribute to ground test scripts, functional checks, avionics bus validation, built-in-test logic, and flight test preparations; support in-flight carriage, release testing, anomaly resolution, and evidence collection aligned to OMS/UCI service definitions.
  • Maintain ICD and OMS/UCI conformance: develop and maintain conformance matrices, schema validators, message catalog diff tools, and automated interface checks; ensure backward compatibility across ICD and service catalog revisions while maintaining alignment with the overall mission architecture.
  • Contribute to broader mission system integration: support integration tasks involving ground control, debrief/data systems, logging pipelines, and simulation models when weapons workload is low; ensure consistent OMS/UCI messaging and schema usage across subsystems.
  • Communicate integration status: provide clear technical updates, risk assessments, and mitigation strategies to the Lead Systems Integration Engineer, the Product Engineering Lead, and program leadership.
  • Generate end-product deliverables for internal and external customers: produce high-quality, traceable, and review-ready engineering artifacts including documentation, reports, data packages, analysis outputs, integrations, and configuration updates that meet program requirements, support design reviews, and satisfy customer or partner expectations.

Qualifications:

  • Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Software Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related discipline.
  • 6+ years of experience integrating weapons, pylons, or Stores Management Systems on aircraft, bombers, or unmanned aerial systems (UAS).
  • Strong software engineering background with experience in languages such as C, C++, or equivalent used in embedded systems, mission systems, or avionics platforms.
  • Demonstrated expertise implementing or integrating Open Mission Systems (OMS) and Universal Command and Control Interface (UCI) services, schema definitions, message catalogs, and command/telemetry structures.
  • Familiarity with MIL-STD-1760, MIL-STD-1553, Universal Armament Interface (UAI), electrical loads, timing constraints, and weapons state-machine modeling.
  • Hands-on experience developing API adapters, message translators, schema validators, OMS/UCI service stubs, and automated interface test harnesses.
  • Experience integrating mission or weapons software into Software-in-the-Loop (SITL), Hardware-in-the-Loop (HITL), and Joint Simulation Environment (JSE) frameworks.
  • Ability to read and produce software ICDs, avionics bus documentation, wiring diagrams, data-flow specifications, and subsystem software requirements.
  • Familiarity with Stores Management System (SMS) logic, mission planning outputs, and autonomy-driven weapon allocation behaviors.
  • Proficiency with software development workflows including version control, continuous integration, automated testing, and regression analysis.
  • Strong communication and cross-disciplinary coordination skills across avionics, autonomy, mission systems, ground control, simulation, and test teams.
  • Active Secret clearance required; Top Secret / Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) preferred.
U.S. EXPORT CONTROL COMPLIANCE STATUS
The person hired will have access to information and items subject to U.S. export controls, and therefore, must either be a “U.S. person” as defined by 22 C.F.R. § 120.62 or otherwise eligible for deemed export licensing. US persons include U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, lawful permanent residents (green card holders), and asylees and refugees with such status granted, not pending.
EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
Hermeus is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment decisions at Hermeus are based solely on merit, competence, and qualifications, without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability, or any other legally protected status.

140000 - 190000 USD a year

The salary information provided is a general guideline only. Hermeus takes various factors into account, including, but not limited to, the position's scope and responsibilities, the candidate's professional background, education and training, essential skills, and market and business considerations, when presenting a job offer.
Salary is only one part of our total compensation and benefits package. Hermeus offers competitive salary and equity, unlimited PTO policy, paid parental leave, potential for year-end bonuses, and more!
100% employer-paid health care
401k & Retirement Plans
Unlimited PTO
Weekly Paid Office Lunches
Fully stocked breakrooms
Stock Options
Paid Parental Leave