Flight Termination System Responsible Engineer

Flight Termination System Responsible Engineer

Hermeus is a venture capital-backed aerospace and defense technology company. The business is focused on building high-speed products that sustainably deliver asymmetric advantage to the Department of Defense and allied partners. Utilizing an iterative development approach to aircraft, Hermeus' high-Mach and hypersonic aircraft aim to deliver capabilities at a pace not seen in the U.S. since the 1950s.

Hermeus is seeking Flight Termination System RE. The Flight Termination System (FTS) Responsible Engineer owns the design, integration, testing, and certification of the vehicle's flight termination hardware and software. This role ensures compliance with range safety requirements, leads coordination with regulatory authorities, and manages interface control with avionics and ground systems. The engineer is accountable for system reliability, documentation, and readiness through flight, serving as the technical authority for all FTS matters.

Responsibilities

• Assist with development, implementation, and subsystem-level testing of the FTS through range and/or RCC-319 compliant procedure development & test execution
• Coordinate and execute internal FTS and range testing with internal and external stakeholders
• Coordinate and collaborate with range safety to review and approve FTS documentation and develop FTS requirements on future vehicles
• Contribute to flight-test planning for integrated company missions
• Ensure FTS flight hardware and test hardware is calibrated
• Perform as a lead/point of contact for selected FTS vendors/equipment
• Own the FTS test hardware suite
• Continually evaluate risks and risk mitigation plans to determine if the risks are appropriate and risk mitigations are adequate
• Clear and concise communication with Range entities and internal stakeholders
• Test and troubleshoot FTS as needed
• Support design reviews throughout vehicle development
• Demonstrate honesty, responsibility, integrity, and fulfillment of commitments

Requirements

• Knowledge of, and experience with, one or more of these disciplines: electrical engineering, aircraft and/or launch vehicle integration
• Meticulous attention to detail and a high level of motivation
• Experience collaborating with multi-disciplinary teams
• Experience with test planning and execution
• Knowledge of technical risk management
• Familiarity with components such as digital multimeters, oscilloscopes, signal generators, arbitrary function generators, power supplies, schematics and circuits
• Ability to communicate technical challenges and guidance to varied audiences to explain rationale and/or resolve concerns
• Ability to work on their own initiative and prioritize tasking to fit within the business goals
• Ability to quickly adapt to changing priorities
• Ability to obtain and maintain a DoD security clearance

Preferred Skills

• Knowledge of RF system design including link budgets, antenna design, and antenna placement
• Experience architecting avionics system design with COTS or in-house hardware
• Experience with environmental testing such as vibration, thermal, and shock
• Experience with instrumentation & sensors (accelerometers, thermocouples)
• Engineering computing languages & tools (C, C++, AGI STK, HFSS)
• Experience with Autonomous Flight Safety Systems (AFSS)
• Experience with government agencies
• Experience with air-launch programs
• Experience with aircraft prototype development, including releasing Engineering definition and developing work instructions
• Security clearance