Flight Termination Engineer

Job Category: Electrical
Location: California, United States
Employment Type: Contract
Location Terms: On-site

Role Overview:
As a Flight Termination Engineer, you will be responsible for the design, integration, and validation of flight termination systems (FTS) to ensure the safety of test campaigns. You will work closely with multidisciplinary teams to develop systems capable of supporting hypersonic test vehicles in various environments, from early-stage flight test programs through operational deployment.

Key Responsibilities:

  • Design and architect flight termination systems for test vehicles and aircraft

  • Integrate FTS with vehicle avionics, propulsion, and telemetry systems

  • Develop detailed test plans and conduct system-level verification and validation

  • Collaborate with regulatory bodies to ensure system compliance with range safety standards

  • Conduct failure analysis, risk assessment, and mitigation planning

  • Support pre-flight and launch readiness activities, including hardware inspections and functional checks

  • Create clear and thorough documentation, including schematics, ICDs (interface control documents), and user manuals

  • Lead troubleshooting and root cause investigations for any FTS-related issues during testing or flight

  • Maintain and improve safety-critical processes throughout the vehicle development lifecycle

Required Qualifications:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related field

  • 3+ years of experience working on flight termination systems, range safety systems, or similar safety-critical aerospace systems

  • Strong understanding of FTS architecture, redundancy, failure tolerance, and telemetry integration

  • Experience with industry standards (e.g., RCC 319, AFSPCMAN 91-710)

  • Hands-on experience in system integration, testing, and troubleshooting in a flight environment

  • Familiarity with hardware and software verification processes for aerospace applications

  • Excellent documentation and communication skills

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Master’s degree in a related engineering discipline

  • Direct experience supporting hypersonic, high-speed, or experimental flight programs

  • Knowledge of RF systems, encryption, and telemetry ground systems

  • Familiarity with hardware design tools (Altium, NX, SolidWorks) and version control systems (Git, Teamcenter)

  • Experience with both crewed and uncrewed vehicle systems

Attach a Resume file. Accepted file types are DOC, DOCX, PDF, HTML, and TXT.
Review our Terms of Service for more information.

We are uploading your application. It may take a few moments to read your resume. Please wait!