Lead Aircraft Mission Systems Integration Specialist

Bachelor's or Technology degree in Engineering or a related specialized area/field, or equivalent combination of education and relevant work experience, plus 10 years of relevant experience; or Master's degree plus 8 years of experience.

CLEARANCE REQUIREMENTS:
Department of Defense Top Secret security clearance is required at time of hire. Applicants selected will be subject to a U.S. Government security investigation and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information. Due to the nature of work performed within our facilities, U.S. citizenship is required.

Role and Position Objectives

As the Lead Aircraft Mission Systems Integration Specialist for Nuclear Command, Control and Communications (NC3), you will provide technical leadership for the integration of airborne mission equipment onto a specialized commercial derivative aircraft platform supporting our nation's strategic deterrence mission.

You will lead the aircraft integration workstream from requirements definition through installation, test, airworthiness compliance, and delivery. You will own the integrated master schedule for the workstream, coordinating planned integration and test activity with GDMS engineering teams and the aircraft provider while identifying dependencies, constraints, and recovery actions.

You will be a key technical interface among GDMS, aircraft modification partners, avionics and mission-system suppliers, certification organizations, government customers, program management, and business-development leadership. This role is suited to an experienced integration leader who can balance aircraft-platform constraints with mission needs, resolve cross-organizational issues, and communicate credible technical recommendations to program leadership and customers.

Measures of Success

• Deliver an integrated aircraft mission systems schedule that aligns design, aircraft modification, test, certification, and fielding activities to committed technical and program milestones.
• Maintain airworthiness, configuration, and safety integrity while coordinating technical decisions across GDMS, the aircraft provider, suppliers, modification centers, and government stakeholders.
• Provide timely, decision-quality technical status, schedule forecasts, and risk recommendations that keep program management and business-development leadership aligned on the integration path forward.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end aircraft mission systems integration activities across airframe, avionics, payload, communications, and ground-support stakeholders.
• Develop, maintain, and execute the integration workstream integrated master schedule; establish task logic, critical dependencies, test milestones, and risk-recovery actions in coordination with program management.
• Coordinate systems integration laboratory (SIL), ground-test, flight-test, and aircraft-modification activities with GDMS engineering organizations and the aircraft provider; ensure technical readiness, configuration alignment, and resource availability for planned test events.
• Develop and maintain aircraft integration plans, technical baselines, interface documentation, integration verification plans, and installation-readiness inputs.
• Lead technical reviews, integration working groups, and risk-reduction efforts; identify and resolve technical, schedule, configuration, and supplier-interface risks early.
• Provide technical leadership for airworthiness and certification activities, including FAA Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) or military airworthiness-release processes, certification-basis support, compliance planning, and modification documentation.
• Assess platform impacts of mission-equipment changes, including power, cooling, structural, electromagnetic compatibility, weight-and-balance, and operational considerations in partnership with discipline experts.
• Manage technical interfaces among prime contractor, airframe OEM or modification center, avionics suppliers, mission-system suppliers, and government stakeholders.
• Interface with program management and business-development leadership to communicate aircraft integration status, schedule impacts, technical risks, customer priorities, and proposal or follow-on planning considerations.
• Support configuration control and Engineering Change Proposal (ECP) evaluation; ensure changes are technically sound, traceable, and compatible with the program baseline.
• Provide technical status, performance metrics, risk assessments, and recommendations to program leadership and government customers; mentor integration engineers and promote a disciplined culture of safety, accountability, mission focus, and technical excellence.

Critical Skillsets

• Hands-on leadership integrating mission equipment payloads onto commercial derivative, business-jet, transport, or special-mission aircraft platforms.
• Experience guiding FAA STC, Organization Designation Authorization (ODA), DER, Part 145, or military airworthiness-release activities for aircraft modifications.
• Proven record directing multi-organization IPTs through integration, test, certification, fielding, and sustainment of airborne ISR, communications, or special-mission capabilities.
• Experience with mission equipment payloads and airborne ISR, SIGINT, IMINT, COMINT, ELINT, MASINT, GEOINT, strategic communications, or related special-mission systems.
• Knowledge of MIL-STD-810, MIL-STD-461/464, MIL-STD-882, MIL-STD-1553, AR 70-62, AR 95-1, DCMA 8210.1, or comparable aerospace and defense integration standards.
• Working knowledge of Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA), Open Mission Systems (OMS), or related government reference architectures.
• Experience developing resource-loaded schedules, work breakdown structures, estimates, and integration plans that connect technical execution to program cost and schedule commitments.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the judgment to present complex technical matters clearly to executives, customers, and engineering teams.

Workplace Options

This position is primarily hybrid with occasional work on-site at the Taunton, MA and Dedham, MA facilities. Periodic travel to customer, government, aircraft-modification, and subcontractor locations is expected. Flexibility for hybrid work may be available based on program needs and clearance requirements.

General Dynamics Mission Systems (GDMS) engineers a diverse portfolio of high technology solutions, products and services that enable customers to successfully execute missions across all domains of operation. With a global team of 12,000+ top professionals, we partner with the best in industry to expand the bounds of innovation in the defense and scientific arenas. Given the nature of our work and who we are, we value trust, honesty, alignment and transparency. We offer highly competitive benefits and pride ourselves in being a great place to work with a shared sense of purpose. You will also enjoy a flexible work environment where contributions are recognized and rewarded. If who we are and what we do resonates with you, we invite you to join our high-performance team!

Equal Opportunity Employer / Individuals with Disabilities / Protected Veterans