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Merlin Labs (NASDAQ: MRLN) is a publicly traded aerospace and defense company building autonomous flight systems (non-human pilot technology) for civil and defense aviation. The company operates flight test facilities globally and is headquartered in Boston, with expansion underway to accelerate autonomy platform development and certification.
In this Senior Development Assurance Engineer role, you will own the design, refinement, and continuous improvement of development assurance processes compliant with SAE ARP4754B standards. You will report to the VP of Airworthiness & Certification and serve as a process leader across Merlin's technology organization.
Key responsibilities include:
- Assess existing processes and tools against ARP4754B, identifying gaps and driving improvements
- Own refinement and maintenance of development assurance documentation scaled to different rigor levels across program types
- Partner with Systems Engineering to develop robust requirements sets from prototype through full production configurations
- Define and implement a common requirements database usable across multiple software versions and aircraft deployments
- Cross-train in DO-178C and DO-254 compliance to extend audit and process support beyond systems level
- Standardize and strengthen Merlin's problem reporting system
- Support Part 25 certification process development and military airworthiness improvements (MIL-HDBK-516)
- Build development assurance plans, audit plans, and process control plans for future ARP4754B certification programs
- Lead cross-functional teams through complex development assurance solutions on challenging schedules
- Integrate development assurance processes into institutional knowledge across Autonomy, Air Vehicle Integration, and Flight Test & Operations teams
- Serve as trainer, teacher, and mentor, building organization-wide fluency in development assurance standards and workflows
- Conduct independent audits confirming engineering teams follow established processes ahead of and during certification programs
- Collaborate with engineering to keep process specifications current as programs, tools, and regulatory guidance evolve
Requirements:
- 6–9 years of development assurance experience with a Bachelor's degree (or 4–6 years with a Master's degree, or 2–3 years with a PhD) in Engineering, Quality Assurance, or related field
- Direct, hands-on experience developing, implementing, or auditing engineering processes under SAE ARP4754A/B and SAE ARP4761/A
- Experience partnering with Systems Engineering to develop and mature requirements sets across prototype through full production configurations
- Strong audit, technical writing, and communication skills, including experience training or mentoring engineers on process and compliance topics
- Experience working with regulatory agencies (FAA or equivalent) on Part 23, 25, or 29 certification projects, including Part 25 Type Inspection Authorization (TIA) experience
- Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional teams through complex development assurance solutions on challenging schedules
- Demonstrated independence in decision-making, with judgment to apply appropriate rigor levels to different projects
Nice-to-haves:
- Development assurance experience applied to avionics or autonomous flight systems
- Software Quality Assurance experience
- Start-to-finish Supplemental or Amended Type Certificate (STC/ATC) experience
- Experience standing up or scaling development assurance processes from scratch at a growing company
- Working familiarity with DO-178C/DO-254 or demonstrated ability to cross-train into software/hardware development assurance compliance
- Experience with common requirements management tools (Jama, DOORS) across multiple software baselines or product configurations
