Weapons Systems Engineer
The job description
Tech stack. lethality modeling, fuzing systems, warhead integration, 6-DOF flyout simulation, MATLAB, Python, stores interface standards, safety analysis, insensitive munitions criteria
About the role
You will join a defense technology company that integrates weapons onto air, land, and sea platforms, where the weapon and the host must behave as a single system from carriage through terminal effect. The weapons team owns that full arc: stores interfaces, release and separation, fuzing and arming logic, and the lethality analysis that proves the design against its targets. Your work decides whether a design is lethal against the intended target set, safe for the crew and the platform in every phase, and certifiable by the authorities who approve it for the fleet.
What you will achieve
- Integrate a weapon subsystem onto a host platform by defining carriage, release, and arming interfaces that pass safety review on the first formal submission.
- Build lethality models that predict probability of kill across target sets, informing warhead and fuzing trades that improve effectiveness by at least 15 percent.
- Deliver separation and flyout analyses using 6-DOF simulation, clearing the safe separation envelope before the first live release event.
- Write the weapon safety case for your subsystem, covering fuzing logic, electromagnetic hazards, and insensitive munitions criteria for the certifying authority.
- Cut integration cycle time by standardizing interface checklists and test procedures reused across two or more weapon variants.
What you will bring
Must-haves
- You bring 2 to 5 years of experience in weapons, munitions, or missile subsystem engineering.
- You understand fuzing architectures, arming logic, and the safety principles that govern weapon design.
- You have run trajectory, separation, or lethality analyses with tools such as MATLAB or dedicated 6-DOF codes.
- You are familiar with stores interface standards and the mechanical, electrical, and logical boundaries between weapon and platform.
- You can author safety documentation and defend it in front of an independent review board.
- You collaborate tightly with platform, software, and test teams through design, integration, and live-fire phases.
- You have prepared or reviewed interface documentation for stores carriage, covering mechanical, electrical, and logical boundaries.
Nice-to-haves
- You have supported a live-fire test campaign from planning through data reduction.
- You bring coursework or experience in terminal ballistics or warhead mechanics.
- You have worked with insensitive munitions testing or hazard classification.
- You hold an active security clearance or can obtain one.
- You bring experience with electromagnetic environmental effects analysis for ordnance safety.
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