Systems Engineer

Discover the possible

Anything is possible at the NRC, named in 2025 one of Canada’s Top Employers for Young People, Top Employer in the National Capital Region and Forbes Canada’s Best Employers!

As Canada’s largest research and innovation organization, our world-renowned research pushes the boundaries of science and engineering to make the impossible, possible. Every day we explore new ideas through innovative research and help companies discover possibilities that impact Canada’s future and the world.

At the NRC, you’ll also discover new possibilities. Our supportive workplace fosters a culture of creativity, welcoming fresh perspectives and innovation at all levels. We value teamwork. You’ll collaborate across multiple fields and with the brightest minds to find creative solutions. Most importantly, you’ll discover what’s possible within you as you grow, make valuable contributions and progress in your professional journey. From ground-breaking discoveries to a life-changing career, discover your possible at the NRC.

The role

We are looking for an intermediate-career Systems Engineer (typically 3–7 years of relevant experience) to support advanced research and development and join the Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) and RPAS Traffic Management (RTM) team within the Centre for Drone Innovation (CDI) in Mirabel. The new CDI is part of the Aerospace Research Centre’s Drone and Flight Autonomy Lab. It will strengthen Canada’s ability to research, develop, test and validate advanced drone technologies.

The Centre will be a national research and technology development hub that supports every stage of drone innovation—from design and simulation to prototype building, testing and qualification.

The new facility will include, but not limited to:

• a new drone hangar and operations centre with direct runway access;
• specialized laboratories;
• indoor and outdoor flight test arenas;
• secure research spaces for specialized projects.to support our Aerospace Research Centre.

We are seeking a Systems Engineer who shares our core values of Integrity, Excellence, Respect, and Creativity.

This role focuses on the design, integration, and evolution of autonomous and networked aircraft systems operating in a system-of-systems context. You will contribute to the development of architectures, operational concepts, and integration strategies that enable multi-aircraft teaming, distributed decision-making, and safe autonomy.

Key responsibilities:

• Lead and support the design, development, integration, and verification of complex autonomous system-of-systems in aviation environments, including multi-aircraft teaming and distributed networked architectures;
• Apply Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) methodologies to create, analyze, and manage system models;
• Perform functional decomposition from mission through behaviors, services and interfaces to identify technical gaps and to develop actionable engineering tasks;
• Develop and maintain system architecture, design documentation, and interface control documents; collaborate with cross-functional engineering teams to ensure effective system requirements definition, traceability, and verification;
• Apply system-of-systems modeling, techniques to evolve concepts of operations (CONOPs) and technical development roadmaps for autonomous aircraft teaming;
• Support technical planning and estimation activities related to systems engineering tasks;
• Support laboratory, simulation, and flight-test integration activities, ensuring traceability between requirements, system models, and observed system behavior;
• Contribute to the design and evolution of vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-ground network architectures, including message semantics, timing considerations, and interoperability constraints.
• Collaborate with partners across industry, government, and academia to deliver next-generation RPAS capabilities.

Screening criteria

Applicants must demonstrate within the content of their application that they meet the following screening criteria in order to be given further consideration as candidates:

Education

Bachelor’s degree or higher in Systems Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related discipline.

Coursework or training in systems modelling, MBSE, or system architecture is considered an asset.

For information on certificates and diplomas issued abroad, please see Degree equivalency

Experience

• Proven experience in systems engineering, preferably in a complex, multidisciplinary aviation and/or autonomous vehicle environment;
• Hands-on experience with MBSE tools (e.g. Cameo Systems Modeler, IBM Rational Rhapsody, or equivalent);
• Experience applying systems engineering principles, including requirements definition, design, integration, verification, and validation;
• Experience coordinating across multidisciplinary teams to manage interfaces between mechanical, electrical, software, and other system elements;
• Experience participating and/or leading technical reviews such as PDRs/CDRs, safety reviews etc.; ·
• Experience developing integration test plans and feeding back the “lessons learnt” into the development cycle;
• Experience with distributed, networked, or autonomous systems (e.g., UAV/RPAS, robotics, avionics integration);
• Experience working on uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAV) would be considered an asset;

Condition of employment

Secret clearance

A thorough security clearance process will be applied.

For a Secret Clearance, verification of background information over a period of 10 years is required. Individuals must have lived in Canada for a sufficient period of time to enable the security screening process.

Language requirements

English or French

Information on language requirements and self-assessment tests

Assessment criteria

Candidates will be assessed on the basis of the following criteria:

Technical competencies

• Strong knowledge of systems engineering processes (concept, design, integration, verification, validation) for complex, multi-disciplinary aerospace systems;
• Knowledge of distributed, networked, and interoperable system architectures, particularly in autonomous and/or aviation environments, including latency, fault tolerance, and degraded communications considerations;
• Knowledge of translating autonomous mission objectives into system behaviors, functional architectures, services, and interface definitions;
• Knowledge of logical, physical, and functional architecture development using structured modeling approaches (e.g., MBSE, SysML, UML);
• Ability to participate and/or lead technical reviews such as Preliminary Design Reviews/Critical Design Reviews (PDRs/CDRs), safety reviews etc.;
• Knowledge of requirements development, allocation, traceability, and verification methodologies, including configuration management;
• Ability to define, manage, and document system interfaces through the development of Interface Control Documents (ICDs) for complex multi-platform architectures; and
• Knowledge of developing and evolving operational concepts aligned with autonomous aircraft teaming and multi-platform collaboration would be an asset.

Behavioural competencies

Competency Profile(s)

For this position, the NRC will evaluate candidates using the following competency profile(s): Research; Technology Extension.

View all competency profiles

Compensation

The intent of this hiring action is to staff this position at the RCO-3-4 level, which is an intermediate-career level position with a salary range of $119,688 to $168,192.

NOTE: Please note that the full RO/RCO salary scale has five levels. Salary determination will be based on a review of the candidate’s expertise, outcomes and impacts of their previous work experience relative to the requirements of the level. As such, the initial salary could be within another level of the RO/RCO salary scale (i.e. above or below the intended level for this position).

NRC employees enjoy a wide-range of competitive benefits including a robust pension plan, comprehensive health and dental coverage, disability and life insurance, office closure at the end of December, and additional supports to enhance your well-being throughout your career and beyond.

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Notes

• Relocation assistance will be determined in accordance with the NRC's directives.
• ​A pre-qualified list may be established for similar positions for a one year period.
• Preference will be given to Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada. Please include citizenship information in your application.
• The incumbent must adhere to safe workplace practices at all times.
• We thank all those who apply, however only those selected for further consideration will be contacted.