Autonomous Systems Project Engineer- Launched Effects

i3 is searching for an Autonomous Systems Project Engineer to serves as the technical innovator and engineering lead driving the development, integration, and flight-testing of next-generation uncrewed Launched Effects (LE) platforms. The incumbent holds technical accountability across vendor platforms spanning rapid prototyping, hardware-in-the-loop (HWIL) verification, flight demonstration, and low-rate production.

We seek a bold, intellectually curious engineer passionate about autonomous systems, edge AI compute, dynamic networking, and sensor-to-shooter integration. This role is not for passive caretakers of legacy processes: it requires a builder willing to challenge dogmatic engineering reviews, defy sluggish waterfall bureaucracies, and break through conventional acquisition stovepipes to deliver warfighter overmatch at operational speed.

Responsibilities

Core Responsibilities

• Rapid Prototyping & Flight Execution: Drive hands-on technical execution across vendor platforms from concept to range testing. Prioritize iterative hardware builds, live-fire flight demonstrations, and speed-to-ramp over protracted paper design cycles.
• Frontier Tech, AI & Payload Integration: Lead integration of edge AI compute, collaborative swarming algorithms, automated target recognition (ATR), and GPS-denied navigation into uncrewed airframes. Integrate modular payloads spanning electronic warfare (EW), RF sensors, EO/IR optics, and kinetic effects.
• Open Architecture (MOSA) & System Defiance: Enforce Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) standards to break proprietary vendor lock-in. Challenge legacy MIL-STDs and rigid requirements when commercial technologies, open APIs, or advanced manufacturing yield superior capability faster.
• Cost, Schedule & Technical Stewardship: Monitor and manage vendor technical baselines, test schedules, and delivery milestones. Identify design vulnerabilities, component obsolescence, and schedule drift early, holding industry partners accountable for rigor.
• Agile Contracting & Acquisition Packages: Develop technical requirements for Statements of Work (SOW), Performance Work Statements (PWS), and Contract Requirements Packages (CRP) leveraging rapid vehicles, including Other Transaction Authorities (OTAs) and Middle Tier of Acquisition (MTA).
• Root-Cause Anomaly Resolution: Lead failure analysis and anomaly investigations following ground discrepancies and flight anomalies, applying radical technical candor to treat failures as rapid learning loops.
• Executive Technical Advocacy: Synthesize flight telemetry, complex engineering data, and risk-trade analyses into concise, decision-grade briefings and white papers for Program Managers and General Officers.

 Key Competencies & Mindset

• Intellectual Curiosity: Continuous appetite to master emerging UAS dynamics, collaborative autonomy, and contested electromagnetic warfare developments.
• Institutional Disruptor: Courage to challenge legacy processes, championing velocity, modularity, and prudent risk-taking to outpace pacing threats.
• Pragmatic Systems Builder: Aptitude for bridging commercial dual-use tech with military airworthiness, cyber survivability, and tactical durability realities.

Qualifications

Required:

• Education: Bachelor of Science in Engineering (Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical, Computer, Systems, or related field). Additional years of experience may substitute for degree. 
• Minimum of five (5+) years of related experience
• Technology & Autonomy Passion: Demonstrated technical literacy in uncrewed systems (UAS), autonomous flight dynamics, robotics, edge computing, or embedded systems.
• Technical Leadership & Risk Management: Proven success identifying complex engineering risks, isolating root causes, and leading multi-disciplinary Integrated Product Teams (IPTs) through resolution.

Preferred:

• Domain Mastery: Experience in Group 1–3 UAS, loitering munitions, cruise missiles, or precision-guided aerial delivery systems.
• Payload & Sensor Integration: Direct experience integrating kinetic warheads, EW systems, EO/IR sensors, tactical datalinks (MANET, Link 16), or Software Defined Radios (SDR).
• Rapid Acquisition Frameworks: Working familiarity with OTAs, Section 804 MTAs, Commercial Solutions Openings (CSO), or rapid defense innovation hubs (DIU, RCCTO, DARPA).
• Open Architecture Knowledge: Experience with defense open standards (e.g., OMS, UCI, FACE, SOSA) and payload plug-and-play standards.
• Clearance Level: Active Top Secret / SCI clearance required

 Knowledge and Skills

• Strong understanding of program and product integration principles, including the relationships among cost, schedule, technical performance, and operational requirements.
• Ability to maintain a program-level perspective while understanding and coordinating detailed technical activities and dependencies.
• Sound judgment and the ability to analyze complex technical and programmatic information to develop practical recommendations.
• Strong initiative, attention to detail, organization, and accountability for assigned responsibilities.
• Ability to work independently, anticipate customer needs, and translate general guidance into actionable tasks and coordinated execution plans.
• Effective leadership, collaboration, and interpersonal skills when working across government and contractor organizations.
• Ability to facilitate discussions, resolve competing priorities, and coordinate stakeholders toward common program objectives.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, including the ability to communicate complex information clearly to both technical and nontechnical audiences.
• Ability to track multiple concurrent activities, manage deadlines, and respond effectively to changing program priorities.
• Commitment to teamwork, responsive customer support, continuous improvement, and successful delivery of mission capabilities.

Physical Demands and Work Schedule

The physical demands described below are representative of those required to successfully perform the essential functions of this position.

• The employee is regularly required to talk or hear and frequently required to stand, walk, handle or feel, and reach with hands and arms.
• The employee is occasionally required to sit; climb or balance; and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl.
• The employee must be able to lift or move up to 10 pounds and occasionally lift or move up to 25 pounds.
• Specific vision abilities include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.
• Regular i3 hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. Additional hours may occasionally be required. Regular and punctual attendance is required.

About i3

Founded in 2007, Integration Innovation, Inc. (i3) is headquartered in Huntsville, AL, with additional offices in Orlando, FL, and the National Capital Region. We are a 100% team member-owned mid-tier integrator with over 800 employee-owners, and our culture speaks for itself: we've earned ten Best Places to Work® awards, driven by strong employee engagement, transparent leadership, and a genuine commitment to communication.

i3 team members operate at the leading edge of national defense across a broad range of technical disciplines, from systems and software engineering to modeling, simulation, and training solutions to cybersecurity, digital engineering, and enterprise IT. We also take products from prototype through production, bringing that same engineering rigor to manufacturing and delivering hardware at scale. For candidates, that means a rare opportunity: the innovation and mission focus of an engineering services company paired with the hands-on impact of building and delivering real solutions that benefit the Warfighter, all inside an employee-owned company where your contributions directly shape both the mission and your ownership stake in the business.