Senior Aircraft Network Architect

Senior Aircraft Network Architect at Boeing summary:

The Senior Aircraft Network Architect at Boeing leads the design, integration, and verification of complex onboard network solutions for military aircraft, ensuring secure, maintainable, and robust communications systems. This role requires extensive experience in avionics networks, cyber security compliance, and system-level integration, with collaboration across multiple technical teams. The position demands strong leadership, hands-on technical expertise, and direct involvement in testing, troubleshooting, and mentoring within a defense aerospace setting.

Job Description

At Boeing, we innovate and collaborate to make the world a better place. We’re committed to fostering an environment for every teammate that’s welcoming, respectful and inclusive, with great opportunity for professional growth. Find your future with us.

We are seeking a seasoned Senior Aircraft Network Architect to join our Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS) team in Hazelwood or Berkeley, MO .

The ideal candidate will lead the design, integration, and verification of complex aircraft communications and onboard network solutions for military and special-mission platforms.

This role requires deep system architecture experience, hands‑on knowledge of avionics networks, strong stakeholder leadership, and the ability to translate operational requirements into robust, secure, and maintainable network designs.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead architecture, design, and lifecycle planning for onboard aircraft networks including data, voice, video, timing, and mission systems.

• Define high-level and detailed network architectures, interfaces, protocols, and topology for fixed- and rotary‑wing platforms and miss ionized aircraft.

• Lead requirements decomposition, traceability, and verification activities with systems engineering and software/hardware teams.

• Specify and select network hardware, switches, routers, gateways, line-replaceable units (LRUs), and RF/C4
  
  ISR interfaces.

• Ensure cyber security and information assurance compliance across network designs (segmentation, encryption, key management, DoD/industry standards).

• Develop and maintain architecture artifacts: diagrams, interface control documents (ICDs), data flow models, fault management plans, and test cases.

• Collaborate with Avionics, Systems Integration, Flight Controls, Mission Systems, and Program Management to align network architecture with overall system objectives.

• Provide technical leadership during integration, lab testing, flight test, and fielding; troubleshoot complex network issues.

• Mentor junior engineers and lead technical reviews, trade studies, and design reviews.

• Support proposals, cost estimates, and technical briefs for customers and internal stakeholders.

Basic Qualifications (Required Skills and Experience):

• Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Data Science, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry or non-US equivalent qualifications directly related to the work statement

• 10+ years of experience in aircraft or aerospace network architecture, avionics, or complex embedded networking systems.

Preferred Qualifications (Desired Skills and Experience):

• Master’s degree in relevant field.

• Prior experience working on aircraft programs, ISR, C4
  
  ISR, miss ionized platforms, or similar defense aviation projects.

• Familiarity with software-defined networking (SDN), Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN), ARINC 825 (CAN in avionics), and publish/subscribe middleware (DDS).

• Hands-on experience with network test equipment, lab automation, and simulation tools.

• Experience developing and reviewing ICDs, safety assessments (FMEA/FTA), and reliability analyses.

• Strong background in IP networking, routing, switching, VLANs, multicast, QoS, timing/synchronization (PTP/NTP), and network management.

• Experience with cyber security practices and standards relevant to defense systems (e.g., DoD RMF, STIGs, NIAP, AES, IPsec).

• Proven experience in system-level integration, ICD development, and support of verification & validation (V&V) including lab and flight test.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; ability to present architecture to…