Sr Principal Systems Engineer - Avionics Network Architect; Hybrid

Date Posted

United States of America

US-IA-CEDAR RAPIDS-131 ~ 5450 C Ave NE ~ BLDG 131

Hybrid

This job requires a U.S. Person. A U.S. Person is a lawful permanent resident as defined in 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(20) or who is a protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3). U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, U.S. permanent residents, or individuals granted refugee or asylee status in the U.S. are considered U.S. persons. For a complete definition of “U.S. Person” go here.

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At RTX, the world's largest aerospace and defense company, 185,000 great minds are united by purpose and inspired to make a difference solving the world’s most complex problems. With our three market leading businesses, world-class operations and investments in research and development, we offer capabilities and opportunity no one else can. Together, we push the boundaries of known science and find new ways to connect and protect our world.

Collins Aerospace is a leader in technologically advanced, intelligent solutions that help redefine the aerospace and defense industry. With a comprehensive portfolio and deep technical expertise, we help customers meet the demands of the global market. Join us and help shape the future of aerospace and defense.

The Computing Products Department (CPD) at Collins Aerospace is building a next‑generation family of safety‑critical avionics Ethernet switches—and we’re looking for a Sr Principal Systems Engineer who wants to shape the networking architecture that future aircraft will rely on for decades. This role sits at the center of systems architecture, embedded networking, silicon strategy, firmware, software, safety, and cybersecurity. If you want to help define what comes after today’s AFDX‑based networks, this is the opportunity.

• Architect the Next Generation of Avionics Networking Products
• You will lead the architecture for a scalable family of deterministic avionics Ethernet switches—defining the technical roadmap, reusable building blocks, interfaces, configuration strategy, and engineering principles guiding multiple future platforms.

You’ll drive architectural decisions across:

• Port count, topology, bandwidth, latency, jitter, buffering
• Redundancy and availability strategies
• Switch silicon, processors, memory, PHY/Ser Des technologies
• Copper/fiber interfaces, packaging, power, and thermal constraints
• Hardware/software/firmware partitioning and growth paths

You will define architectures that integrate today’s ARINC 664 Part 7 / AFDX with emerging deterministic Ethernet technologies such as TSN, IEEE 802.1DP/SAE AS6675, advanced time synchronization, QoS, mixed‑criticality traffic, and network health monitoring.

You will lead analyses to prove the architecture delivers deterministic performance:

• End‑to‑end latency, worst‑case timing, traffic flow
• Buffer/queue behaviors, packet loss, burst analysis
• Multicast load, congestion behavior
• Failure detection, network recovery timing
• Synchronization accuracy, scalability, capacity

This role requires coordinating hardware, software, firmware, systems, test, safety, and cybersecurity engineering—guiding how all disciplines contribute to one coherent networking architecture. You will mentor networking engineers, shape design patterns, lead major reviews, and engage across customer, supplier, and cross‑functional teams.

• Typically requires a degree in Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (STEM) and minimum 10 years prior relevant experience or an Advanced Degree in a related field

The strongest candidates will have significant experience in several of the following areas:

• Avionics network architecture and deterministic networking
• Ethernet switching, bridging, Layer 2/3, IP…