Systems Engineer, Mission Systems
Location: Ottawa, On-Site
Type: Full-Time
Scout is an autonomous air platform that will fight where everything is hardest: contested and jammed, comms- degraded and bandwidth-starved (DDIL), at the edge of Arctic and NORAD airspace, against a near-peer threat.
Turning what the operator needs in that fight into a mission system that can actually be built, integrated, and proven is a systems engineering problem, and it’s yours. You sit between the operator and the engineers, translating mission intent into a coherent mission-system architecture across sensors, datalinks, autonomy, navigation, and effects. You own the requirements baseline and the interfaces that hold the mission system together, authored to standard, traceable end to end, and verifiable, so that what we specify to Canadian suppliers and build in-house maps back to the mission and forward to test. This is sovereign capability: the thread from a CONOPS to a demonstrated Key Performance Parameter (KPP) runs through you.
- Own the mission-system requirements baseline — elicit, derive, allocate, and trace requirements from CONOPS through to KPPs, managed in a register to a recognized standard (ISO/IEC/IEEE 29148).
- Architect the mission system — functional, logical, and physical decomposition across sensors, datalinks, autonomy, navigation, comms, and effects, with the interfaces (ICDs) that keep them coherent.
- Run trade studies and manage budgets — SWaP-C, timing and latency, link and power — turning options into defensible decisions against mission need and threat.
- Drive verification and validation — define verification methods, build and maintain the verification matrix, and close the loop from requirement to demonstrated capability in simulation and on test platforms.
- Author vendor-facing specifications — SRDs suitable for Canadian suppliers — and technically evaluate what comes back.
- Hold configuration and change control — baselines, interface ownership, and disciplined change across a moving program.
- Work as part of a high-performance team — you’ll be one of a group of mission-focused, low-ego doers iterating quickly to solve hard problems.
- Systems engineering across the full lifecycle (ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288) — requirements, architecture, interfaces, and V&V — on complex, multi-disciplinary systems.
- Mission-systems domain depth — you reason across sensors (radar, EO/IR, EW), tactical datalinks, mission computing, and effects in mission threads and the kill chain, not just as components.
- Requirements engineering to standard (29148), managed in a tool or register, with traceability that actually holds.
- Interface and ICD ownership, with MBSE (SysML) as a core part of how you work.
- Familiarity with avionics data bus and interface standards — MIL-STD-1553, MIL-STD-1760, ARINC 429, and
ARINC 664/AFDX — and how they shape mission-system integration.
- The judgement to sit between operator and engineer — translating mission intent into a verifiable architecture and defending it to both the customer and the threat.
- Operational or tactical background; aircrew, weapons and tactics, or operational analysis, or deep
exposure to how air combat systems are employed.
- Tactical datalink depth, particularly Link-16.
- Domain knowledge in radar, electronic warfare, EO/IR, communications, navigation, weapons, stores management, and mission management systems.
- Airworthiness and safety assurance experience (ARP4754A, functional hazard assessment).
- Familiarity with Canadian, US and European airworthiness standards and practices.
- Architecture frameworks (DNDAF, DODAF / NAF) and hands-on T&E or flight-test exposure.
- Knowledge of hardware and software development life cycles.
No defence background required.
We've hired people who didn't tick every box. If this is the work you want to do, please apply anyway.
Building something meaningful starts with the right people.
At Dominion Dynamics, you’ll:
Shape Canada’s future by building real defence capability for the CAF and our allies.
Make decisions that ship in a high-trust environment with short feedback loops and rapid iteration.
Move fast, field faster, and work directly with the operator — our systems are in the field with the CAF now.
Have an impact from day one with equity, responsibility, and direct access to leadership.
If you’re curious, hands-on, and driven by the opportunity to make a difference, this is where you belong!
Competitive base salary and company equity*
Comprehensive health benefits
Additional equity granted based on impact*
We use AI tools to support parts of the hiring process, including screening and reviewing responses. Final hiring decisions are always made by people and follow all applicable privacy and employment laws in Canada.
- Equity awarded to full time employees only.
