Payload Integration Engineer (Rock Hill)
About Powerus Powerus is building a next-generation American autonomous systems platform designed to move, protect, and sustain critical assets in high-consequence environments. The company combines advanced autonomy, manufacturing capability, operational expertise, and strategic acquisitions to support defense, national security, critical infrastructure, and commercial operations globally. Mission Our mission is to deliver resilient autonomous technologies that strengthen national security, improve operational safety, and expand the capabilities of organizations operating in complex environments. Why Join Powerus An unmanned aircraft is bought for what it carries. The airframe, the autonomy, and the flight controls are the price of admission, but the customer is evaluating whether the sensor sees what they need it to see, whether the RF package hears what they need it to hear, and whether either one still works after an hour of vibration and a hard landing. As Powerus scales its platforms into defense and national security programs, the number of payloads the aircraft has to accept - third-party and in-house, government-furnished and customer-selected - grows faster than the number of airframes. This role owns that boundary. You will define what it takes to put a payload on the aircraft and make it work: the mechanical and electrical interfaces, the mass, power, and data budgets it has to live inside, the isolation and timing it needs to produce usable data, and the flight validation that proves it does. You will build the interface standard rather than integrating each payload as a one-off, and you will be the person who can stand a sensor up in front of a customer in a field with a laptop and a few hours. Position Overview Payload integration is where the aircraft stops being a platform and starts being a capability, and this role owns that transition end to end. This position requires U.S. Person status, as the work involves access to export-controlled technical data. You will define the mechanical and electrical interfaces that EO/IR cameras, gimbals, LiDAR units, RF and SIGINT packages, and comms relays attach through, hold the mass, CG, power, and data budgets those payloads have to fit within, and carry each integration from bench bring-up through flight validation of actual payload performance. You will work across mechanical, avionics, embedded software, autonomy, and flight test, and directly with payload vendors on ICDs and bring-up support. Expect to be on-site in Charlotte, and expect some travel to support customer evaluations where a payload has to be working the same day it arrives. Key Responsibilities Interface definition and budgets Define and document mechanical interfaces for payloads - mounting, envelope, access, alignment and boresight, and the structural load path into the airframe Define electrical interfaces including power rails and sequencing, grounding and shielding, connector and harness selection, and protection against payload faults propagating into the aircraft Own mass and center-of-gravity budgets across payload configurations, and work with GNC and flight test on the limits each configuration imposes Own power and data budgets - draw and duty cycle against available generation and storage, bandwidth and latency against the onboard bus and the downlink Author and negotiate interface control documents with third-party payload vendors and in-house teams, and maintain them as configurations change Integration, validation, and field support Design and validate gimbal mounting and vibration isolation, and verify that the isolation actually delivers the stability the sensor needs rather than only the deflection the model predicted Establish timing and synchronization across payloads and aircraft state - time base, triggering, and metadata tagging accurate enough that downstream products are geometrically trustworthy Integrate payload software and control interfaces with flight software, ground control, and autonomy, including command, health monitoring, and data handling paths Plan and execute bench, ground, and flight testing that validates payload performance in the operating environment, and drive the design changes the results demand Stand payloads up quickly in the field for customer evaluations and demonstrations, and produce the configuration documentation, kits, and procedures that let others do the same Investigate integration anomalies to root cause across the mechanical, electrical, software, and RF boundaries, and close them with verified corrective action Qualifications Must be located in the United States, within commuting distance of Rock Hill, SC, and able to work on-site Degree in mechanical, electrical, or aerospace engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience Experience integrating sensors, payloads, or subsystems onto a vehicle or other physically constrained platform, taking them from interface definition through working hardware Comfort working across the mechanical and electrical boundary - able to define a mount and a load path as readily as a power and data interface Experience with the interfaces payloads actually use, such as Ethernet, serial, CAN, USB, PPS or other timing signals, and common video and sensor data formats Experience authoring or working to interface control documents, and holding mass, power, or data budgets across a changing configuration Willingness to travel and to operate in the field, including standing a payload up under time pressure in front of a customer U.S. Person status required (U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or protected individual under 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)); this role involves access to ITAR- and EAR-controlled technical data Preferred Qualifications Direct experience with EO/IR cameras, gimbals, LiDAR, RF or SIGINT payloads, or airborne communications relays Familiarity with vibration isolation design and the measurement work that proves it, including accelerometer instrumentation and spectral analysis Experience with time synchronization, geo-referencing, or sensor-to-aircraft calibration and boresighting Exposure to environmental qualification practice such as MIL-STD-810 or DO-160 Experience supporting flight test - instrumentation, data capture, and post-flight analysis of sensor performance Familiarity with NDAA Section 848 and Blue UAS constraints as they affect payload selection and sourcing Prior work supporting customer demonstrations, operational evaluations, or government test events What We Look For We are looking for an engineer who is comfortable being the connective tissue between disciplines and between companies. The people who do well here are specific about where a boundary sits and who owns each side of it, they ask the awkward interface question early rather than discovering it on the flight line, and they trust measured payload performance over vendor datasheets. You should be able to move between CAD, a wiring diagram, a spectral plot, and a vendor call without losing the thread, and to keep your composure when a payload arrives the night before a customer evaluation and does not behave the way the ICD said it would. Equal Opportunity Statement Powerus is an equal opportunity employer committed to building a diverse and mission-driven workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.
