Lead Real-Time Software Architect

The Boeing Company is currently seeking a Lead Real-Time Software Architect to support our Defense Mission Computing Team located in Hazelwood, Missouri. The ideal candidate will be hands-on, combining deep real-time and embedded systems expertise with experience in safety, security, and domain separation (cross-domain) technologies. This position will focus on supporting the Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS) Software Engineering organization.

This Lead Real-Time Software Architect will own multicore embedded software architecture, evaluation, and optimization across real-time and mixed-criticality systems. The candidate in this role will drive architecture decisions, lead performance and reliability evaluations, and mentor engineering teams - with support from specialists or contractors for highly specialized certification/CDS tasks as needed.

At The Boeing Company, we innovate and collaborate to make the world a better place. From the seabed to outer space, you can contribute to work that matters with a company built on shared values. We’re committed to fostering an environment for every teammate that’s welcoming, engaging, respectful and inclusive, with great opportunity for professional growth. Find your future with us. 

This position is hybrid. This means that the selected candidate will be required to perform some work onsite at one of the listed location options. This is at the hiring team’s discretion and could potentially change in the future.

Position Responsibilities:

• Lead architecture for real-time and mixed‑criticality systems

• Define system decomposition, interfaces, and resource/timing goals

• Ensure safety, security, and isolation across domains

• Choose and integrate OS, virtualization, and middleware technologies

• Oversee hardware/software co-design and performance tuning

• Set V&V and certification approaches

• Build CI/CD and integration test practices

• Mentor team members and represent technical authority to customers and vendors

Basic Qualifications (Required Skills/ Experience):

• 10+ years of experience in embedded, real‑time, or avionics systems

• Hands‑on experience with RTOS, separation kernels, or hypervisors (e.g., seL4, ARINC 653, PikeOS)

• Knowledge of mixed‑criticality design, determinism, and timing/resource budgeting

• Familiarity with HW/SW co‑design (drivers, interrupts, DMA, memory/cache strategies)

• Understanding of safety and/or security certification processes (DO‑178C, ISO 26262, IEC 61508, or similar)

• Ability to define architecture, make tradeoffs, and document architectural decisions

• Experience building CI/CD, HIL, and integration test practices for embedded systems

• Leadership and mentoring ability; comfortable collaborating across multidisciplinary teams

• Strong communication skills for customer engagements, design reviews, and vendor interactions

Preferred Qualifications (Desired Skills/Experience):

• Bachelor of Science degree from an accredited course of study in engineering, engineering technology (includes manufacturing engineering technology), chemistry, physics, mathematics, data science, or computer science

• Strong systems architecture skills and experience producing architecture artifacts and decision records

• Experience with separation kernels/secure microkernels/hypervisors (seL4, PikeOS, ARINC 653, Xen, QEMU/KVM, Wind River Helix Virtualization for embedded)

• Familiarity with safety certification standards such as DO 178C, ISO 26262, IEC 61508, and system safety processes

• Experience with cross-domain gateway products, data diodes, and high-assurance mediation implementations

• Knowledge of deterministic networking protocols: TSN, AFDX/ARINC, CAN-FD, and DDS/RTPS

• Experience with high assurance/safe languages and standards (Ada/SPARK, Rust, MISRA C/C++)

• Exposure to formal methods, model checking, MBSE (SysML), or model-based verification tools

• Experience building CI/CD and HIL test automation for embedded platforms, including trace-based observability tools (LTTng, Tracealyzer) and hardware performance counters

• Background in cryptography, secure boot, TPM/SE integration, and PKI for embedded/edge devices

• Experience integrating FPGA/accelerators for latency-sensitive offload

• Prior experience working in cross-domain regulated environments (ITAR, DoD, aerospace, critical infrastructure) or holding relevant security clearances

Travel:

Less than 10%

Drug Free Workplace:

Boeing is a Drug Free Workplace (DFW) where post offer applicants and employees are subject to testing for marijuana, cocaine, opioids, amphetamines, PCP, and alcohol when criteria is met as outlined in our policies.

CodeVue Coding Challenge: 

To be considered for this position you will be required to complete a technical assessment as part of the selection process. Failure to complete the assessment will remove you from consideration.

Pay & Benefits:

At Boeing, we strive to deliver a Total Rewards package that will attract, engage and retain the top talent.  Elements of the Total Rewards package include competitive base pay and variable compensation opportunities. 

The Boeing Company also provides eligible employees with an opportunity to enroll in a variety of benefit programs, generally including health insurance, flexible spending accounts, health savings accounts, retirement savings plans, life and disability insurance programs, and a number of programs that provide for both paid and unpaid time away from work. 

The specific programs and options available to any given employee may vary depending on eligibility factors such as geographic location, date of hire, and the applicability of collective bargaining agreements.

Pay is based upon candidate experience and qualifications, as well as market and business considerations. 

Summary pay range for Lead Level: $187,000 - $253,000