Remote Certification/Airworthiness Engineer

Job Description A Remote Certification/Airworthiness Engineer contract position is available through Belcan supporting an international aerospace defense customer. To be considered for this role, you will bring prior, hands-on experience developing airworthiness/certification artifacts that have been accepted by a certification authority (military or civilian airworthiness authority) on a real program. In this individual-contributor role, you will serve as the artifact development lead for a Medium Unmanned Aircraft System (MUAS) platform currently undergoing airworthiness certification under Italian military airworthiness authority. You will work largely independently with minimal direction - self-directing your workload, identifying what artifacts are needed, and pulling the technical information you need from the engineering team rather than waiting to be told.Airworthiness/Certification artifacts are drawings and/or documents that show compliance to the applicable type certification basis. These artifacts will also include compliance checklists to the applicable regulations.Job Duties:*Independently determine, author, and maintain the full set of airworthiness certification artifacts - including system safety analysis, electrical/structural/mechanical substantiation, system/software/hardware requirements, design descriptions, verification procedures, verification results, and traceability documentation - across the V-model based on the applicable air vehicle type certification basis (USA 14 CFR 21.17(b) or the Italian military airworthiness authority equivalent).*Assemble and manage configuration-controlled certification data packages that are audit-ready and fully defensible to the certifying authority without requiring significant rework or handholding.*Proactively engage systems, software, hardware, and safety engineers across the MUAS program to extract the technical information needed to produce accurate, complete artifacts - independently identifying who holds the relevant knowledge and initiating those conversations yourself.*Maintain full bidirectional requirements traceability (system requirements design implementation verification) and ensure all artifacts correctly trace to Functional Hazard Assessment (FHA) and System Safety Assessment (SSA) outputs.*Present and defend artifact evidence directly to auditors or the designated engineering representative (DER/CVE/AR-equivalent) during reviews under the Italian military certification process.Required Qualifications:*Demonstrated prior hands-on experience developing airworthiness certification artifacts (drawings and/or documents with compliance checklists) that were accepted by a certification authority or designated representative on a previous program - this is the primary, non-negotiable qualification for this role.*Demonstrated prior hands-on experience developing/contributing to military or civilian airworthiness authority TC, ATC, STC, or TSO/ETSO certification plans and means of compliance.*Proven ability to work independently with minimal direction, including self-identifying what artifacts are required and where certification gaps exist, rather than working from a pre-defined task list.*Strong working knowledge of DO-178C, DO-254, and/or ARP4754A means of compliance processes and how they translate into compliance certification artifacts.*Demonstrated ability to proactively extract technical information from cross-functional engineering teams; strong interpersonal and communication skills are essential to success in this role, not secondary to it.Experience with requirements and traceability tooling such as DOORS, DOORS Next, Polarion, Jama, or equivalent ALM/certification platforms. Due to the nature of the work, you must be a US Citizen. Preferred Qualifications & Skills:*Familiarity with Italian military airworthiness authority processes or EASA-equivalent certification frameworks and guidance material.*FAA Designated Engineering Represen