Systems Engineering @ WESCAM
L3 WESCAM Burlington, ON
About L3 WESCAM
We are an extraordinary company.
We develop the most advanced optical systems for global defense and military markets, Homeland Security, Search and Rescue and Airborne law enforcement agencies worldwide. These systems provide stabilized, high-magnification Electro-optic and Infrared (EO/IR) laser, surveillance and targeting systems for airborne, marine and ground based platforms. To see our systems capability in action, click HERE
About Joining Our Talent Community

We’re always looking for great talent to join our team – but we also understand that timing is everything.

• You may not be ready to make a move, but you’re open to exploring your options.
• We may not have a position immediately available – but we know we will in the near future.

Our forecasted growth makes that a certainty.
Join our talent community for Systems Engineering and we’ll make sure to stay in touch, keep you informed on what we’re doing, what’s happening in our industry, and connect from time to time with some positions we think you’ll be interested in hearing about.
Systems Engineering at a Glance
Systems Engineering is one of the most important functions at L3 WESCAM. They’re at each intersection of the process for every new system that leaves our facility. Our Systems Requirementsengineering team works closely with global military, law enforcement and other government agency customers and operators to understand what they need our product to accomplish for them – high-resolution electro-optical capability or laser targeting and image tracking.
Our Systems Designengineering team works across the organization with experts in each area to design and fabricate each component that goes into a fully operational system to exacting standards, extraordinary tolerances and capabilities beyond what most people get to see. Our Systems Test and Integrationengineering team is the ultimate testing team – working closely with our customers (sometimes in fascinating parts of the world rarely seen by civilians) to ensure that upon delivery – our optical systems do precisely what our customers need it do to.
Subject Matter Expertise We Look For
We look for a variety of expertise for our team – from understanding naval drone systems integration to designing a payload that will withstand temperature variance ranges of 100 C, to just simply being able to figure out how to make something work that is theoretically impossible. Your expertise may also come in the form of testing the airworthiness or seaworthiness of a system on a specific platform, or the ability to apply commercial and military standards in airborne platforms.
Some of this subject matter expertise may have been cultivated from previous work for another military contractor, robotics or sensors-based organizations. You may have had a highly demanding customer-facing roles that required a lot of decorum and tact. Your area of expertise may include something we need immediately, or later on down the road – but at some point in time, we’d like a chance to get to know you a little better.
Skills, Experience and Competencies We Look For

While this list is in no particular order - you should be able to identify most of the following as it relates to your own background.

• Degree in Engineering from an accredited university
• Professional Engineering designation would be considered a significant asset
• You possess, or have the ability to obtain NATO-Secret or Top-Secret security clearance
• Recent, relevant and progressive technical project experience over the past 8 years
• An appreciation for a broad range of global customs, people, business environments
• Familiarity with either the design, development, test or integration/installation of a complex systems in any land, naval/maritime or airborne environment
• A “higher-than-most-people’s” understanding of the operating environments within either the land / naval-maritime or airborne environments – particularly within that of a military agency
• A leadership-type of ability which would enable you to coordinate multiple people and disciplines (in our case - like Software, Electro-Optical Engineering, Manufacturing and Program Management) together to work on a high-priority/high-visibility projects
• An understanding of most commonly used military standards that are applied to design and program protocols.

The ability to play a musical instrument is also high on the list – we have 7 in-company bands and we’re always looking for a guitar lead or a drummer.
A Day in the Life of Systems Engineering

While the following may not all happen in a single day for one individual, Systems Engineers are widely known for their ability to pivot on multiple priorities, in some cases simultaneously. This is an incomplete list of the varied types of responsibilities that our Systems Engineers enjoy doing;

• Being a Technical Lead on multiple technical projects, balancing requirements of a variety of stakeholders including internal and external customers, third party integrators, suppliers, and subcontractors.
• Supporting Bids and Proposals (and sometimes Sales) activities including customer requirements analysis, defining hardware configurations or preparing engineering estimates.
• Undertake necessary site surveys and inspections at various customer locations to support development of system requirements and solutions.
• Developing the necessary system requirements specifications and sub-systems interface documentation to support system integration and test goals.
• Researching and developing systems integration plans, preparation of engineering drawings, and coordinating design activities with the right teams to ensure that designs meet requirements at minimum cost.
• Develop system configurations to meet defined product development and delivery schedules
• Performing flight tests (including airworthiness), ground tests and functional tests to ensure our optical systems are verified and certified in accordance with the specification.
• Providing engineering support for customer integration issues, and for In-Service systems.

Life at L3 WESCAM
This is the most important part. Many companies say that their work is ‘exciting’ or ‘challenging’, or that they work in a fast-paced environment. Perhaps our definition of those terms is slightly different – because we are one of the only companies in the world that produce what we do, have customers like we do, allow our employees to work on the kinds of things we do, and say with certainty that what we do every day directly contributes to protecting lives around the world.

What else can you expect as an L3 WESCAM employee?

• Every other Friday off
• Free on-site gym
• Subsidized gourmet cafeterias
• Free fruit and bagels
• Beach Volleyball courts
• 26 acres of forested land with hiking and biking trails in the heart of Burlington
• Free wellness programs
• Work/Life balance that is taken seriously
• Real opportunities for growth, development and career progression
• Everyone’s role at L3 WESCAM contributes to protecting people’s lives

Click APPLY to join our Talent Community
By residing in our Systems Engineering Talent Community, we’ll keep you up to date on what L3 WESCAM is working on, new developments in business, and more information about the team and what it means to work here.
You’ll also be the first to hear about new positions coming up that we hope you might be interested in.
**As L3-WESCAM is a supplier to several national military and defense agencies, we are bound by the Canadian Controlled Goods Program. Every L3 employee must be CGP-Certified, of which certification requires extensive background screening that L3 Wescam will manage on your behalf

• Being a Technical Lead on multiple technical projects, balancing requirements of a variety of stakeholders including internal and external customers, third party integrators, suppliers, and subcontractors.
• Supporting Bids and Proposals (and sometimes Sales) activities including customer requirements analysis, defining hardware configurations or preparing engineering estimates.
• Undertake necessary site surveys and inspections at various customer locations to support development of system requirements and solutions.
• Developing the necessary system requirements specifications and sub-systems interface documentation to support system integration and test goals.
• Researching and developing systems integration plans, preparation of engineering drawings, and coordinating design activities with the right teams to ensure that designs meet requirements at minimum cost.
• Develop system configurations to meet defined product development and delivery schedules
• Performing flight tests (including airworthiness), ground tests and functional tests to ensure our optical systems are verified and certified in accordance with the specification.
• Providing engineering support for customer integration issues, and for In-Service systems