ROLE AND POSITION OBJECTIVES:
We are seeking a Principal Systems Engineer to lead the technical definition, architecture, integration, verification, and sustainment of Free-Space Optical (FSO) communications systems and associated modem, test, and support equipment. This is a classical DoD/NASA Systems Engineering role, not an IT role.
The successful candidate will be a hands-on technical leader with sufficient breadth across electrical, electro-optical, software, hardware, and operational domains to augment or assume responsibility for a technical lead overseeing multiple engineering IPTs and programs.
What You Will Do
- Lead the systems-engineering lifecycle from customer engagement and concept development before development of the Performance Work Specification (PWS) through requirements, architecture, design, integration, verification, deployment, and sustainment.
- Elicit customer and user needs; distinguish operational needs from proposed solutions; and convert those needs into measurable, verifiable requirements with appropriate rationale, interfaces, acceptance criteria, and verification methods.
- Develop and maintain system architectures, operational concepts, requirements hierarchies, interfaces, technical baselines, verification strategies, and evidence.
- Lead technical integration of FSO communications systems involving cameras, lasers, optical paths, fiber-optic communications, modems, FPGAs, embedded software, GUIs, precision analog, power, networking, and automated test equipment.
- Apply digital-engineering and MBSE practices, including Cameo/MagicDraw and SysML concepts, to model the decisions, interfaces, behavior, risks, and traceability that need engineering control.
- Manage electrical, optical, mechanical, FPGA/firmware, software, test, customer, and supplier interfaces across airborne, land, sea, subsea, and space contexts, including the resulting environmental, operational, maintainability, integration, and verification implications.
- Plan and lead subsystem and system integration, qualification, verification, fielding, troubleshooting, and sustainment; identify and resolve design gaps, interface risks, unclear requirements, verification deficiencies, schedule threats, and programmatic dependencies.
- Lead technical, design, customer, and management reviews; brief technical status, decisions, risks, and recommendations at the level of detail appropriate to the audience.
- Support proposals, technical volumes, basis-of-estimate development, technical risk assessments, and customer technical exchanges.
- Mentor engineers, develop technical leaders, delegate responsibility intentionally, and distribute critical program knowledge across the team.
Required Qualifications
- Master's degree in Systems Engineering, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience that demonstrates the technical breadth expected to lead complex hardware/software systems, with 8+ years of progressively responsible systems-engineering experience.
- Direct experience across the lifecycle of system design, integration, test, verification, deployment, and sustainment.
- Broad technical fluency across electrical engineering, electro-optics, embedded/software systems, mechanical or packaging interfaces, and test engineering, with direct experience in electro-optical or optical communications systems, cameras, lasers, fiber-optic systems, modems, or closely related systems.
- Experience defining and managing requirements, traceability, interfaces, technical baselines, and verification evidence, and developing or using MBSE/digital-engineering artifacts, including Cameo/MagicDraw concepts, SysML models, or equivalent tools.
- Demonstrated ability to lead integration and troubleshooting across hardware, software, firmware, optical equipment, and test systems while coordinating multiple programs and engineering disciplines.
- Strong technical writing, customer engagement, and briefing skills for engineering teams, program management, senior leadership, and customers.
- Demonstrated initiative in identifying material risks, asking the questions that expose them, and taking ownership of resolution.
- Demonstrated ability to distinguish technical symptoms from root causes and drive cross-functional issues to evidence-based resolution.
Ideal Candidate
- Has the hands-on credibility to challenge a schematic, software architecture, FPGA interface, test plan, optical alignment approach, or requirements allocation when evidence warrants it.
- Translates customer mission discussions into executable system architectures without prematurely prescribing implementation.
- Treats integration and verification as early design activities and uses MBSE pragmatically to improve communication, traceability, and decision quality rather than merely producing models.
- Communicates the mission impact, decision, risk, and recommended action clearly to leadership and customers, with technical depth available when needed.
- Proactively identifies cross-program opportunities, staffing needs, technical dependencies, and developing risks; builds capable teams by mentoring, delegating, documenting decisions, and sharing context openly.
- Is personable, forward-leaning, technically rigorous, and comfortable engaging customers before the PWS is written.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with FSO communications, optical networking, satellite or space payloads, airborne systems, maritime/subsea systems, or multi-domain mission systems.
- Experience with mixed-signal electronics, FPGA-based systems, embedded software, modem development, or automated test equipment.
- Experience using Cameo/MagicDraw, DOORS, or comparable requirements and digital-engineering tools; leading formal systems, design, and test-readiness reviews; supporting DoD, NASA, aerospace, defense, or other mission-critical development programs; or serving as a systems-engineering IPT lead, chief engineer delegate, deputy engineering manager, or comparable cross-functional technical leader.
Our Commitment to You:
- An exciting career path with opportunities for continuous learning and development.
- Research oriented work, alongside award winning teams developing practical solutions for our nation’s security
- Flexible schedules with every other Friday off work, if desired (9/80 schedule)
- Competitive benefits, including 401k matching, flex time off, paid parental leave, healthcare benefits, health & wellness programs, employee resource and social groups, and more
- See more at gdmissionsystems.com/careers/why-work-for-us/benefits
Workplace Options:
This position is fully on-site with Hybrid/Flex available.
While on-site, you will be a part of theAnnapolis Junction Team.
#LI-Hybrid
