Senior Systems Engineer / Chief Systems Engineer

About the role

501706 Senior Systems Engineer / Chief Systems Engineer - Army Fires Program Office

Location: Huntsville, AL

Position Type: Full-Time

Security Clearance Required: Active Department of Defense TOP SECRET/SCI

Travel: 25%

Position Overview

We are seeking a visionary and execution-focused Senior Systems Engineer to provide technical leadership, architectural oversight, and modernization strategy for the Army's Long-Range Precision Fires and weapon systems portfolios. In this role, you will act as a force multiplier, bridging traditional defense acquisition requirements with cutting-edge commercial practices.

The ideal candidate will bring a 10+ year record of success across complex DoD, MDA, and related programs, with proven expertise in leading high-performing Integrated Product Teams (IPTs), deploying Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE), and pioneering Agile Systems Engineering practices to radically accelerate value delivery.

Core Responsibilities

Technical Leadership & Agile SE Execution

• Modernize Engineering Frameworks: Author, maintain, and modernize Agile Systems Engineering Management Plans (SEMP) and CDRLs, successfully tailoring commercial best practices for rigorous, high-compliance defense environments.
• Advanced Methodologies: Drive the adoption of advanced software and systems architectures, utilizing Behavior-Driven Development (BDD), Domain-Driven Design (DDD), and Event-Driven Architectures to reduce technical debt and lifecycle costs.
• Human-AI Collaborative Engineering: Prototype and integrate emerging digital engineering capabilities, including human-AI collaborative systems engineering processes, to drive unprecedented efficiency gains in team capacity and requirements synthesis.
• Mentorship & Alignment: Provide technical mentorship to functional leads, Product Owners, and multi-disciplinary teams on requirements management, verification & validation (V&V), and Agile workflows (Scrum/Kanban).

Systems Integration, Modeling & Simulation

• System-of-Systems Integration: Lead the integration, verification, and validation of complex hardware-in-the-loop (HWIL), software-in-the-loop (SIL), and tactical physics-based simulations.
• Requirements & Traceability: Manage complex system specification trees, interface control documents (ICDs), and end-to-end traceability using tools like IBM DOORS and Cameo EA.
• Data-Driven Decisions: Leverage a deep background in Python/C++ data analysis, automated testing, and Design of Experiments (DOE) to analyze simulation output, reduce program risk, and accelerate cross-platform validation.

Program & Stakeholder Management

• IPT Lead: Serve as a core technical leader capable of acting as an IPT Lead or Control Account Manager (CAM) to tightly bind engineering execution with cost, schedule, and risk baselines.
• Strategic Interface: Collaborate directly with senior government stakeholders, program managers, and sibling contract counterparts to align mission-critical milestones and influence technical direction.
• Business Capture Support: Contribute high-tier technical writing, architecture concepts, and solution design to proposal and capture efforts for high-value contract opportunities.

Required Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor of Science (BS) in Aerospace Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a closely related STEM discipline. A Master's Degree (MS) is preferred.
• Experience: 10+ years of progressive technical experience supporting high-value missile defense, aviation, space, or tactical weapons programs.
• Methodology Mastery: Demonstrated expertise implementing Agile SE frameworks, including Scrum Master or Kanban leadership, Test-Driven Development (TDD), BDD, and DDD.
• Toolsets & Languages:
• Systems/Requirements: Cameo Enterprise Architect, DOORS, IBM Rhapsody, Atlassian Suite (Jira/Confluence).
• Technical: Python, C++, MATLAB, Git, Linux, and Containerization tools.
• Clearance: Must possess an active Top Secret/SCI security clearance.