Principal Space Systems Engineer

The department is seeking a Principal Space Systems Engineer to serve as a senior technical authority and trusted advisor for complex national security challenges in the space domain. This individual contributor role will shape mission, architecture, acquisition, and investment decisions across individual systems, integrated mission capabilities, and enterprise portfolios.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a principal technical advisor and primary technical interface for senior sponsors and MITRE leaders
• Shape mission priorities, requirements, acquisition approaches, enterprise architectures, investment strategies, and implementation decisions across national security space portfolios
• Establish and lead multidisciplinary efforts integrating systems of systems engineering, enterprise architecture, mission engineering, and operational assessment
• Direct mission thread analyses, capability and force design studies, architecture trades, scenario development, and concept evaluation
• Provide technical authority across the end-to-end system lifecycle including concept development, architecture definition, requirements prioritization, system design, interface definition, integration, verification and validation, deployment, and transition
• Establish technical baselines, integration strategies, decision criteria, and risk management approaches
• Lead integration of sensing, command and control, battle management, communications, data, cyber, software, and mission applications into resilient operational capabilities
• Identify and resolve dependencies, interface challenges, technical risks, and organizational barriers across programs and mission areas
• Identify strategic capability gaps and high-value areas for innovation and investment
• Guide development and transition of prototypes, experiments, modeling and simulation, digital engineering environments, data strategies, and AI/ML applications
• Build consensus and influence decisions across sponsors, mission operators, acquisition organizations, contractors, industry, and FFRDC partners
• Represent MITRE in senior technical and executive forums
• Mentor senior technical staff, develop reusable methods and standards, and lead independent technical reviews

Basic Qualifications

• Minimum of 10 years of related experience with a bachelor's degree; or 8 years and a master's degree; or a PhD with 5 years' experience; or equivalent combination of related education and work experience
• Degree in Aerospace Engineering, Systems Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, or a related technical discipline
• Recognized technical depth and leadership in applying systems engineering, mission engineering, and/or systems of systems engineering to complex space or national security mission systems
• Deep technical expertise in one or more space-focused areas: space surveillance sensors, Space Domain Awareness, command and control, battle management command and control, space protection and resiliency, space threats and effects chains, ISR, satellite communications, ground data transport and processing, enterprise data architectures, Space Control, astrodynamics, or space mission analysis
• Demonstrated experience as a strategic space systems of systems thought leader, enterprise architect, chief engineer, or senior technical advisor
• Experience conducting, applying, reviewing, or directing systems of systems architecture trades, mission thread analyses, operational assessments, scenario-driven evaluations, quantitative analyses, physics-based modeling and simulation, digital engineering, or model-based systems engineering
• Strong technical writing, executive communication, collaboration, negotiation, and consensus-building skills
• Ability to communicate complex concepts, findings, risks, tradeoffs, and recommendations to senior audiences
• Ability to establish trusted relationships and lead collaborative activities involving government sponsors, mission users, acquisition stakeholders, contractors, industry partners, research organizations, and geographically distributed teams
• Must have an active Top Secret/SCI U.S. Government issued Security Clearance
• Must be a U.S. Citizen to be considered for a security clearance
• This position requires a minimum of 4 days a week on-site

Preferred Qualifications

• Broad understanding of national security space missions, operational organizations, acquisition organizations, mission portfolios, stakeholder relationships, and the roles of government, industry, FFRDCs, and commercial partners
• Experience leading mission engineering, force or capability design, operational analysis, mission thread development, and architecture assessment activities spanning multiple programs
• Experience developing horizontally scalable architectures and integrating software-intensive systems, data platforms, communications networks, cybersecurity capabilities, modeling and simulation environments, AI/ML, and rapid prototypes
• Experience with rapid or agile acquisition, iterative system integration, developmental and operational testing, technology insertion, and transition of new capabilities
• Demonstrated record of influencing senior sponsor decisions for government acquisitions and/or mission organizations
• Demonstrated ability to mentor technical leaders, develop organizational engineering capabilities, establish technical quality standards, and build communities of practice