Chief Engineer/Telecom Lead FAA BNATCS

Noblis•Washington, DC

About The Position

As Chief Engineer and Contractor Telecommunications Evolution Management Lead, you will be a technical strategist and solution architect for the communications domain of the Brand New Air Traffic Control System. You will work collaboratively with a team of engineers within the Federal Civilian Mission Area. The role provides strategic technical oversight and subject matter expertise as required for critical FAA programs within the portfolio. The Chief Engineer (CE) reports to the Divisional Vice President for our largest Federal Civilian Solutions contract and will help drive overall National Airspace System (NAS) telecommunications strategic modernization, in collaboration with key stakeholders in the areas of scope, requirements, schedule, planning, engineering, testing, security, staffing, tools, and integration. The Chief Engineer will demonstrate a thorough technical understanding of all SOW elements and will serve as an expert in technical reviews and risk mitigation and solution investment and alignment decision-making. The CE works with program staff to ensure technology is consistent with unique project needs (e.g., protection, reliability, scalability), and technical teams to ensure correct application and integration of technologies. The CE proactively assesses risks, develops mitigation strategies, communicates issues, and proposes and implements solutions.

Requirements

Masters degree or higher in a relevant engineering field or discipline and 16+ years in large-scale aviation or aerospace system design—including at least one FAA ATS, ATM, or comparable FAA safety-critical program delivered to operational use
Substituons for the Masters degree will require additional customer approvals and will be at their discretion but potential substitutions could be the following: Bachelors degree or higher in a relevant engineering field or discipline and 19+ years in large-scale aviation or aerospace system design—including at least one ATS, ATM, or comparable safety-critical program delivered to operational use.
Associates degree or higher in a relevant engineering field or discipline and 21+ years in large-scale aviation or aerospace system design—including at least one ATS, ATM, or comparable safety-critical program delivered to operational use.
Deep expertise in FAA with at least two of the following: surveillance & comms networks (CNS), automation/decision support, airspace operations research, avionics integration, or cyber-resilient architectures.
At least 10 years of experience leading or supervising engineering teams and complex technical programs in at least one or more segments - transportation, aerospace, and aeronautics .
Demonstrated understanding of engineering principles and track record of contributing to business growth in the development of sound, technically viable engineering solutions for existing and future contracts
Excellent interpersonal and communication skills at an executive level.
Extensive experience in working with stakeholders to create hiring strategies to develop quality engineering teams.
Extensive experience working alongside and providing strategic guidance to engineers and technicians, approving designs, calculating costs, negotiating contracts, and executing plans safely and efficiently.

Nice To Haves

Prior senior technical leadership supporting the Federal Aviation Administration, particularly within the Air Traffic Organization (ATO) or NAS modernization programs.
Experience with the FAA Telecommunications Infrastructure (FTI) or successor enterprise network transitions.
Demonstrated leadership in large-scale TDM-to-IP or enterprise telecom modernization in safety-critical environments.
Deep expertise in CNS architectures and resilient hybrid networks (e.g., SD-WAN, LTE/Private LTE, VSAT, satellite including Starlink, microwave).
Experience applying Digital Engineering, MBSE, or Digital Twin approaches to complex infrastructure programs.
Knowledge of FAA acquisition lifecycle (AMS), JRC milestone reviews, and federal cybersecurity/Zero Trust frameworks.
Active or prior Secret/Top Secret clearance preferred.
PE, INCOSE CSEP/ESEP, or comparable advanced technical certification preferred.

Responsibilities

Partners with client technical leadership in strategic planning, technical assessments, objective reviews, and process improvement
Anticipates and shares technology advancements with staff on technical issues, reporting new technologies and their potential use on developments and ongoing engineering initiatives and relevant pursuits.
Assists in technical engineering staff recruiting, development, and selection.
Identifies opportunities for new research and development activities in various engineering-related areas and disciplines (i.e., Digital Engineering, Digital Twins, Model Based Systems Engineering).
Conducts peer reviews of technical papers, proposals, and conference presentations.
Ensures that TDM to IP / New Technology requirements and solution alignment with FTI, the next generation FAA Network, TDM to IP System Application Interfaces, Network Conversion, etc. to reduce cost and risk of the FTI/next generation FAA network, full network system modernization and replacement by providing engineering for FTI Sustainment and Telecommunications Infrastructure Replacement(TIR), defining requirements and policy for alternative technology (LTE, VSAT, Pseudo Wire, etc.), and helping to develop and document the Offshore strategy (ASTI/Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, PR) that are optimized from an FAA Enterprise perspective.
Helps define and implement the Telecom Enterprise Software & Data Solutions, including Software Engineering and Tools to support NAS Telecommunication Operations, Network Transitions, Service Cutovers, Contract, Program, Vendor and Requirements Management through Data Integration & Management, Implementation, and integration of Vendor Systems & Data.
Reviews requirements and solutions focused on TDM to IP, working with programs to facilitate their migration away from TDM to IP.
Evaluates new technology like SD-WAN, VSAT, LTE, Starlink, CASS, Microwave solutions, and any other technologies to help move the FAA away from the legacy TDM infrastructure.
Leads the technical solutioning for technical engineering challenges
Acts as technical liaison to customer organizations to ensure the validation of solution requirements throughout execution of critical programs.
Provides technical review of key programs and delivers recommendations on solutions, resources, and key investments.
Contributes to the recruitment, hiring, development, and retention of engineering talent.
Reviews, tracks and monitors risk identification, mitigation and closure across all technical engineering activities and assists in the development of mitigation strategies through the life of the project.
Collaborates across Noblis in technical solutioning for “must-win” corporate pursuits, providing expertise for the requirements analysis, functional analysis and allocations, systems architecture and design, technical management, technology development, and technical review of vendor solutions.

Benefits

At Noblis we recognize and reward your contributions, provide you with growth opportunities, and support your total well-being. Our offerings include health, life, disability, financial, and retirement benefits, as well as paid leave, professional development, tuition assistance, and work-life programs. Our award programs acknowledge employees for exceptional performance and superior demonstration of our service standards. Full-time and part-time employees working at least 20 hours a week on a regular basis are eligible to participate in our benefit programs. Other offerings may be provided for employees not within this category. We encourage you to learn more about our total benefits by visiting the Benefits page on our Careers site.

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