Principal Innovation Engineer

Parsons Corporation•Reston, VA

1d•$176,900 - $332,400

About The Position

Parsons is seeking a Principal Innovation Engineer to lead applied innovation for a mission-critical global identity and mobility platform operating across remote and austere locations, high-throughput facilities, and cloud-forward environments. The role involves exploring emerging technologies, developing prototypes and demonstrations, and translating promising concepts into fieldable capabilities and operational adoption. The position is part of Parsons’ Federal Solutions team, which supports U.S. government missions in defense, security, intelligence, infrastructure, and environmental services. An active Top Secret SCI clearance with polygraph is required.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related technical field, or equivalent experience.
15+ years of experience in systems engineering, software engineering, platform engineering, applied research and development, or a related technical field.
Demonstrated experience turning emerging technology concepts into working prototypes or production capabilities.
Hands-on technical depth in several relevant areas, including distributed software systems, cloud platforms, AWS, edge or embedded deployments, networking and hybrid connectivity, identity and security systems, biometrics and device or peripheral integration, and observability and operational analytics.
Experience evaluating technologies for technical merit, operational realism, reliability, resilience, security, supportability, and lifecycle fit.
Experience in mission-critical, operational, public-sector, regulated, or globally distributed environments.
Strong communication skills, including the ability to present complex technical concepts to engineers, executives, customers, and other decision-makers.
Active Top Secret SCI security clearance with polygraph.

Nice To Haves

Experience with identity verification, biometrics, access control, document technologies, automated gates, secure peripherals, or related domains.
Experience designing solutions for remote, austere, power-constrained, or intermittently connected environments.
Experience with Java-based distributed systems, microservices, and event-driven architectures.
Experience with AWS, Terraform, and hybrid edge/cloud architectures.
Familiarity with MongoDB, Elasticsearch or OpenSearch, RabbitMQ or Kafka, Grafana or ELK, and HashiCorp Consul, Nomad, or Vault.
Experience with AI/ML-enabled analytics, computer vision, anomaly detection, or intelligent automation.
Experience engaging with vendors, standards bodies, industry forums, or customer technical demonstrations.
Experience transitioning prototypes and proof-of-concepts into production-ready or field-deployable capabilities.

Responsibilities

Identify, evaluate, and prototype emerging technologies that could improve a globally deployed mission-critical platform.
Build working demonstrations, proof-of-concepts, and pilot implementations for leadership, customers, and external stakeholders.
Explore innovation in digital identity and verification, biometrics and contactless capture, edge computing, resilient and offline-first operations, cloud-native modernization, analytics and AI-assisted workflows, automation, operator experience, secure peripherals, and smart devices.
Assess commercial and open-source technologies for technical fit, maturity, operational value, security implications, and deployability.
Design practical architectures for low-bandwidth, intermittently connected, power-constrained, environmentally challenging, and infrastructure-limited environments.
Translate promising concepts into implementation roadmaps and fieldable capabilities.
Produce technical trade studies, architecture recommendations, demonstration plans, and innovation briefings.
Support technical presentations, showcases, and evaluations with customers, sponsors, partners, and industry stakeholders.
Shape and manage an innovation pipeline from concept through prototype, demonstration, and operational adoption.