Principal Innovation Engineer

Parsons•Reston, VA

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 identifies and evaluates emerging technologies and turns promising concepts into prototypes, demonstrations, implementation roadmaps, and operational capabilities. Areas of exploration include digital identity and verification, biometrics, edge computing, resilient and offline-first operations, cloud-native modernization, analytics and AI-assisted workflows, automation, and secure peripherals and smart devices. The engineer assesses commercial and open-source technologies for technical fit, maturity, operational value, security, and deployability, and designs practical architectures for low-bandwidth, intermittently connected, power-constrained, environmentally challenging, and infrastructure-limited settings. The position produces technical trade studies, architecture recommendations, demonstration plans, and innovation briefings; supports customer and stakeholder presentations and evaluations; and manages an innovation pipeline from concept through operational adoption. This position is part of Parsons’ Federal Solutions team, which provides resources and solutions to US government customers in defense, security, intelligence, infrastructure, and environmental domains. An active Top Secret SCI with Polygraph clearance 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.
Strong hands-on technical depth in several of the following areas: distributed software systems; cloud platforms, particularly AWS; edge or embedded deployments; networking and hybrid connectivity; identity and security systems; biometrics and device or peripheral integration; 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 clearly to engineers, executives, customers, and other decision-makers.
Active Top Secret SCI with Polygraph security clearance required.

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 can improve a globally deployed mission-critical platform.
Build working demonstrations, proof-of-concepts, and pilot implementations for internal leadership, customers, and external stakeholders.
Explore innovation in digital identity and verification, biometrics and contactless capture, edge computing, low-power deployments, resilient and offline-first operations, cloud-native modernization, analytics and AI-assisted workflows, automation, operator experience, and 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 operating 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.