Principal Space Systems Engineer

The MITRE Corporation•New Bedford, MA

1d•$162,400 - $243,600•Onsite

About The Position

MITRE’s PNT, Waveforms, & Spectrum department is seeking a Principal Space Systems Engineer to serve as a senior technical authority and trusted advisor on complex national security challenges in the space domain. This individual-contributor role shapes mission, architecture, acquisition, and investment decisions across individual systems, integrated mission capabilities, and enterprise portfolios. The engineer establishes technical direction for high-priority, cross-organizational initiatives, resolves complex integration challenges, and aligns sponsors and multidisciplinary teams around executable strategies and transition paths. The role combines broad systems thinking, recognized technical depth, and strategic judgment to turn ambiguous enterprise challenges into enduring operational outcomes. The position provides technical leadership across mission and enterprise engineering, the end-to-end system lifecycle, and integration of space capabilities. It also supports strategic investment and innovation, advises senior decision-makers, builds consensus among government and industry stakeholders, and strengthens MITRE’s engineering capabilities through mentoring, standards, reviews, and reusable methods. The position requires at least four days per week onsite and an active Top Secret/SCI U.S. Government-issued security clearance; the candidate must be a U.S. citizen to be eligible for a clearance.

Requirements

At least 10 years of related experience with a bachelor’s degree; or 8 years with a master’s degree; or a Ph.D. with 5 years of experience; or an 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 applying systems engineering, mission engineering, and/or systems-of-systems engineering to complex space or national security mission systems, with ability to address technical, operational, acquisition, and organizational challenges strategically.
Deep technical expertise in at least one space-focused area: space surveillance sensors, Space Domain Awareness, command and control, battle management command and control, space protection and resiliency, space threats and effects chains, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, satellite communications, ground data transport and processing, enterprise data architectures, Space Control, astrodynamics, or space mission analysis.
Experience as a strategic space systems-of-systems thought leader, enterprise architect, chief engineer, or senior technical advisor, focused on one or more lifecycle areas such as concept development, system and enterprise architecture, requirements, interfaces, design, integration, testing, verification and validation, deployment, operational transition, and technical risk management.
Experience conducting, applying, reviewing, or directing systems-of-systems architecture trades, mission-thread analyses, operational assessments, scenario-driven evaluations, quantitative analyses of complex space mission capabilities, physics-based modeling and simulation, digital engineering, or model-based systems engineering.
Strong technical writing, executive communication, collaboration, negotiation, and consensus-building skills, including the ability to communicate complex concepts, findings, risks, tradeoffs, and recommendations to senior technical, operational, acquisition, and executive 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 MITRE teams.
Must have an active Top Secret/SCI U.S. Government-issued security clearance; U.S. citizenship is required for security-clearance eligibility.
Must work onsite at least four days per week.

Nice To Haves

Broad understanding of national security space missions, operational and 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 across multiple programs and independently managed systems.
Experience developing horizontally scalable architectures and integrating software-intensive systems, data platforms, communications networks, cybersecurity capabilities, modeling and simulation environments, AI or machine learning, and rapid prototypes.
Experience with rapid or agile acquisition, iterative system integration, developmental and operational testing, technology insertion, and transition of new capabilities into operational environments.
Record of influencing senior sponsor decisions for government acquisitions and/or mission organizations through objective technical analysis, architecture recommendations, acquisition guidance, executive briefings, technical publications, senior technical review boards, requirements prioritization, acquisition strategy, technical baselines, integration planning, test and evaluation, technology insertion, and transition to operational users.
Ability to mentor technical leaders, develop organizational engineering capabilities, establish technical quality standards, and build communities of practice across organizational boundaries.

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, operational assessment, and related technical and operational disciplines.
Direct mission-thread analyses, capability and force-design studies, architecture trades, scenario development, and concept evaluation across systems, programs, and mission partners.
Provide technical authority throughout the system lifecycle, from concept development and architecture through requirements, design, integration, verification and validation, deployment, operational employment, 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 spanning programs and mission areas.
Identify strategic capability gaps and high-value innovation and investment opportunities; guide development and transition of prototypes, experiments, modeling and simulation capabilities, digital engineering environments, data strategies, and AI or machine-learning applications.
Build consensus and influence decisions among sponsors, mission operators, acquisition organizations, contractors, industry, FFRDC partners, and geographically distributed MITRE teams.
Represent MITRE in senior technical and executive forums and advocate objective, evidence-based recommendations.
Mentor senior technical staff, develop reusable methods and standards, lead independent technical reviews, share knowledge across organizational boundaries, and align technical work with department, division, and sponsor outcomes.
Lead multidisciplinary, cross-organizational technical initiatives spanning multiple systems, programs, stakeholders, and mission areas.
Establish technical direction and engineering approaches, integrate results from multiple teams, resolve conflicting technical priorities, and deliver recommendations to senior decision-makers.