USINDOPACOM & MITRE Australia Regional Chief Engineer

The MITRE Corporation•Honolulu, HI

2d•$190,000 - $285,000•Onsite

About The Position

This is a Senior Principal Engineering position reporting to the N554 Department Manager (DM). The CE works closely with N550 Division leadership, the MITRE Australia Managing Director (MD), the MITRE Australia Department Manager, and Project Leaders across Indo-Pacific work programs to ensure the execution of a high quality, high impact technical work program that achieves the sponsor’s mission critical outcomes. The CE will serve as an integral member of the USINDOPACOM and Australia Leadership Teams and will be expected to work in partnership with N500 leadership to guide the technical direction, quality, and impact of the current work program; shape future work; and support the growth of our workforce. In this role, the CE will partner with all Project Leaders, make technical contributions, provide thought leadership, and develop and execute technical strategies that inform and drive capability development and innovation across the MITRE Indo-Pacific Regional and Australia work programs. Additionally, the CE is accountable for leading the technical quality programs, participating in deliverable reviews, and collaborating across MITRE National Security (MNS), MITRE Public Security (MPS), and MITRE Labs to increase the quality, efficiency, and effectiveness of USINDOPACOM and Australia delivery to sponsors. The CE will play a central role in coaching, teaching, and mentoring newly hired technical staff. In addition to a focus on INDOPAC staff this role includes similar focus for graduates and early career professionals recruited through the Australia Strategic Accelerator Program (ASAP) to build a sovereign, mission ready engineering workforce in Australia and strengthen connections with the broader workforce and technical capabilities across MITRE. Collective responsibilities include hands-on technical mentorship, exposure to real mission problems, and the application of MITRE’s systems, digital, and mission engineering methods in operational and capability development contexts. The CE is also responsible for establishing and strengthening technical partnerships—both internal and external to MITRE—to further develop MITRE’s Hawaii and Australia workforce, enhance technical quality, and strategically leverage MITRE capabilities. This includes partnering with National Security, Defence, operational headquarters, academia, and Defence industry primes to scale MITRE capabilities and deliver high impact solutions to sponsors’ hardest problems with ally and partner integration a high priority. Aligned with MITRE’s Hawaii and Australia regional objectives and in coordination with the MITRE leadership team, the CE will support Digital Engineering (DE) and Mission Engineering (ME) uplift activities across USINDOPACOM and Australian Department of Defence, and Defense industry primes. This includes advancing adoption of DE, MBSE, and model-based analysis to improve decision quality, reduce integration risk, and accelerate capability delivery. Being INDOPACOM based and given the size of the INDOPACOM related work program to include MITRE work across the component commands, the primary focus of the CE will emphasize INDOPACOM. However, as MITRE Australia works to further develop their work program and relationships the CE will provide invaluable support to assist MITRE Australia’s efforts with Defence and industry partners in building an enduring DE/ME workforce capability consistent with Australia’s Defence Digital Engineering Strategy and sovereign capability objectives along with other technical opportunity areas as they arise. We would expect the Australian aspects of this job to evolve over time, and the CE will play a major role in advancing MITREs impact and value as an FFRDC in Australia over this time working with the MITRE Australia leadership team and technical staff. This is not your typical desk job—this is national security at the operational edge. It's high-impact, high-tempo work that shapes real-world outcomes across the Pacific Theater. And yes, it's Hawaii—a unique setting where purpose meets paradise. This position would also require periodic trips to Australia to be at the leading edge of shaping and building a strategic work program with one of the longest allies in the Indo-Pacific region. If you’re ready to make a difference, influence mission outcomes, and work in one of the most geopolitically vital regions on Earth, join N554 and be part of something bigger.

Requirements

Typically requires a minimum of 12 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree in a technical discipline (e.g., Mechanical, Electrical, Aerospace, Manufacturing, or Computer Engineering; Physics; Statistics; Mathematics; or related fields); or 10 years and a Master’s degree; or a PhD with 7 years’ experience; or equivalent combination of related education and work experience.
Prior experience with US Department of War systems of systems integration efforts.
Experience leading and inspiring multidisciplinary teams.
Strong system-of-systems engineering experience across weapon systems and mission sets.
Proven track record of mentoring, coaching, and developing staff at multiple career levels.
Familiarity with Department of War military missions, organizations, and operating environments.
Highly effective and influential oral communication skills, including senior stakeholders.
Strong written communication skills, with the ability to convey complex concepts clearly and succinctly.
Willingness to travel regularly to Australia and participate in other off-island engagements as required.
Active Top Secret clearance with willingness to obtain SCI Clearance.
U.S. Citizenship required.
Willingness to relocate to Honolulu, Hawaii.
This position has an on-site requirement of 5 days a week on-site.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in related field.
Five years’ experience in Command-and-Control processes, architecture, and systems.
Experience as an enterprise architect or systems of systems integrator.
Current knowledge of Indo-Pacific theater challenges.
Strong knowledge of Combatant Command Operations.
Familiarity with MITRE project management processes, capabilities, and associated tools.
Demonstrated capability for strategic planning and ability to provide actionable plans to government sponsors.
Active Top Secret/SCI Clearance.
Additional clearances: NATO SECRET.

Responsibilities

Effectively executes the strategy, vision, and mission.
Partners with leads to establish the formulation and management of the sponsor strategy or corporate/functional strategy. Works beyond local and division leadership to include the service component commands, to develop and employ the XCP Directors, the Innovation and Integration Director, Sector and N500 CEs, and the Global Director. These partnerships will make this CE role a critical element of the broader strategy focus and impacts for the INDOPAC region.
Develops and provides oversight of the work program with a focus on impact, value and technical quality.
Oversee: Technical aspects of the work programs in Hawaii and Australia, including systems engineering, mission engineering, design and integration, technical risk mitigation, compliance with U.S. and host-nation standards, coordination with cross-functional and international teams, and ensuring safe, reliable, and cost-effective delivery of engineering solutions.
Develops, mentors, leads, and enables our workforce.
Develops close working relationships with sponsors and stakeholders, becoming a trusted leader in voice and influence across the relevant sponsor organizations and/or across the MITRE enterprise on major initiatives, policies, challenges, and priorities – with focus on problem solving and bringing the best of MITRE or our partners to bear on any problem or issue.
Partners with MITRE leadership to effectively manage (revenue, costs, people, etc.) at the appropriate organizational level.
Drive and elevate technical excellence by defining, implementing, and continuously improving technical quality standards within the mission function/technical specialty, and harmonizing those standards across the broader mission and technical area.
Partner with business and people leaders to shape and operationalize MITRE’s strategy, providing expert input on the quality and rigor of technical goals, hiring standards, staff development, and training initiatives to ensure the organization consistently achieves and sustains the required level of technical excellence.
Ensure projects deliver meaningful technical innovation and improvement, partnering with project leaders from inception to confirm that each initiative is appropriately scoped, structured, and positioned at the right level of technical ambition and maturity.
Ensure Mission Value Chains (MVCs) at the appropriate organizational level, technical substance, and support Project execution and delivery of products in the MVCs. A MVC maps primary activities—like designing, assembling, and delivering engineering services—directly to intended beneficiary mission outcomes, ensuring every step creates and maximizes public or social value.
Represent MITRE’s capabilities, impacts, and strategic direction to senior sponsors to improve the impact of our work and facilitate maximum reuse from other applications/areas.
Shape and execute a strategy to enhance both the maturity and utilization of technical capabilities across MITRE through research, internal programs, external initiatives, cross-cutting integration, and key partnerships.
Provides a primary operational focal point to lead strategy application and advancement in the INDOPACOM region to elevate integration and application of integrated capabilities towards critical INDOPACOM, Component, and ally and partner challenge problems. Aspects of this requirement will include exercising authority to initiate targeted technical reviews on specific projects within the appropriate organizational scope to enable capability application and ensure relevant alignment, rigor, and impact.
Mentor, coach, and develop technical staff across Hawaii and Australia, building capability, fostering collaboration, and cultivating a high-performance engineering culture in both locations.
Shape staff development, talent assessment, and workforce planning (hiring, mentoring, and training priorities), for all staff to ensure the organization has the technical depth and leadership capability required to deliver on its mission.
Develop and define cultural initiatives in partnership with others to meet desired organizational culture.
Identify training and education opportunities for USINDOPACOM and MITRE Australia staff and other members of our work program.
Support the DM, Division Chief Engineer, and work of the Director of Innovation & Integration in developing and implementing a strategy to make USINDOPACOM and MITRE Australia staff more involved and aware of work in MITRE’s Internal Research and Development (IRAD) Program, with an emphasis on cross-cutting integration (to include across the commands), hands-on experimentation, prototyping, and transitioning successful IRAD efforts into our sponsor work programs.
Lead complex Indo-Pacific regional (USINDOPACOM, MITRE Australia, as well as our work programs in Japan and Korea) and cross-division technical initiatives, setting strategic direction and defining execution strategies to deliver high-impact outcomes. (Requires strong partnership with the Global Director).
Lead cross-program and project-level technical initiatives, ensuring alignment of architectures, standards, and solutions to maximize coherence, reuse, and mission impact.
Maintain and strengthen effective staffing and capability development with MITRE’s central R&D and technical organizations (MITRE Technology & Engineering - MTE), aligning with their technical strategies and infusing innovative solutions into the work program. Ensure subject matter experts from these organizations are appropriately leveraged across the Department’s work program and technical quality efforts.
Collaborate with MTE and external partners to design and execute experiments, pilots, and field evaluations that inform sponsor decisions, mature prototypes, and demonstrate mission utility in relevant environments.
Serve as a proactive, trusted team member, partnering closely with senior military leaders and action officers to identify operational and engineering challenges, shape solution options, and clearly communicate project goals, tradeoffs, and impacts.
Work in a highly collaborative environment that leverages a broad network of MITRE and external professionals, engaging engineers and planners, subject matter experts, international program (foreign military sales) specialists, and defense acquisition professionals. Continuously draw on MITRE’s technical organizations, enterprise platforms, and internal R&D investments to bring cutting-edge capabilities into project delivery.
Comfortably and respectfully engage with U.S. and partner-nation senior military leaders and engineers, as well as commercial executives and managers, building trust and translating complex technical issues into clear, decision-ready insights.
Adjust course quickly as the operational environment and sponsor priorities evolve, reprioritizing work, adapting technical approaches, and effectively using reach-back to bring the right expertise and capabilities forward at the right time.