Systems Evaluation Engineer

PeopleTec•Huntsville, AL

18h•Onsite

About The Position

PeopleTec is seeking a Systems Evaluation Engineer to support our Huntsville, AL location. This role involves assessing, validating, and transitioning emerging technologies into our customer's Digital Test Environment (DTE) as part of a multi-year modernization effort. Systems Evaluation Engineers are hands-on technical evaluators who rapidly learn unfamiliar technologies, configure and assess them in development and test environments, and determine their suitability for adoption. Working directly with commercial vendors and government stakeholders, they validate technical claims, identify risks, and produce evidence-based recommendations that inform technology adoption decisions. Initially, the role focuses on evaluating commercial products through structured pilot efforts, with responsibilities expanding over time to include continuous capability assessments, technology challenges, and modernization initiatives as the DTE evolves.

Requirements

5-10 years of progressively responsible experience in systems engineering, integration engineering, platform engineering, technical evaluation, or a related technical discipline.
Bachelor's degree in Systems Engineering, Cybersecurity, Information Systems, Engineering, or related technical field. Additional relevant experience may substitute.
Demonstrated experience evaluating commercial products against technical, security, and operational requirements.
Strong hands-on technical aptitude with the ability to rapidly learn unfamiliar technologies, configure evaluation environments, and objectively assess products across multiple technical domains.
Working knowledge of at least two of the following categories, with the ability to learn the others: Test & Evaluation tools (test automation, data capture, instrumentation), Model-Based Systems Engineering and digital engineering tools, Data and analytics platforms.
Experience writing technical evaluation criteria, gap analyses, and assessment reports.
Comfort working directly with vendors — eliciting honest answers, validating demos against reality, and managing the vendor relationship through an evaluation.
Must be a U.S. Citizen.
An active DoD Secret clearance is required to perform this work. Candidates are required to have an active Secret clearance upon hire (or the able to obtain), and the ability to maintain this level of clearance during their employment.

Nice To Haves

Active U.S. DoD TOP SECRET or TS/SCI clearance.
Experience evaluating or integrating commercial products in accredited DoD or federal environments.
Familiarity with RMF, STIGs, and ATO processes as they apply to commercial product integration.
Background in T&E modernization, digital test environments, or similar mission contexts.
Experience producing buy-vs-build analyses or technical trade studies.
Working knowledge across three or more of the tool categories listed in the qualifications.

Responsibilities

Plan and execute capability evaluations end-to-end: scope and objectives, dev evaluation, test evaluation, and decision-gate recommendation.
Engage with vendors to learn their products, validate claims, and assess fit against DTE needs.
Configure and evaluate tools in dev and test environments; document findings, gaps, and integration risks.
Develop evaluation criteria and assess products against DTE technical, security, and operational requirements.
Collaborate with the integration team to identify, document, and communicate integration gaps, technical constraints, operational impacts, and adoption risks as part of formal evaluation recommendations.
Produce go/no-go recommendations and supporting technical documentation for the decision gate.
Hand off adopted products to the integration team with full evaluation artifacts: findings, integration risks, architecture notes, vendor contacts, and known gaps.
Support the integration team through transition as the subject matter expert on the evaluated product.
Support tool challenges, modernization initiatives, and continuous capability assessment as the DTE evolves over the program's multi-year horizon.
Run 2-4 evaluations concurrently at varying stages across multiple tool categories.