Field Systems Engineer

Cubic Corporation; Ashburn (VA); On-site; USD 104,000 - 158,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Benefits package

Job summary

Cubic Defense is seeking a senior Field System Engineer to act as the onsite technical SME for DoD Airborne ISR (AISR) FMV systems. You will lead advanced troubleshooting, system engineering, and Cross Domain Solutions sustainment in a high-tempo environment, embedded with the customer at Ford Island.

The role requires deep Linux and enterprise virtualization expertise, with experience in storage networks, containerized deployments (Kubernetes), and IA/cybersecurity controls to maintain

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in electronics, computer science, information systems, or equivalent.
• Active DoW or military operational environment experience preferred.
• Ability to operate in remote OCONUS field setting.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Serve as onsite technical SME for FMV architectures and mission systems.
• Lead end-to-end engineering support for software, networks, and virtualization.
• Own CDS configuration and secure data transfer across boundaries.
• Perform complex diagnostics and root-cause analysis to ensure system availability.

Skills

RHEL/CentOS

Linux administration

Virtualization

Kubernetes

Networking

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Tools

VMware

Hyper-V

Xen

Fibre Channel

iSCSI

MISB

Kubernetes

Job description

Business Unit: Cubic Defense

Company Details: When you join Cubic, you become part of a company that creates and delivers technology solutions in transportation to make people's lives easier by simplifying their daily journeys, and defense capabilities to help promote mission success and safety for those who serve their nation. Led by our talented teams around the world, Cubic is committed to solving global issues through innovation and service to our customers and partners.

We have a top-tier portfolio of businesses, including Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) and Cubic Defense (CD). Explore more on Cubic.com.

Job Description

Location: Doha, Qatar

Clearance Requirement: Active U.S. SECRET; ability to obtain Top Secret / SCI

Role Overview

The Field System Engineer serves as the senior onsite technical authority supporting emerging Department of War (DoW) Airborne ISR (AISR) Full Motion Video (FMV) mission systems. Operating in a hightempo, missioncritical environment, this role leads advanced troubleshooting, handson systems engineering, and crossdomain solution (CDS) sustainment for complex, distributed intelligence architectures.

This seniorlevel position requires deep technical acumen, independent decisionmaking, and direct collaboration with DoW and Intelligence Community (IC) stakeholders. The engineer is embedded with the customer at Ford Island, functioning as the primary technical representative responsible for maintaining operational readiness, stability, and security of enterprise ISR infrastructures.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Leadership & Advanced Engineering

• Serve as the onsite technical SME for largescale FMV architectures, providing expertlevel diagnosis, recovery, and optimization of mission systems.
• Lead endtoend engineering support for software applications, network systems, middleware, virtualized environments, and Linuxbased services.
• Own the operational sustainment and configuration of Cross Domain Solutions (CDS), ensuring secure and compliant data transfer across classified network boundaries.
• Perform advanced system diagnostics, rootcause analysis, and implement corrective actions to ensure system availability in a 24O7 mission environment.

MissionEmbedded Customer Engagement

• Operate as the senior onsite representative, regularly interfacing with DoW leadership, IC mission partners, and contractor engineering teams.
• Provide authoritative guidance to Tier I and Tier II staff, mentoring junior personnel and driving resolution of highimpact technical issues.
• Deliver concise and missionrelevant reporting-including incident updates, system performance metrics, operational risk assessments, and recommended remediations.

Architecture, Deployment & Sustainment

• Support ongoing system modernization efforts, including architecture implementation, network expansion, storage integration, and multisite FMV distribution upgrades.
• Oversee configuration, sustainment, and troubleshooting for LAN/WAN infrastructures using expert knowledge of core protocols and routing standards.
• Maintain complex virtualization ecosystems (VMware, HyperV, Xen) and containerized deployments (Kubernetes, preferred).
• Ensure compliance with Information Assurance (IA) and cybersecurity requirements, including RMF, STIGs, and DoW IA controls.

Required Technical Expertise

• Extensive experience with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), CentOS, and enterprise Linux administration.
• Proven mastery in supporting missioncritical video architectures, including streaming technologies, MISB standards, and H.264 encoding.
• Deep understanding of storage networking (Fibre Channel, iSCSI) and distributed storage systems.
• Ability to autonomously identify, document, and escalation complex software defects, infrastructure failures, or architectural limitations.
• Demonstrated history of supporting DoW or military intelligence systems, preferably in forwarddeployed or OCONUS environments.
• Competency with UAV/UAS data dissemination architectures and AISR operational workflows (preferred).

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in electronics, computer science, information systems, or equivalent; with 7-8 years relevant experience.
• Previous experience supporting DoW or military operational environments strongly preferred.
• Ability to independently operate in a remote OCONUS field setting, adhering to all field operations standards.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with a strong customercentric approach.
• Proven ability to partner across diverse technical and leadership levels.

Role Positioning Summary

This position represents a seniorlevel, independently operating technical leader who:

• Manages missioncritical systems with minimal oversight.
• Serves as the customerfacing technical expert onsite.
• Solves highcomplexity technical problems across the full systems stack.
• Provides mentorship, escalation management, and authoritative technical guidance.
• Ensures operational continuity in sensitive, hightrust environments requiring elevated clearances.

Cubic Pay Range:

$104,000.00 - $158,000.00 + benefits.

The Cubic pay range for this job level is a general guideline only and not a guarantee of compensation or salary. Additional factors considered in extending an offer include (but are not limited to) responsibilities of the job, education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity, alignment with market data, applicable bargaining agreement (if any), or other law.

Worker Type: Employee

We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace and welcome applications from people of all backgrounds. We do not discriminate based on any protected characteristic under applicable law.