Principal Engineer

Telesis; Huntsville (AL); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Telesis in Huntsville, AL is seeking a Principal-level engineer to provide engineering oversight on payload and countermeasure requirements, and to support lifecycle milestones for large DoD programs. Active DoD Secret clearance is required.

The role involves independent evaluation of contractor designs, instrumentation analysis, and cross-agency coordination, with travel up to 20%. Master’s in STEM and 12+ years of relevant experience are expected.

Qualifications

• Master's degree in STEM and 12+ years supporting missile defense or large-scale, complex DoD programs.
• Security clearance: active DoD Secret clearance.
• Experience managing end-to-end program lifecycles, including development, testing, and fielding of complex systems.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment where priorities change quickly.
• Ability to handle multiple urgent tasks at once.
• Travel up to 20% of the time.

Responsibilities

• Engineering oversight & design assessment: act as the technical expert on payload and countermeasure requirements development, analysis, design, qualification, and fielding; independent evaluation of prime contractor designs, plans, reports, and procedures; instrumentation analysis.
• Program milestone & lifecycle support: provide technical evaluation and engineering support during major milestones (SRR, PDR, CDR, TRR, FRB, MRB, PAR); lead TIMs with external MDA organizations.
• Program management & operations collaboration: provide technical assessments to cost analysis to ensure accurate budgets; partner with the program scheduler to track delivery deadlines and keep leadership informed.

Skills

Program execution

Adaptability

Multitasking

Travel

Education

Master's degree in STEM

Job description

Requisition #: TLS-26-030 | Clearance: Active DoD Secret (US citizenship required) | Level: Principal | Experience: 12+ years | Education: Master's | Work site: Redstone Arsenal - Huntsville, AL (on-site)

What you'll do

Engineering oversight & design assessment

• Expert advisory: serve as the technical expert on payload and countermeasure requirements development, analysis, design, qualification, and fielding
• Independent evaluation: review and provide assessments of prime contractor designs, plans, reports, and technical procedures
• Instrumentation analysis: evaluate target instrumentation requirements, physical layouts, component selection, and testing methodologies

Program milestone & lifecycle support

• Milestone reviews: provide technical evaluation and engineering support during all major program milestones (including SRR, PDR, CDR, TRR, FRB, MRB, and PAR)
• Cross-agency coordination: answer technical inquiries from external MDA organizations and lead multi-disciplinary Technical Interchange Meetings (TIMs)

Program management & operations collaboration

• Cost estimation: provide technical assessments to the cost analysis team to ensure accurate program management budget estimates
• Schedule alignment: partner with the program scheduler to track delivery deadlines and proactively keep leadership advised of status

Required qualifications

• Security clearance: active DoD Secret clearance
• Education & experience: Master's degree in STEM and 12+ years supporting missile defense or large-scale, complex DoD programs
• Program execution: experience managing end-to-end program lifecycles, including the development, testing, and fielding of complex systems
• Adaptability: thrive in a fast-paced environment where priorities change quickly
• Multitasking: handle multiple urgent tasks at once without losing focus
• Travel: able to support travel requests up to 20% of the time

Preferred qualifications

• Understanding of IR/RCS signatures for flight objects and countermeasures
• Experience with material properties and material property measurements
• Knowledge of real-world threat systems and how they impact target designs
• Understanding of MDA flight test requirements applied to payload hardware development
• Technical proposal development and evaluation