Principal Engineer (Job ID: 4509)

Socket.dev; Huntsville (AL); On-site; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical/dental/vision

401k with match

Education reimbursement

Paid time off

Company paid holidays

Job summary

Valkyrie Enterprises in Huntsville, AL seeks a Principal Engineer to deliver engineering oversight for target system payloads and countermeasure development. You will act as a trusted advisor to the program office, reviewing prime contractor designs and technical plans, and serving as a technical anchor across milestones from System Requirements to Product Acceptance.

You will collaborate with modeling teams, cost analysts, and schedulers to ensure timely delivery, manage end-to-end lifecycle,

Qualifications

• Must have a Master’s degree in STEM and at least 12 years supporting missile defense or large-scale, complex DoD programs.
• Experience managing end-to-end program lifecycles, including development, testing, and fielding of complex systems.
• Thrives in a fast-paced environment with shifting priorities and multiple urgent tasks.

Responsibilities

• Provide engineering oversight and design assessment for payloads and countermeasures.
• Deliver technical evaluations and reviews of prime contractor designs, plans, reports, and procedures.
• Support milestone reviews and cross-agency TIMs with external organizations.

Skills

Technical leadership

Stakeholder communication

Problem solving

Education

Master's degree in STEM

Job description

Principal Engineer

Contingent upon prime contractor approval

Purpose

• Valkyrie Enterprises has need for a Principal Engineer in Huntsville, AL to deliver engineering oversight for target system payloads and countermeasure development
• In this role, you will act as a trusted advisor to the program office, delivering critical assessments of prime contractor designs, technical plans, and target instrumentation layouts. You will serve as a technical anchor during major program milestones—from System Requirements through Product Acceptance—while seamlessly collaborating across multiple organizations, modeling teams, cost analysts, and schedulers to ensure items are delivered accurately and on time

Job Description

• 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:Supply technical evaluation and engineering knowledge 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:Deliver 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

Qualifications

• Must have a Master's degree in STEM and at least 12 years supporting missile defense or large-scale, complex DoD programs.
• Must have experience managing end-to-end program lifecycles, including the development, testing, and fielding of complex systems.
• Must thrive in a fast-paced environment where priorities change quickly.
• Must handle multiple urgent tasks at once without losing focus.

Desired Qualifications

• Understanding IR/RCS signatures for flight objects and countermeasurespreferred.
• Experience with material properties and material property measurementspreferred.
• Knowledge of real-world threat systems and how they impact target designspreferred.
• Understanding MDA flight test requirements and apply that to the payload hardware development preferred.
• Technical proposal development and evaluationpreferred.

Security Requirements

• Active Secret clearance

Travel Requirements

• Minimal Travel; 20% or less
• If position requires travel by domestic flight or access to secure federal facilities/military bases, candidate must be able to obtain (by start of position) and maintain appropriate identification credentials, such as REAL ID. (More information regarding REAL ID can be found: https://www.dhs.gov/real-id)

Physical Requirements

• Remaining in a stationary position, often standing, or sitting for prolonged periods
• Able to sit and work on a computer for long periods of time
• Moving about to accomplish tasks or moving from one worksite to another
• Communicating with others to exchange information
• Light work that includes moving objects up to 20 pounds

Pre-Employment Requirements

Any offer of employment with Valkyrie Enterprises is contingent upon the successful completion of all applicable pre-employment requirements. Depending on the position, these may include a criminal background investigation, employment and education verification, pre-employment drug screening, driving record review, security clearance eligibility, government installation access, and any other customer or contract-specific requirements. Failure to successfully meet any required pre-employment condition may result in the withdrawal of the contingent offer of employment.

Valkyrie strictly adheres to a policy of equal employment opportunity. This policy is based on Valkyrie’s commitment to hire and retain qualified employees consistent with position requirements; and to seek, employ, promote and treat all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, pregnancy, childbirth, physical disability, mental disability, age, military status or protected veteran status, marital status, registered domestic partner or civil union status, gender (including sex stereotyping and gender identity or expression), medical condition, genetic information or sexual orientation or other protected characteristics

Additionally, Valkyrie Enterprises provides a variety of benefits to eligible employees to support your best health, wellness, and future, to include

• medical/dental/vision options
• company paid life and disability insurances
• 401k with match
• education reimbursement
• company paid holidays
• paid time off (PTO)