Principal Engineer (MDA)

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

Job summary

Mission Driven Research seeks a Principal Engineer to provide engineering oversight for target system payloads and countermeasure development. You will advise the program office, review prime contractor designs, and anchor technical decisions across milestones from System Requirements through Product Acceptance, collaborating across modeling teams, cost analysts, and schedulers.

The role requires a Master’s in STEM and 12+ years supporting missile defense or large DoD programs, plus an active

Qualifications

• Master's degree in STEM and 12+ years supporting missile defense or large DoD programs.
• Active DoD Secret clearance required for this role.
• Experience managing end-to-end program lifecycles and fielding of complex systems.

Responsibilities

• Provide engineering oversight for payloads and countermeasure development.
• Review prime contractor designs, plans, and technical procedures.
• Lead instrumentation analysis, including layouts and testing methods.
• Support milestone reviews (SRR to PAR) with technical evaluations.
• Coordinate cross‑agency TIMs and answer technical inquiries.
• Contribute to cost estimation and schedule alignment with leadership.

Skills

Secret clearance

12+ years experience

Program lifecycle

Analytical skills

Adaptability

Education

Master's degree in STEM

Job description

MDR is seeking a highly skilled Principal Engineer to provide 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.

What You'll Be Doing:

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.

What Required Skills You'll Bring:

• 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 request up to 20% of the time.

What Desired Skills You'll Bring:

• 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.
• Have an understanding of MDA flight test requirements and apply that to the payload hardware development.
• Technical proposal development and evaluation.

Position Requirements

• Clearance Required
  • Secret
• Position Level
  • Principal
• FT/PT
  • Full Time
• Years Related Work Experience
  • 12
• Education Level Required
  • Master's

Mission Driven Research is an Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability/veterans. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.