Principal Systems Engineer

Apex Tk; Huntsville (AL); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

APEX TK is seeking a Principal Engineering leader to provide oversight of target system payloads and countermeasure development. You will act as a trusted advisor to the program office, delivering critical assessments of prime contractor designs and instrumentation layouts.

You will guide engineering during major milestones and collaborate across modeling teams, cost analysts, and schedulers to ensure timely, accurate delivery of complex systems for missile defense programs.

Qualifications

• Active DoD Secret clearance required.
• Master's degree in STEM with 12+ years on missile defense or large DoD programs.
• Experience managing end-to-end program lifecycles for complex systems.
• Willingness to travel up to 20%.

Responsibilities

• Provide engineering oversight for payloads and countermeasure development from concept through fielding.
• Review prime contractor designs, plans, reports, and technical procedures.
• Evaluate target instrumentation layouts, component selection, and testing methodologies.
• Support milestone reviews (SRR, PDR, CDR, TRR, FRB, MRB, PAR).
• Coordinate with external MDA organizations and lead TIMs.
• Assist cost estimation and scheduling activities with program management.

Skills

Security Clearance

Education & Experience

Program Execution

Adaptability

Multitasking

Travel

Education

Master's degree in STEM

Job description

General Overview

APEX TK is seeking a highly skilled Principal Engineering 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.