PRINCIPLE ENGINEER

IGNITE; Huntsville (AL); On-site; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

IGNITE in Huntsville, AL is seeking a Principal Engineer to oversee payloads and countermeasure development for high-stakes defense programs. You will act as a technical advisor to the program office, guiding designs, plans, and instrumentation layouts through major milestones with cross-organizational collaboration.

The role requires a Master’s degree in STEM and 12+ years in missile defense or large DoD programs, with the ability to travel up to 20%.

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 request up to 20% of the time.

Responsibilities

• Provide engineering oversight for payloads and countermeasure development.
• Serve as technical anchor during milestones from System Requirements through Product Acceptance.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams including cost analysts and schedulers to ensure timely delivery.
• Support program milestone reviews and TIMs with external agencies.

Skills

Secret clearance

Missile defense domain

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Master's degree in STEM

Job description

Job Description

Igniters operate in the world’s most demanding environment. Igniters are self-motivated, mission-driven, and relentless in solving the Warfighters’ hardest problems. We move fast, think differently, and execute with precision to tackle high-stakes challenges across AI/ML, space and missile defense intelligence, EMSO, advanced analytics, and programmatic domains. As an employee-owned SDVOSB headquartered in Huntsville, AL, our team delivers mission-critical impact for the Army, Air Force, Space Force, MDA, NASA, DIA, and FBI.

Ignite exists to outpace the threat and deliver results that matter in the moments that count.

Ignite is currently seeking a driven, detail-oriented 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.

Job Requirements

Responsibilities Include, But Are Not Limited To

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 request up to 20% of the time.

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

Security Clearance Requirements

Must have an active Secret Security Clearance

Education Requirements

• Master’s Degree in STEM

Other Requirements

Must be a US citizen and be able to hold an active Security Clearance at the Secret Level.