Program Chief Engineer

Trident Systems; Sterling (VA); On-site; USD 129,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Paid time off

Holidays

401(k) with company match

Tuition reimbursement

Leaves (Parental, maternity, military)

Annual discretionary bonus

Job summary

Trident Systems is seeking a Program Chief Engineer to lead a space-focused program in Fairfax or Sterling, VA. You will direct requirements, integration, and verification, while managing risks and delivering a fully verified system that meets schedule and cost commitments.

The role requires 12+ years of engineering leadership, aerospace/defense experience, and strong communication. Occasional travel may be required; DoD/IC-space customers are served by SES division.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering or related field; advanced degree preferred.
• 12+ years engineering experience with demonstrated technical leadership.
• Experience delivering aerospace, defense, or mission-critical hardware systems.
• Background in project/systems engineering, integration, and verification.
• Experience leading complex development programs and strong communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead all technical aspects of the program and serve as the primary technical point of contact.
• Drive requirements development, system integration, and verification activities.
• Manage technical risks with timely mitigation plans.
• Prepare and conduct engineering reviews and support customer discussions.
• Lead customer-facing Program Reviews (SRR, PDR, CDR).
• Ensure engineering execution supports cost, schedule, and performance goals.
• Coordinate with engineering teams on staffing, standards, and processes.
• Provide clear communication of technical status to leadership.
• Support travel or off-site work as needed.

Skills

Technical leadership

System integration

Verification

Risk management

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering

Advanced degree preferred

Job description

Position Title: Program Chief Engineer
Requisition ID: 1836
Position Location: Fairfax, VA OR Sterling, VA
Position Reports To: Technical Fellow
Supervises Others: No

At Trident Systems Space Electronic Systems (SES) division, we believe in the power of using strong engineering principles to drive innovation and solve complex problems. We foster a culture of rigorous engineering and continuous improvement, leveraging the full knowledge of our organization through collaborative product development processes that include design and peer reviews. We combine our expertise in space electronics and right-sized development processes to create innovative, high-performance space-based electronic systems that meet our customers' evolving needs.

We are a mission partner supporting DoD, Intelligence Community, and Civil space customers. We develop complex, radiation effects mitigated, designs that balance competing requirements in modern space programs, delivering cutting-edge solutions that enable our customers to achieve more in space.

Position Summary

The Program Chief Engineer is the program's technical leader, responsible for ensuring the system is designed, integrated, tested, and delivered to meet all technical, cost, and schedule commitments. This role provides day to day engineering direction, drives key technical decisions, and ensures alignment with product strategy and engineering standards. Success in this role is reflected in predictable engineering execution, early and proactive risk management, strong cross team alignment, and delivery of a fully verified, technically compliant solution that meets customer and program objectives for mission critical space software defined systems.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Lead all technical aspects of the program and serve as the primary technical point of contact.
• Drive requirements development, system integration, and verification activities.
• Manage technical risks and issues with timely, actionable mitigation plans.
• Prepare and conduct engineering reviews and support customer technical discussions.
• Lead customer-facing Program Reviews including System Requirement Review (SRR), Preliminary Design Review (PDR), and Critical Design Reviews (CDR).
• Ensure engineering execution supports overall program cost, schedule, and performance goals.
• Coordinate with engineering functional teams on staffing, standards, and engineering processes.
• Provide clear communication of technical status to program and engineering leadership.
• Ability to support travel or off-site work, as needed.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering or a related field; advanced degree preferred.
• 12+ years of engineering experience (OR 10+ years with a graduate degree) with demonstrated technical leadership.
• Experience in delivering aerospace, defense, communications, or other mission critical hardware systems.
• Background in project engineering, systems engineering, integration, and verification.
• Experience supporting or leading complex development programs.
• Strong communication, planning, and problem-solving skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience delivering radiation mitigated and fault tolerant software-defined or reconfigurable processing architectures.
• Experience in high-rate production operations enterprises.
• Background in rad-hard processors, FPGA architectures, GPUs, or SDRs.
• Background in cyber security including secure boot, cryptography, or hardened OS.

Pay Information

Full-Time Salary Range: $129,000 - $240,000

Please Note: Actual compensation offered will be determined based on several factors including, but not limited to, relevant experience, skills, education, certifications, internal equity, business considerations, and geographic location where applicable.

Benefits

Hired applicants may be eligible for benefits including but not limited to:

• Health benefits
  • Medical
  • Dental
  • Vision
  • Basic life with AD&D
  • Short term disability
  • Long term disability
  • Ancillary (Voluntary life with AD&D, accident, critical illness, hospital, and pet)
  • Spending accounts (HSA, FSA, and DCFSA)
• Paid time off
• Holidays
• 401(k) (including company match)
• Tuition reimbursement
• Leaves (Parental, maternity, and military)
• Annual discretionary bonus (for eligible roles)

Trident Systems reserves the right to change or assign other duties to this position.

Trident Solutions is an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. To request reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, please contact [e-mail].

Pay Transparency: The contractor will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor's legal duty to furnish information.