Program Chief Engineer, Cyclops (Remote considered)

Longwall; Long Beach (CA); Remote; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Long Wall Company is seeking a Program Chief Engineer for the Cyclops interceptor to own the system architecture, requirements, and verification strategy. The role requires leadership across propulsion, avionics, structures, GNC, software, and manufacturing engineering while ensuring technical integrity and readiness for government customers.

You will mentor discipline leads, coordinate with mission assurance, and lead architecture reviews to deliver a coherent technical execution plan under

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Aerospace, Systems Engineering, or related engineering discipline.
• 12+ years of experience in complex aerospace or defense systems.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary engineering teams and owning technical baselines.
• Experience with government customers and milestone reviews.
• Active or recent security clearance (Secret or above).
• Ability to travel between customer and company sites.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the technical authority for Cyclops, owning the system architecture and verification strategy.
• Define and maintain the system's configuration and manage design changes.
• Lead technical decisions across propulsion, avionics, structures, GNC, software.
• Coordinate with systems engineering to maintain traceability and verification planning.
• Mentor engineering leads and grow Long Wall's technical foundations as the company scales.
• Represent the technical state to executives, government customers, and stakeholders.
• Lead technical reviews and ensure artifacts are defensible and configuration controlled.

Skills

System architecture

Engineering leadership

Verification planning

Mission assurance

Government experience

Security clearance

Technical authority

Cross-disciplinary leadership

Executive briefing

Travel willingness

Education

Bachelor's degree

Job description

Long Wall Company was created in 2024 to accelerate missile defense technology for the U.S. and our allies. We specialize in ballistic missile defense and are developing Cyclops, a low-cost, mass-producible interceptor. We also produce containerized launchers and offer low-cost targets for threat replication. The future of global security depends on defensive technology that redefines cost, magazine depth, and distribution to deter and defend against evolving threats. Join us.

WHAT WE LOOK FOR

Mission-Driven Problem Solvers – The problems in missile defense demand ingenuity. We want engineers who approach challenges with curiosity, embrace failure as a learning opportunity, and stay focused on delivering the best solution for the mission.

Total Ownership – We seek engineers who take full responsibility for delivering flight-ready work while recognizing that no one succeeds alone. The best engineers make their teammates better, knowing that complementary skills create force multiplication and drive mission success.

Program Chief Engineer, Cyclops

DESCRIPTION

The Chief Engineer for Cyclops is the ultimate technical authority for Long Wall's major interceptor product. This role owns the technical baseline, architecture, requirements, configuration, verification strategy, and overall technical mission success of interceptor products. The chief engineer operates as a peer to program management, jointly leading the program while ensuring that technical integrity is never compromised by schedule pressure or external commitments. This role integrates the work of systems engineering, mission assurance, engineering disciplines, and project management into a coherent, defensible technical execution plan. The chief engineer ensures that all technical decisions are traceable, analytically supported, and aligned with customer expectations and mission needs.

• Serve as the technical authority for the Cyclops product, owning the system architecture, requirements, technical baseline, and verification strategy.
• Define and maintain the system's technical configuration, ensuring all design changes follow disciplined evaluation and protect system integrity.
• Lead technical decision making across propulsion, avionics, structures, mechanisms, GNC, software, materials, manufacturing engineering, and integration.
• Coordinate closely with systems engineering to maintain requirements traceability, ICDs, architecture, and verification planning.
• Partner with mission assurance to evaluate reliability, safety, and readiness, ensuring technical decisions reflect disciplined risk assessment.
• Work as a peer leader with project management, protecting technical integrity while ensuring realistic schedule and resource alignment.
• Lead technical reviews (architecture, design, integration, verification planning, readiness reviews) and ensure technical artifacts are complete, defensible, and configuration controlled.
• Guide cross discipline engineering teams to ensure development, integration, and test work remains aligned with the technical baseline and long-term mission needs.
• Resolve cross functional technical issues, adjudicate design trades, and maintain system level coherence across fast paced development cycles.
• Represent the technical state of Cyclops product to executive leadership, external stakeholders, and government customers, ensuring clarity on risk, maturity, and technical readiness.
• Mentor engineering discipline leads and help grow Long Wall's technical foundations by establishing standards, processes, and review discipline.
• Support expansion of chief engineering into a fully staffed technical authority function as the company scales across future product lines.
• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Aerospace, Systems Engineering, or related engineering discipline.
• 12+ years of experience in complex aerospace or defense system development, with significant ownership over system-level design, integration, or technical leadership.
• Demonstrated experience leading multidisciplinary engineering teams and owning technical baselines in mission critical environments.
• Experience supporting government customers, milestone reviews, and structured engineering documentation
• Deep technical fluency across aerospace subsystems (structures, propulsion, avionics, mechanisms, GNC, software, manufacturing).
• Proven ability to define requirements, architecture, ICDs, verification plans, and configuration control structures.
• Strong analytical foundation and ability to challenge designs, analyses, and technical assumptions.
• Demonstrated capability to lead technical teams through ambiguity, rapid development, shifting priorities, and fast paced integration cycles.
• Excellent communication skills for briefing executive leadership, engineering teams, and government customers on technical status, risks, and decisions.
• Strong understanding of reliability, safety, and mission assurance principles for flight critical systems.
• Prior experience as a system chief engineer, technical director, principal engineer, or equivalent leadership role for missile, interceptor, launch vehicle, or military systems.
• Experience working with the Missile Defense Agency, DoD, or other government customers on technical baseline management.
• Familiarity with government test readiness processes, hazard analyses, and mission assurance frameworks.
• Experience scaling engineering governance from prototype development into rate production or multiple program environments.
• Active or recent security clearance (Secret or above).
• Ability to sit or stand for extended periods.
• Ability to use a computer for assignments and communicate effectively in person, telepresence, and phone.
• Ability to travel between customer and company sites as required.

ITAR Requirement

This position requires access to information protected under US export control laws, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations and/or the Export Administration Regulations. As such, US person status (including US citizens,U.S.permanent residents,individuals granted U.S. asylum status, or individuals admitted in U.S. refugee status)is a required qualification for this position.

Equal Opportunity Employer

We are an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, genetics, or citizenship status (when otherwise legally authorized to work and access export-controlled data) and will not be discriminated against on the basis of such characteristics or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate. We encourage applicants of all ages.