Senior Systems Engineer

GRVTY; Sterling (VA); On-site; USD 160,000 - 225,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health plan

401k with company match

Paid time off

Parental leave

Training and development

Job summary

GRVTY is seeking a Senior Systems Engineer to act as a technical anchor across a large-scale space-ground program. You will bridge science and software teams, drive MBSE artifacts, and ensure traceability from mission concepts to software deliveries.

You will embed with agile teams, define interfaces, and establish verification strategies to support formal customer demonstrations and milestone reviews. This role requires TS/SCI with poly and extensive systems engineering experience.

Qualifications

• Active Top-Secret clearance with SCI access and polygraph (TS/SCI with poly).
• Bachelor's degree in a STEM field with 15+ years of relevant engineering experience (or Master's with 13+ years).
• Extensive track record delivering space-ground architectures and mission management solutions.
• Expert-level proficiency building and managing complex MBSE models.

Responsibilities

• Lead the translation of complex customer mission needs into robust digital engineering artifacts (ICDs, sequence diagrams, data schemas).
• Architect, govern, and maintain the ground segment's MBSE models with traceability to software stories.
• Embed with agile scrum teams to decompose capabilities into precise acceptance criteria and backlogs.
• Drive ground-to-space and ground-to-ground messaging schemas and protocols (REST, HTTP, Protobuf/JSON).
• Define verification and validation strategies and lead formal requirements sell-off with customers.
• Lead TEMs, ICWGs, ERBs and represent engineering in milestone reviews.

Skills

MBSE modeling

Systems engineering

Scrum/Agile

RESTful APIs

Jira/Confluence

Education

Bachelor's degree in STEM

Master's degree with 13+ years

Tools

Jira

Confluence

MBSE tools

Job description

What Impact You\'ll Have

We are seeking an accomplished

What Impact You\'ll Have

We are seeking an accomplished Senior Systems Engineer to serve as a principal technical anchor across a large-scale, multi-team engineering initiative supporting mission-critical satellite ground systems. In this lead-by-example role, you will bridge the gap between high-level mission operations, external segment stakeholders, and distributed software development pods. Operating embedded within an agile development framework, you will provide deep domain expertise to steer ground segment architecture, author authoritative digital engineering artifacts, resolve cross-system interface complexities, and drive full-lifecycle verification and operational sell-off.

What You\'ll Be Owning

• Lead the translation of complex customer mission needs, operational concepts (CONOPS), and multi-segment interfaces into robust digital engineering artifacts—including baseline ICDs, end-to-end operational sequence diagrams, data schemas, and verifiable requirements.
• Architect, govern, and maintain the ground segment\'s behavioral and structural SysML models. Ensure model consistency, maintain tight bidirectional traceability to software user stories, and enforce MBSE modeling standards across the engineering teams.
• Embed with agile scrum teams to decompose epic-level capabilities into precise technical acceptance criteria and software backlogs, ensuring software builds reliably conform to mission objectives and interface constraints.
• Drive the definition and technical governance of ground-to-space and ground-to-ground messaging schemas and protocols (REST, HTTP, Protobuf/JSON, pub/sub), ensuring low-latency data transport and clean subsystem separation.
• Architect comprehensive verification and validation strategies. Review automated test plans, establish verification matrices, troubleshoot high-tier integration anomalies, and spearhead formal requirements sell-off with customer representatives.
• Lead technical exchange meetings (TEMs), interface control working groups (ICWGs), and engineering review boards (ERBs). Represent the engineering program during formal milestone reviews and executive customer demonstrations.

What You Must Have

• Active or current Top-Secret clearance with SCI access and polygraph (TS/SCI with poly).
• Bachelor\'s degree in a STEM field (Systems Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Computer Science, or related discipline) with 15+ years of relevant engineering experience (or Master\'s degree with 13+ years).
• Extensive, proven track record delivering space-ground architectures, Command and Control (C2), and mission management solutions through all lifecycle phases from concept to operational handover.
• Expert-level proficiency building and managing complex behavioral and structural models using MBSE tools
• Deep experience establishing interface protocols and data contracts for modern, distributed software architectures (RESTful APIs, event streaming, message brokers, microservice data models).
• Extensive experience applying systems engineering discipline within scaled Agile/Scrum development frameworks using the Atlassian suite (Jira, Confluence) for product backlog decomposition and technical traceability.

What Would Be Nice To Have

• Direct experience integrating systems deployed to cloud-native, containerized environments (Kubernetes, Docker).
• Familiarity with automated integration test frameworks (e.g., Playwright, PyTest, or automated API test suites).
• Experience modeling or evaluating space-vehicle subsystem interactions (telemetry, commanding, orbit dynamics, payload operations).
• Track record of coordinating architecture across multi-vendor or geographically dispersed engineering teams.

Pay Range:

At GRVTY, we understand that compensation is influenced by many factors—such as geographic location, federal contract labor categories, wage rates, prior experience, skillsets, education, and certifications.

We\'re proud to offer a work environment that empowers our team to achieve a strong work-life balance. GRVTY provides competitive pay, comprehensive benefits, and meaningful opportunities for professional growth.

Our benefits package is designed to support the well-ness of our employees and their families, and includes coverage in areas such as healthcare, financial wellness, retirement planning, family assistance, continued education, and paid time off.

• The pay range for this position is: $160,000 - $225,000

Pay Range:

At GRVTY, we understand that compensation is influenced by many factors—such as geographic location, federal contract labor categories, wage rates, prior experience, skillsets, education, and certifications.

We\'re proud to offer a work environment that empowers our team to achieve a strong work-life balance. GRVTY provides competitive pay, comprehensive benefits, and meaningful opportunities for professional growth.

Our benefits package is designed to support the well-ness of our employees and their families, and includes coverage in areas such as healthcare, financial wellness, retirement planning, family assistance, continued education, and paid time off.

• The pay range for this position is: $160,000 - $225,000

Colorado Pay Range

$160,000 - $225,000 USD

Pay Range:

At GRVTY, we understand that compensation is influenced by many factors—such as geographic location, federal contract labor categories, wage rates, prior experience, skillsets, education, and certifications.

We\'re proud to offer a work environment that empowers our team to achieve a strong work-life balance. GRVTY provides competitive pay, comprehensive benefits, and meaningful opportunities for professional growth.

Our benefits package is designed to support the well-ness of our employees and their families, and includes coverage in areas such as healthcare, financial wellness, retirement planning, family assistance, continued education, and paid time off.

• The pay range for this position is: $160,000 - $225,000

Virginia Pay Range

$160,000 - $225,000 USD

Why Choose GRVTY

The toughest national security challenges demand vision and ingenuity, not just resources. We deliver mission and technical expertise to outpace our adversaries. We\'re purpose-built to tackle the most entrenched, systemic national security issues around the world.

We partner with our customers to help them overcome challenges in every corner of technology and defense—including the ones still being explored. Our growing capabilities create complementary advantages, giving on-the-ground operations the edge they need to succeed. We muster everything we have to answer every challenge presented, every day of our lives.

At GRVTY, we believe that when our employees thrive, our company thrives. That\'s why we offer a comprehensive and competitive benefits package designed to support your well-ness, growth, and work-life balance.

• Robust health plan including medical, dental, and vision
• Health Savings Account with company contribution
• Annual Paid Time Off and Paid Holidays
• Paid Parental Leave
• 401k with generous company match
• Training and Development Opportunities
• Award Programs
• Variety of Company Sponsored Events

EEO Statement

GRVTY, is an Equal Opportunity Employer. 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 and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.

Anyone requiring reasonable accommodations should [e-mail] call 703-544-7930 with requested details. A member of the HR team will respond to your request within 2 business days.