Strategic USSOUTHCOM Program Leader

Mitre Corporation; Town of Florida (NY); On-site; USD 162,000 - 244,000; Full time

Job summary

MITRE seeks a strategically oriented Project Leader to guide a USSOUTHCOM-focused program, aligning systems engineering, mission engineering, and operational analysis with joint and interagency partners. The role requires leadership of diverse, distributed teams and close sponsor engagement to deliver high-impact defense capabilities.

You will drive collaboration across combatant commands, transition innovative technologies, and ensure rigorous, quality-driven program execution in a dynamic

Qualifications

• Typically requires a minimum of 10 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 8 years and a Master’s degree; or a PhD with 5 years’ experience; or equivalent combination of related education and work experience.
• Demonstrated experience leading technical projects, multidisciplinary teams, or complex work programs in support of a Combatant Command, joint organization, military service, defense agency, interagency organization, or related national security mission.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic, technical, and operational leadership across a USSOUTHCOM-focused work program supporting Headquarters USSOUTHCOM, JIATF-S, JTF-WHM, SAWC, and other regional mission partners.
• Apply knowledge of systems engineering, mission engineering, command and control, joint and combined operations, intelligence capabilities and processes, operational analysis, data analytics, cyber resilience, logistics, capability development, experimentation, autonomy, and air, maritime, land, space, cyber, and information-domain mission challenges.
• Maintain a deep understanding of USSOUTHCOM missions, authorities, organizational structures, headquarters functions, subordinate commands, joint task forces, interagency relationships, and partner-nation mission priorities.
• Partner with senior military, civilian, interagency, and international sponsors to identify mission needs, define desired outcomes, shape project tasks, and establish technically sound deliverables that enable sponsor success.
• Collaborate across the Combatant Commands and MITRE work programs to identify common mission challenges, share lessons learned, leverage existing investments, and adapt proven approaches for USSOUTHCOM, JIATF-S, JTF-WHM, SAWC, and Western Hemisphere mission needs.
• Strengthen partnerships with industry, academia, government laboratories, federally funded research and development centers, and other innovation partners to rapidly identify, mature, and transition emerging technologies and operational capabilities that accelerate sponsor outcomes.
• Lead and support rapid prototyping, experimentation, demonstrations, exercises, operational assessments, and mission-analysis activities to validate concepts, inform requirements, reduce technical and operational risk, and accelerate the transition of innovative capabilities into operational use.
• Lead and integrate multiple project tasks in accordance with MITRE technical quality processes while meeting scope, schedule, staffing, financial, and contractual commitments.
• Develop and sustain trusted relationships with senior sponsors, including SES and GO/FO leaders, Government Project Leads, department and division leadership, peer MITRE Project Leaders, Department Managers, Chief Engineers, and other internal and external stakeholders.
• Serve as the primary MITRE interface for assigned sponsors, ensuring clear communication of project status, technical findings, risks, recommendations, and emerging opportunities.
• Build, grow, and lead a cohesive, geographically distributed, multidisciplinary, and high-performing MITRE team. Establish clear expectations for staff, including roles, sponsor engagement, technical quality, deliverable content, schedules, and professional development.
• Coordinate across MITRE to identify, assign, and deploy personnel with the technical, operational, and leadership expertise needed to meet sponsor requirements. Leverage corporate reach-back to bring the full depth and breadth of MITRE capabilities to sponsor challenges.
• Leverage MITRE's enterprise-wide investments, technical expertise, and operational experience across Combatant Commands to adapt proven solutions for USSOUTHCOM missions while identifying opportunities to transition successful capabilities, methodologies, and analytic approaches across the sponsor portfolio.
• Partner with the Department Chief Engineer and other technical leaders to ensure project activities and deliverables are technically rigorous, objective, traceable, and consistent with MITRE quality standards.
• Support leadership in developing department and division strategies, identifying emerging sponsor needs, shaping new work opportunities, and positioning MITRE to address future Western Hemisphere security, integrated deterrence, counter-illicit trafficking, crisis response, and autonomy-enabled mission challenges.
• Perform project administration, contract management, staffing forecasts, budget development, financial planning, risk management, and performance monitoring. Support Program Execution Reviews and provide MITRE leadership with accurate insight into project health, outcomes, and risks.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Project leadership

Systems engineering

Data analytics

Communication with senior leaders

Cross-functional collaboration

Operational analysis

Education

Bachelor’s degree / Master’s preferred

Tools

Modeling & simulation

MBSE tools

Job description

MITRE seeks a strategically oriented Project Leader to guide a USSOUTHCOM-focused program, aligning systems engineering, mission engineering, and operational analysis with joint and interagency partners. The role requires leadership of diverse, distributed teams and close sponsor engagement to deliver high-impact defense capabilities.

You will drive collaboration across combatant commands, transition innovative technologies, and ensure rigorous, quality-driven program execution in a dynamic