Systems Engineer

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc.; Birmingham (AL); On-site; USD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Life/AD&D Insurance

401(k) Savings Plan

Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP)

Paid Time-Off (PTO)

Holidays

Education Reimbursement

Job summary

Kratos Defense & Rocket Support Services, Inc. seeks a senior Systems Engineer with 8–12 years of experience to lead system-level development, integration, verification, and sustainment for complex defense systems.

You will translate customer needs into technical solutions, guide multidisciplinary teams, and maintain rigorous requirements and interfaces throughout the lifecycle. You will participate in design reviews, lead trade studies, and mentor junior engineers while ensuring

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Systems Engineering or related field.
• 8–12 years of progressive systems engineering experience.
• Experience with requirements development, allocation, verification, and validation.
• Proven experience developing system architectures and interfaces.
• Strong system integration, verification, validation, and testing experience.
• Ability to develop clear practical engineering solutions.
• Active or able-to-obtain DoD security clearance.

Responsibilities

• Lead development and sustainment of system-level requirements and documentation.
• Translate customer needs into clear system requirements and solutions.
• Perform requirements analysis, allocation, traceability, and verification planning.
• Develop and maintain system architectures and interface definitions.
• Provide system-level leadership during integration, verification, and sustainment activities.
• Coordinate across engineering disciplines to satisfy system requirements.
• Lead system-level trade studies balancing performance, cost, risk, and producibility.
• Develop and maintain ICDs and manage interfaces.
• Prepare test plans, procedures, and reports; support integration and test events.
• Participate in design reviews, technical meetings, and customer engagements.
• Identify risks and develop mitigation strategies.
• Lead root-cause analysis of system-level issues.
• Maintain rigorous requirements traceability from inputs to validation.
• Support configuration management and baseline documentation.
• Analyze performance and drive system enhancements.
• Produce technical reports and customer-facing documentation.
• Provide mentorship to less-experienced engineers.

Skills

Systems Engineering

Requirements Management

MBSE

System Architecture

Interface Control

Team Leadership

Documentation

Verification & Validation

Education

Bachelor's degree in Systems Engineering

Master’s degree preferred

Tools

MBSE tools (Cameo, MagicDraw)

Job description

Kratos Defense & Rocket Support Services, Inc. is seeking a senior Systems Engineer with 8–12 years of experience to lead system-level development, integration, verification, and sustainment activities for complex defense systems. This role requires a seasoned systems thinker with deep experience translating customer needs into technical solutions, guiding multidisciplinary engineering efforts, and maintaining rigorous system-level requirements, architectures, and interfaces throughout the program lifecycle. The ideal candidate demonstrates leadership, technical ownership, strong cross-team collaboration, and the ability to drive clarity in complex engineering environments.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead development, documentation, and sustainment of system-level requirements, specifications, and technical documentation.
• Translate customer and operational needs into clear system requirements and actionable technical solutions.
• Perform advanced requirements analysis, allocation, traceability, and verification planning throughout the system lifecycle.
• Develop and maintain system architectures, functional analyses, high-level designs, and interface definitions for complex systems.
• Provide system-level leadership during integration, verification, validation, qualification, and sustainment activities.
• Coordinate across electrical, mechanical, software, manufacturing, test, and quality engineering teams to ensure system requirements are fully satisfied.
• Lead system-level technical trade studies balancing performance, cost, risk, schedule, and producibility.
• Develop and maintain Interface Control Documents (ICDs) and manage system and subsystem interfaces.
• Develop system-level test plans, procedures, and reports; support and lead integration and test events.
• Participate in formal design reviews, technical interchange meetings, program reviews, and customer engagements.
• Identify system-level risks and lead the development of mitigation strategies.
• Lead troubleshooting and root-cause analysis of system-level issues during development, integration, testing, and production.
• Maintain rigorous requirements traceability from customer inputs through design, integration, verification, and validation.
• Support configuration management, change control, and system baseline documentation.
• Analyze system performance, identify improvement opportunities, and drive system enhancements.
• Prepare high-quality technical reports, specifications, presentations, and customer-facing documentation.
• Provide leadership and mentorship to less-experienced systems engineers and contribute to overall team development.

Experience and Skills

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Systems Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related discipline.
• 8–12 years of progressive systems engineering experience supporting complex defense or mission-critical systems.
• Significant experience with requirements development, analysis, allocation, verification, and validation across the full lifecycle.
• Proven experience developing system architectures and defining/controlling system and subsystem interfaces.
• Strong experience with system integration, verification, validation, and test processes.
• Ability to analyze complex technical problems and develop clear, practical engineering solutions.
• Experience working within multidisciplinary engineering teams and driving cross-functional collaboration.
• Deep understanding of the systems engineering lifecycle and associated processes.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills for communicating with engineering teams, leadership, and customers.
• Ability to obtain a DoD security clearance; active clearance preferred.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Systems Engineering or a related discipline.
• Experience working directly with DoD customers, program offices, or prime contractors.
• Experience with MBSE tools (e.g., Cameo, MagicDraw); helpful but not required.
• Familiarity with applicable DoD standards, including MIL-STD-810, MIL-STD-882, MIL-STD-961, or similar.
• Experience developing system specifications, ICDs, verification matrices, CONOPS, and technical baselines.
• Experience supporting SRR, PDR, CDR, TRR, and FRR design reviews.
• Experience in risk management, reliability, maintainability, and safety engineering.
• Experience supporting integration and test of complex hardware/software systems.
• Experience with configuration management and change control processes.
• Active DoD clearance preferred.
• Systems engineering leadership and ownership
• Advanced requirements management and traceability
• System architecture and interface control
• Integration, verification, and validation expertise
• Complex problem solving and decision support
• Technical documentation and clear communication
• Risk identification and mitigation
• Trade study development and analysis
• Familiarity with MBSE tools and modern SE methods
• Customer interaction and collaboration
• Understanding of DoD program environments
• Life/ADD & Short/Long Term Disability Insurance
• 401(k) Savings Plan
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP)
• Paid Time-Off (PTO)
• Holidays
• Education Reimbursement

Kratos Defense 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, age, pregnancy, genetic information, disability, status as aprotected veteran, or any other protected category under applicable federal, state, and local laws.

Pay Transparency

The company will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate againstemployees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay ofanother employee or applicant.

Job Applicant Privacy Notice

For applicants in the EU and California residents, please review our privacy notice.

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY BEFORE SUBMISSION

I hereby certify that all questions are correctly answered and authorize the Company to contact my former employers, references and all other sources they deem necessary in order to verify facts and information furnished with regard to my character and qualifications. I also release the Company and its agents from all liability which might result from conducting this investigation. I further understand that the completion of this form and any addendum thereto does not assure me of a position with this Company or obligate the Company in any way, and that if hired, I may be terminated at any time at the Company's sole discretion (unless an applicable written collective bargaining agreement provides otherwise). I further understand that any misleading or incorrect statements may render this application or any addendum thereto void, and if employed, may result in my immediate termination.
The company maintains a substance free workplace and requires applicants receiving a conditional offer of employment to complete a drug screening in accordance with company policy and applicable law.