Systems Engineer III- J56

Apogee Engineering; Fort Wayne (IN); On-site; USD 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Apogee Engineering in Fort Wayne, IN, seeks a Product Owner SME to guide software modernization efforts for critical defense programs. You will manage SMPES capability development, backlog, and user engagement, ensuring timely fielding and alignment with operational goals.

The role requires strong experience translating operational needs into requirements, collaborating with stakeholders, and guiding agile delivery, with on-site work at Offutt AFB, Nebraska (travel up to 10%).

Qualifications

• U.S. citizenship and TS/SCI eligibility required.
• Bachelor's degree and 12+ years of relevant experience including DoW support.
• Experience translating operational needs into requirements, use cases, scenarios, workflows, or similar artifacts.

Responsibilities

• Define and prioritize product backlogs with the Product Owner.
• Translate operational needs into use cases, diagrams, and scenarios.
• Coordinate with users, managers, and development teams to clarify priorities.
• Elicit requirements from users and PMO personnel.
• Coordinate with users to refine scenarios and requirements artifacts.
• Support agile ceremonies and release planning activities.
• Lead or support backlog reviews and risk/impediment identification.
• Ensure alignment of mission goals with technical execution.

Skills

Backlog management

Requirements elicitation

Stakeholder communication

Agile methodologies

Operational translation

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Jira

Confluence

Job description

Overview

Apogee has an exciting new opportunity for a Product Owner SME to support mission-critical software modernization, development, and deployment efforts for the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center and US Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM)/J56

The Product Owner is responsible for ensuring SMPES capability development, requirements maturation, backlog management, user engagement, testing, and fielding. Supports the SMPES Product Owner by managing the recurring planning and review rhythm, identifying risks and dependencies, providing senior-leader decision support, and maintaining alignment among operational goals, release plans, and capability delivery.

This is a full-time position located on-site at Offutt, Nebraska.

Responsibilities

• Support the SMPES Product Owner in defining and prioritizing product backlogs.
• Translate operational needs into clear, actionable use case diagrams, use case descriptions, activity, diagrams, and operational scenarios.
• Coordinate with users, requirements managers, program managers, and development teams to clarify requirements and priorities.
• Conduct requirements elicitation with users, operators, requirements managers, and PMO personnel.
• Coordinate with users and refine operational scenarios, problem sets, need statements, and requirements artifacts.
• Support Product Owner standups, sprint-ahead planning, executive sprint reviews, backlog reviews, and related agile delivery activities.
• Lead or support recurring backlog reviews, prioritization sessions, and release-planning activities.
• Validate backlog accuracy, clarify operationally focused language, identify dependencies and risks, and align candidate work with operational priorities.
• Coordinate near-term actions, identify impediments and dependencies, and synchronize requirements, development, testing, usability, and fielding activities.
• Coordinate with users and testing organizations to support capability demonstrations, usability sessions, operational assessments, and fielding activities.
• Train functional managers, requirements managers, and other stakeholders on backlog prioritization, requirements documentation, and use of collaboration tools.
• Identify issues requiring leadership awareness, decisions, advocacy, or cross-organizational coordination.
• Track the progress of features and ensure timely delivery.
• Ensure alignment between mission goals, priorities, and technical execution.
• Prepare and present capability updates, reports, and stakeholder briefings.

Qualifications

Minimum Experience:

Citizenship: Must be a US citizen

Clearance: Must possess and maintain a TS w/SCI eligibility

Education: Bachelor's degree

Years of Experience: Minimum 12 years of relevant experience including:

• Minimum of 5 years supporting the DoW
• Demonstrated experience translating operational or mission needs into written requirements, use cases, scenarios, workflows, or similar capability-development artifacts.
• Experience using Jira and Confluence, or comparable tools for backlog management, requirements traceability, status reporting, and stakeholder coordination.
• Experience facilitating meetings with technical and nontechnical stakeholders and resolving competing priorities, dependencies, and delivery risks.
• Strong written and oral communication skills, including the ability to brief senior leaders and develop concise decision-support products.
• Ability to analyze user feedback and operational observations, identify priorities, and recommend practical capability improvements.
• Ability to work independently while coordinating across a broad stakeholder network.

Desired Qualifications

• Experience as a Product Owner, product manager, or operational requirements lead.
• Experience supporting agile software development processes, release planning, usability assessments, capability demonstrations, and operational fielding.
• Experience in mission planning, targeting, command and control, operational planning, or another directly relevant mission domain.
• Experience designing or improving requirements management and capability delivery processes.
• Experience delivering stakeholder training on requirements methods, collaboration tools, or backlog management practices.

Additional Information:

Location: Offutt AFB, Nebraska

On-site: Duties for this position are performed on-site, full-time

Travel: Travel up to 10%