Principal Targets & Countermeasures Systems Engineer

Location: Huntsville, AL, USA

Work Location: onsite

• Serve as the technical expert on payload and countermeasure requirements development, analysis, design, qualification, and fielding.
• Review and provide assessments of prime contractor designs, plans, reports, and technical procedures.
• Evaluate target instrumentation requirements, physical layouts, component selection, and testing methodologies
• Provide technical evaluation and engineering support during all major program milestones (including SRR, PDR, CDR, TRR, FRB, MRB, and PAR).
• Answer technical inquiries from external MDA organizations and lead multi-disciplinary Technical Interchange Meetings (TIMs).
• Provide technical assessments to the cost analysis team to ensure accurate program management budget estimates.
• Partner with the program scheduler to track delivery deadlines and proactively keep leadership advised of status.

• Active DoD Secret clearance
• Bachelor's degree and 7+ years supporting missile defense or large-scale, complex DoD programs.
• Experience managing end-to-end program lifecycles, including the development, testing, and fielding of complex systems.
• Thrive in a fast-paced environment where priorities change quickly.
• Handle multiple urgent tasks at once without losing focus.
• Able to support travel request up to 20% of the time.

• Master's degree in STEM and 12+ years supporting missile defense or large-scale, complex DoD programs.
• Understanding of IR/RCS signatures for flight objects and countermeasures.
• Experience with material properties and material property measurements.
• Knowledge of real-world threat systems and how they impact target designs.
• Understanding of MDA flight test requirements and ability to apply those requirements to payload hardware development.
• Technical proposal development and evaluation.