Senior Human Factors Engineer (HFE)

Why choose between doing meaningful work and having a fulfilling life? At MITRE, you can have both. That's because MITRE people are committed to tackling our nation's toughest challenges—and we're committed to the long-term well-being of our employees. MITRE is different from most technology companies. We are a not-for-profit corporation chartered to work for the public interest, with no commercial conflicts to influence what we do. The R&D centers we operate for the government create lasting impact in fields as diverse as cybersecurity, healthcare, aviation, defense, and enterprise transformation. We're making a difference every day—working for a safer, healthier, and more secure nation and world. Our workplace reflects our values. We offer competitive benefits, exceptional professional development opportunities for career growth, and a culture of innovation that embraces adaptability, collaboration, technical excellence, and people in partnership. If this sounds like the choice you want to make, then choose MITRE - and make a difference with us.Department Summary:MITRE’s Human-Systems Integration (HSI) and User Experience (UX) department is seeking a Senior Human Factors Engineer (HFE) who is passionate about designing and developing user-centered software solutions to address our sponsors' unique challenges. In this role, you will collaborate with multidisciplinary teams of engineers, designers, researchers, and stakeholders to frame complex problems, understand mission needs, and translate user insights into intuitive, scalable, and effective solutions. You will engage directly with sponsors and stakeholders through workshops, design reviews, and iterative feedback sessions to ensure solutions align with user needs and mission objectives.As a Senior HFE at MITRE, you will apply and expand your expertise across UX, UI, front-end engineering, and human-machine teaming while contributing to meaningful projects supporting critical national missions. Our department fosters a collaborative environment that values technical excellence, curiosity, continuous learning, creativity, and a strong commitment to both end users and stakeholders. Our mission is to improve the overall user experience of government-facing technologies while promoting accessibility, safety, and operational efficiency across the system lifecycle. As part of the Software Engineering Innovation Division, you will strengthen your software architecture and engineering skills while designing human-centered, user-focused computing capabilities that address the challenges of our sponsors and deliver meaningful, effective user experiences.Roles & Responsibilities:The successful candidate will be expected to:Lead human-centered design efforts from user research and early concept development through interaction design, prototyping, usability evaluation, and iterative refinement of software and system solutions.Leverage AI-assisted design tools and human-centered methods to generate, evaluate, and refine interface and system design concepts, ensuring solutions align with user needs, usability standards, and safety requirements.Elicit, analyze, and translate user, operational, and system requirements into human factors design inputs, ensuring alignment with systems engineering processes, usability goals, and safety-critical performance needs.Provide technical guidance to small multidisciplinary teams, including other Human- Centered/Human Factors Engineers, UX Designers, and Front-End UX developers.Collaborate closely with HCE/HFEs, UX Designers, researchers, project leaders, and sponsors, leveraging leading practices towards solution impact.Advocate for the end-user, ensuring user-centered design principles are consistently applied throughout the solution path.Develop and maintain design systems and user interface guidelines, generating research and initiative proposals.Mentor early career team members, fostering a culture of continuous learning and improvement.Basic Qualifications:A Bachelor’s degree in Human Factors Engineering, Cognitive Engineering or Psychology, Human-Computer Interaction, Interaction Design, UX Design and/or Research, or a related field.A minimum of 5 years of work experience in relevant roles, with a proven track record in researching, designing, developing, and prototyping system applications applying user-centered design principles.Experience with user research methods and usability testing including facilitating interviews, focus groups, usability testing sessions, requirements gathering, and conducting heuristic assessments.Experience in working with design software such as Figma, Miro, Sketch, Axure RP, Balsamiq, Lucidchart, Adobe XD, or similar tools.Strong interpersonal skills, coupled with excellent verbal and written communication abilities.Demonstrated ability to share work findings to government sponsors or senior leaders.Demonstrated experience leading technical efforts and technically diverse teams.Must be eligible to obtain and maintain a Secret U.S Government issued Security Clearance. Per the U.S. Government’s eligibility requirements, you must be a U.S Citizen to be considered for a security clearance.This position requires a minimum of 3 days a week on-site.Preferred Qualifications:A Master's degree or PhD in Human Factors Engineering, Cognitive Engineering or Psychology, Human-Computer Interaction, Interaction Design, UX Design and/or Research, or a related field.Experience using Codex or similar AI-assisted development tools (e.g. Figma Make, Claude Code, etc.) to support the design workflow, rapidly prototype concepts, and improve human factors outcomes through iterative, user-centered design.Experience collaborating closely with software developers, systems engineers, and technical architects, with sufficient technical fluency to understand system constraints, implementation tradeoffs, and their implications for human factors and design.Experience with qualitative and quantitative research design, development, analysis, and presentation.Entrepreneurial, innovative spirit with demonstrated ability to identify opportunities, take initiative, and drive new ideas or improvements.Mentoring or tutoring experience.This requisition requires the candidate to have a minimum of the following clearance(s):NoneThis requisition requires the hired candidate to have or obtain, within one year from the date of hire, the following clearance(s):SecretSalary compensation range and midpoint:$129,200 - $161,500 - $193,800 AnnualWork Location Type:OnsiteIt is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.Commitment to Non-DiscriminationAll qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to disability, status as a protected veteran or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, local or international law.MITRE intends to maintain a website that is fully accessible to all individuals. If you are unable to search or apply for jobs and would like to request a reasonable accommodation for any part of MITRE’s employment process, please email View email address on click.appcast.io for general support and View email address on click.appcast.io for intern positions. This service is for individuals requiring reasonable accommodation requests. Please note that vendor solicitations will not receive a reply.Benefits information may be found here.Copyright 1997-2026, The MITRE Corporation. All rights reserved. MITRE is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation. Material on this site may be copied and distributed with permission only.Job SummaryJob number: R117303Profession: Engineering