Senior Principal Systems Engineer

Job ID 2615948

Location Chantilly, VA, US

Date Posted 2026-08-20

Category Engineering and Sciences

Subcategory Systems Engineer

Schedule Full-Time

Shift Day Job

Travel Yes - 10% of the time

Minimum Clearance Required TS.SCI_wPoly

Clearance Level Must Be Able to Obtain None

Potential for Remote Work ORA_ON_SITE

Description

SAIC is seeking a Senior Principal Systems Enginee r to fill a critical position supporting a large SETA program supporting the NRO’s Ground Enterprise Directorate (GED) in Chantilly, VA. The job requires the ability to flexibly manage task execution, provide technical/professional expertise on a variety of Systems Engineering topics, and advise the government on program activities.

All candidates must have an active TS/SCI clearance with CI Polygraph.

A successful candidate in this position will bring a record of application of systems engineering and creative thought-leadership to mature and develop revolutionary multi-intelligence solutions.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to

• Provide technical leadership in planning capabilities needed to better support mission operations (e.g. automation, resiliency, situational awareness, etc.)
• Analyze user needs, develop concepts of operation, and high-level systems architectures, and define capability needs and system requirements
• Work with government and contractor points of contact across multiple Agencies, Directorates and Offices to refine future ground system capabilities
• Identify and communicate key architecture and system level trades, system engineering risks, issues, opportunities, and dependencies
• Support integration of architectures with other components of the technical baseline
• Collaborate with SETA team members, engineers from various contractor and government organizations, and mission users
• Develop assessments and briefings to a variety of audiences to convey information in crisp, articulate manner

Qualifications

Required Education and Experience

• Bachelors and fourteen (14) years or more experience; Masters and twelve (12) years or more experience.
• Ability to obtain a Top Secret/SCI clearance with polygraph
• Proven experience in core systems engineering and analysis disciplines and processes
• Demonstrated ability to work in a fast paced, dynamic, and energetic environment
• Demonstrated ability to work as a team player requiring collaboration and open communication
• Strong oral and written communication skills

Desired Education and Experience

• Advanced degree in STEM (science, technical, engineering, math) or related discipline
• Engineering, computer science, or information systems background
• Ability to build, integrate and analyze MBSE architectural representations
• Domain and tool knowledge in Agile software development practices (e.g. Scrum, DevOps, JIRA, Kanban)
• Prior experience with data management services and cloud software architecture
• Prior US military and/or IC customer experience

Target salary range $160,001 - $200,000. The estimate displayed represents the typical salary range for this position based on experience and other factors.