Lead Systems Engineer

At MITRE, your passion fuels work that impacts our nation and improves lives. This is where your skills strengthen national security, cybersecurity, health, transportation, and citizen services. We’re a nonprofit engineering, applied research, and advanced technology organization working in the public interest. With objectivity and integrity at our core, we lead federally funded research and development centers for U.S. government agencies – collaborating with industry and academia to deliver integrated, high-impact solutions that advance our nation’s health, security, and prosperity. Our people tackle the toughest technical challenges, supported by competitive benefits, meaningful career development, and a culture of innovation, collaboration, and technical excellence. Choose MITRE for a career with purpose — and help shape the future.U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) is advancing how Special Operations Forces (SOF) integrate with the Joint Force and employ emerging capabilities to maintain decision advantage in complex and contested environments. The MITRE Special Operations and Joint Staff Department (N552) is partnering with USSOCOM to support this modernization through mission engineering, systems engineering, modeling and simulation, experimentation, and technical integration. Working across government, industry, academia, and the Joint Force, we help translate operational needs into modernization priorities, integrated technical solutions, and informed capability decisions.We are seeking a strategic-minded, technically accomplished, and operationally focused Lead Mission Engineer to help shape and deliver MITRE’s support to USSOCOM modernization efforts through Joint Task Force Modernization (JTF MOD). This individual will operate at the intersection of mission engineering, operational experimentation, modeling and simulation, systems integration, and modernization strategy. In this role, you will bring both strategic perspective and hands-on technical expertise – framing complex mission and engineering problems, developing and executing approaches to address them, and connecting emerging capabilities, architectures, and operational concepts to mission outcomes and modernization decisions.The successful candidate will work closely with senior Government stakeholders, operators, engineers, analysts, acquisition organizations, and Joint and theater partners to frame mission challenges, develop mission and mission-engineering threads, shape experimentation and exercise objectives, and translate technical and operational findings into actionable modernization recommendations.The N552 Department operates as a globally integrated team supporting USSOCOM Headquarters, Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), Service Component Special Operations Commands (SOCs), and Theater Special Operations Commands (TSOCs). Our engineers work side-by-side with operators and mission partners to identify emerging challenges, evaluate operational and technical alternatives, and inform investments, architectures, and capability decisions that improve SOF effectiveness within the broader Joint Force.Roles and Responsibilities:You will serve as a mission and systems engineering technical integration leader supporting JTF MOD modernization, experimentation, modeling and simulation, and exercise activities. Working directly with JTF MOD and USSOCOM stakeholders, you will help frame strategic and operational challenges, identify the critical mission and engineering questions that must be answered, and shape and execute analytical, modeling, and experimental approaches to inform modernization priorities and decisions.You will lead the development and analysis of mission and mission-engineering threads that connect operational objectives, capabilities, architectures, systems, and mission effects. You will help shape modeling, simulation, experimentation, and exercise activities – including faster-than-real-time and Joint Live, Virtual, and Constructive (JLVC) environments – to ensure SOF requirements, capabilities, constraints, and dependencies are appropriately represented within broader Joint and theater activities.Working across operators, engineers, analysts, modelers, acquisition organizations, and mission partners, you will assess mission and system interoperability, identify technical and operational gaps and risks, and integrate expertise across disciplines. You will apply Mission Engineering, Systems Engineering, Digital Engineering, and analytical methods to connect operational needs with architectures, capabilities, models, simulations, and experimental evidence.You will synthesize technical and operational findings into clear, decision-relevant insights and recommendations for JTF MOD and USSOCOM leadership. This includes developing technical assessments, integration strategies, interim findings, and after-action analyses that inform capability development, investment priorities, technical architectures, and future experimentation. As a trusted technical advisor, you will also identify emerging sponsor needs and opportunities to leverage MITRE capabilities to deliver FFRDC-differentiated value.Selected candidates will demonstrate:Mission Engineering and Technical Leadership. Ability to frame complex operational problems as mission-engineering questions and lead multidisciplinary teams in developing analytical, modeling, experimentation, and engineering approaches to address them. Ability to connect mission objectives, operational concepts, systems, architectures, and technologies to mission outcomes.Systems Engineering and Integration. Ability to apply systems engineering principles to define requirements, develop and evaluate system architectures, manage technical interfaces, and integrate complex systems and technologies to achieve mission objectives.Strategic and Operational Thinking. Ability to understand sponsor objectives in a broader operational and strategic context, identify the decisions and technical questions that matter most, and shape technical activities to inform modernization priorities and investment decisions.Technical Breadth. Working knowledge across relevant areas such as mission engineering, systems-of-systems engineering, command and control, tactical communications, ISR, data architectures, interoperability, electromagnetic spectrum operations, modeling and simulation, Digital Engineering, or MBSE. Deep expertise in every area is not expected; the successful candidate must be able to integrate expertise across disciplines.Leadership and Initiative. Ability to operate effectively in technically and organizationally ambiguous environments, identify emerging sponsor needs, establish a path forward, and bring people together to achieve results. Demonstrated ability to lead through technical credibility and influence while remaining an active contributor to the engineering, analysis, experimentation, and integration work.Senior Engagement and Communication. Ability to establish credibility with senior military and civilian leaders, understand the decisions they face, and synthesize complex operational, technical, and analytical information into concise, decision-relevant insights and recommendations.Collaboration and Integration. Ability to build trusted relationships and work effectively across operators, engineers, analysts, modelers, acquisition professionals, and other mission partners while leveraging expertise across MITRE to address sponsor challenges.Basic Qualifications:Typically requires a minimum of 8 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 6 years with a Master’s degree; or 3 years with a PhD; or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.Bachelor’s degree in Systems Engineering, Operations Research, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Aerospace Engineering, Applied Mathematics, or another relevant technical or analytical field.Experience in mission engineering, systems engineering, systems-of-systems engineering, operational analysis, modeling and simulation, experimentation, capability development, or a related technical discipline.Demonstrated experience framing complex operational or technical problems and developing structured engineering, analytical, modeling, or experimental approaches to address them.Experience working across multidisciplinary teams involving operators, engineers, analysts, or acquisition professionals.Experience analyzing mission, system, modeling, experimentation, or exercise data and translating results into clear findings and recommendations.Ability to understand complex system architectures, operational concepts, interfaces, dependencies, and mission interactions at a systems-of-systems level.Demonstrated ability to communicate technical and operational concepts effectively to both technical audiences and senior decision-makers.Strong written and verbal communication skills.Must have an active Top Secret U.S Government issued Security Clearance with the ability to obtain and maintain a Top Secret/SCI 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 4 days a week on-site.Preferred Qualifications:Experience supporting USSOCOM, Joint Staff, Combatant Commands, Joint Task Forces, or other Joint Force organizations.Experience applying mission engineering, systems-of-systems engineering, or related approaches to operational problems, capability development, experimentation, or modernization.Experience planning, executing, or assessing Joint exercises, operational experiments, wargames, or modeling and simulation activities, including familiarity with Live, Virtual, and Constructive environments.Experience developing or analyzing mission threads, operational threads, mission architectures, system architectures, or systems-of-systems representations. Familiarity with Digital Engineering/MBSE methods and tools is a plus.Understanding of one or more relevant mission areas such as C2, tactical communications, ISR, fires, electromagnetic spectrum operations, data architectures, or interoperability.Experience integrating operational, technical, and analytical perspectives and translating findings into recommendations, technical strategies, or decision-quality products for senior Government leaders.This requisition requires the candidate to have a minimum of the following clearance(s):Top SecretThis requisition requires the hired candidate to have or obtain, within one year from the date of hire, the following clearance(s):Top Secret/SCISalary compensation range and midpoint:$146,400 - $183,000 - $219,600 AnnualWork Location Type:OnsiteCommitment 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: R117320Profession: Engineering