Senior 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.The Systems and Operations Department (L626) within MITRE’s Systems Engineering Division in the Center for Engineering and Analysis delivers innovative, mission-focused solutions using a multidisciplinary systems engineering approach to address sponsor challenges critical to national security missions. We advance engineering rigor, operational relevance, and mission effectiveness across complex systems and enterprises, with core focus areas in Mission Integration, Lifecycle Systems Engineering, and Acquisition Systems Engineering. Our teams develop, assess, and transition engineering solutions, provide strategic technical vision, and deliver data-informed recommendations that enable sponsor mission success from tactical through enterprise levels. Roles & Responsibilities:The Systems and Operations Department is seeking a Senior Systems Engineer to support government customer mission and program needs across complex, evolving technical environments. The selected candidate will help define, design, architect, integrate, test, and transition complex systems using traditional systems engineering and Model-Based Systems Engineering methods. This position requires the ability to collaborate across technical, operational, acquisition, and program management organizations. The Systems Engineer will translate stakeholder needs into executable system concepts, architectures, requirements, technical roadmaps, integration plans, acquisition artifacts, and engineering recommendations.Apply systems engineering principles throughout the system development lifecycle, including mission and stakeholder analysis, concept development, system design, architecture definition, requirements development, integration, verification, validation, deployment planning, and technical transitionTranslate customer needs, operational constraints, capability gaps, and program objectives into system concepts, functional designs, technical approaches, and implementation optionsDevelop, assess, and refine system architectures, including operational views, functional architectures, logical and physical architectures, interfaces, data flows, dependencies, and integration pointsApply traditional systems engineering and MBSE methods to capture system behavior, structure, requirements, interfaces, constraints, verification relationships, risks, trade space, and technical decisionsFacilitate stakeholder interviews, workshops, technical exchanges, and working groups to elicit, analyze, document, and validate mission, system, product, interface, performance, security, and operational requirementsDevelop clear, testable, traceable, and verifiable requirements and maintain relationships among stakeholder needs, system requirements, design elements, interfaces, and verification methods.Conduct engineering studies, trade analyses, alternatives analyses, and gap assessments to evaluate current-state systems, operational processes, technology limitations, interoperability challenges, cost and schedule considerations, and opportunities for improvementSupport system integration, test, verification, validation, deployment, and technical transition activitiesDevelop integration sequencing, test objectives, verification methods, success criteria, interface dependencies, readiness criteria, and transition plansIdentify and manage technical risks, issues, assumptions, dependencies, and opportunities throughout the engineering lifecycleSupport technical reviews, including requirements reviews, architecture reviews, design reviews, test readiness reviews, and deployment readiness reviewsAdvise government customers, program managers, and technical leaders on capability needs, technical priorities, system roadmaps, technology insertion opportunities, acquisition strategies, and engineering approachesSupport acquisition planning and execution by contributing to Statements of Work, Statements of Objectives, Performance Work Statements, market research, acquisition strategies, evaluation criteria, technical evaluation plans, vendor assessments, and source-selection documentationCollaborate with multidisciplinary teams, including software, hardware, cybersecurity, cloud, data, network, test, operations, and program management personnelDevelop and present architecture products, technical briefings, decision papers, trade-study results, requirements packages, interface documentation, engineering plans, and technical recommendationsCommunicate complex technical concepts clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholdersBasic Qualifications:Typically requires a minimum of 5 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 3 years and a Master’s degree; or a PhD with relevant experience who can immediately contribute at this job step; or equivalent combination of related education and work experience.Experience applying systems engineering practices to complex technical, operational, or mission-focused systemsExperience with one or more of the following: system design, system architecture modeling, requirements development, interface analysis, integration planning, verification and validation, and technical documentationFamiliarity with both MBSE and traditional systems engineering approaches such as requirements analysis, functional decomposition, interface control, trade studies, risk analysis, technical reviews, and engineering decision supportAbility to develop or review architecture products, requirements specifications, trade studies, technical plans, acquisition artifacts, and engineering recommendationsAbility to work directly with government sponsors, program managers, technical teams, acquisition stakeholders, and mission usersStrong analytical, verbal, and written communication skills, including the ability to define ambiguous problems, structure technical options, and brief technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiencesAbility to work both collaboratively and independently in a dynamic sponsor environmentWillingness to work at various sponsor locations as requiredMust havean activeSecretU.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/week on sitePreferred Qualifications: Degree or advanced degree in engineering, systems engineering, data science, or related field.Active Top-Secret clearanceExperience applying MBSE methods using modeling languages and tools, such as SysML, Cameo, MagicDraw, Rhapsody, Sparx EA, or similar platformsExperience developing SysML diagrams, including block definition diagrams, internal block diagrams, activity diagrams, sequence diagrams, state machine diagrams, requirement diagrams, and parametric modelsExperience developing or applying systems architecture frameworks, architecture views, interface models, operational models, or enterprise architecture productsExperience advising the federal government on acquisition lifecycle activities, including Statement of Work/Statement of Objectives (SOW/SOO) development, market research, acquisition planning, technical evaluations, source selection support, or adoption of innovative acquisition approachesExperience supporting system integration, test planning, verification and validation, deployment readiness planning, or technical transition of mission systems Experience with digital engineering, mission engineering, enterprise architecture, software-intensive systems, cloud-based systems, data platforms, cybersecurity, or command-and-control systemsExperience leading technical tasks, facilitating stakeholder workshops, coordinating multidisciplinary engineering teams, or advising senior technical and program leadershipExperience researching, assessing, prototyping, integrating, or supporting the transition of mission emerging technologiesExperience with systems that have security, resiliency, interoperability, availability, performance, or regulatory requirementsThis requisition requires the candidate to have a minimum of the following clearance(s):SecretThis 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:$121,200 - $151,500 - $181,800 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: R117241Profession: Engineering