Principal Systems Engineer - TS/SCI with Polygraph

Public Trust: None

Requisition Type: Pipeline

Your Impact

Own your opportunity to serve as a critical component of our nation’s safety and security. Make an impact by using your expertise to protect our country from threats.

Job Description

Why GDIT

Are you ready to be a part of an elite team at GDIT, working on a large-scale, pioneering National Intelligence program? This is an incredible opportunity to immerse yourself into an environment that fuses innovation, speed, and security to safeguard our Nation.

At GDIT, you'll thrive in a dynamic and collaborative setting, where your technical skills will be both challenged and expanded. This program offers the chance to engage with cutting-edge technologies and contemporary development practices in support of a vital mission. You'll play a critical role in addressing some of the most intricate security and operational challenges facing Intelligence and Homeland Security today.

Come join us and contribute to a mission that truly matters, while advancing your career alongside some of the brightest minds in the industry. 

What You’ll Achieve

The Lead Systems Engineer serves as the strategic technical leader for change and innovation across a six–Task Order software-development IDIQ portfolio. Operating within the PMO, this role is responsible for rationalizing the portfolio, guiding AI insertion, driving continuous improvement, leading transitions of legacy work to new platforms, and ensuring cost, schedule, and performance objectives are met across completion-based task orders. In this role, you will:

Portfolio Strategy & Rationalization

• Assess existing projects, systems, and capabilities across all six Task Orders to identify:

  • Redundancies and overlaps.

  • Gaps relative to customer mission, priorities, and emerging needs.

• Recommend consolidation, decommissioning, or modernization paths to optimize the portfolio.

• Align technical investments with program and sponsor mission objectives, future-state architecture, and roadmap.

AI Insertion & Technology Modernization

• Evaluate where AI and advanced automation can add measurable value (e.g., software development, testing, operations, analytics).

• Define AI insertion strategies and implementation roadmaps, including:

  • Use cases and expected outcomes.

  • Integration patterns with existing systems and services.

• Provide technical guidance to Task Order teams to ensure AI capabilities are:

  • Responsibly designed and implemented.

  • Secure, explainable where required, and aligned with customer policies.

• Ensure new AI-enabled solutions integrate effectively with the existing technical ecosystem.

• Responsible for Innovation report (CDRL)

Continuous Improvement & Innovation Framework

• Establish and maintain frameworks, metrics, and best practices that promote:

  • Increased delivery efficiency and quality.

  • Reduction of technical debt.

  • Repeatable, scalable technical patterns across Task Orders.

• Facilitate cross-team collaboration (TO leads, Solution Architects, Lead Agilist, QA/Mission Assurance) to share:

  • Lessons learned, reusable components, and improvement ideas.

• Drive adoption of modern engineering practices (e.g., DevSecOps, CI/CD, test automation, observability).

• Responsible for creating and maintain all technical CDRLs.

Culture of Optimization and Customer Outcomes

• Champion a culture that continually seeks to:

  • Optimize technical performance and delivery processes.

  • Enhance customer mission outcomes and user experience.

  • Modernize legacy components and workflows.

• Partner with PMO leadership and Task Order Leads to ensure engineering decisions are tied to measurable business and mission impacts.

Legacy SOW Transition to New Target Platform

• Lead the technical transition of legacy Statements of Work (SOWs) to the “new” environment (or analogous new platform/architecture).

• Define the end-to-end transition approach, including:

  • Technical decomposition of legacy solutions.

  • Migration paths, dependencies, and risk mitigation strategies.

• Ensure unified strategic vision and coherent architecture across all transitioning efforts.

Sponsor Collaboration & Transparent Transition Management

• Collaborate closely with the sponsor and key stakeholders to:

  • Provide transparent visibility into transition plans, progress, and risks.

  • Align expectations and obtain timely feedback on architectural decisions.

• Ensure transitions are executed with minimal disruption to ongoing mission operations and no negative impact to project schedules.

• Prepare and present technical briefings, options analyses, and status updates to the sponsor and internal leadership.

Cost, Schedule, and Performance Oversight (Technical)

• Track and synthesize cost, schedule, and technical performance metrics across all Task Orders, especially where system engineering decisions have significant impact.

• Provide technical input to PMO and program leadership on:

  • Trade-offs between scope, cost, and schedule.

  • Priorities for modernization and AI insertion based on value and risk.

• Support remediation plans when metrics indicate risk to completion-based commitments.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related discipline; Master’s preferred.

• TS/SCI with Polygraph

• 8+ years related experience

• 3+ years of experience in a fast‑paced Agile development environment

• Experience leading teams with demonstrated ability to plan, organize, and implement significant strategic initiatives.

• Extensive experience in systems engineering and architecture for complex software-development programs, ideally in a multi–Task Order or portfolio environment.

• Demonstrated experience leading modernization, portfolio rationalization, or large-scale technical transformations.

• Hands-on understanding of AI/ML–enabled solutions and integration patterns in production environments.

• Strong background in Agile/SAFe and DevSecOps practices.

• Proven ability to work directly with government sponsors and senior stakeholders, articulating complex technical concepts in business/mission terms.

• Experience with tracking and reporting on cost, schedule, and performance metrics in coordination with PMO/Program Management.

Desired Skills and Experience

• Experience building / creating PowerBI dashboards

Work Requirements

Years of Experience

8 + years of related experience

* may vary based on technical training, certification(s), or degree

Certification

Travel Required

None

Citizenship

U.S. Citizenship Required