Field Systems Engineer

Field System Engineer

The Field System Engineer serves as the senior onsite technical authority supporting emerging Department of War (DoW) Airborne ISR (A‑ISR) Full Motion Video (FMV) mission systems. Operating in a high‑tempo, mission‑critical environment, this role leads advanced troubleshooting, hands‑on systems engineering, and cross‑domain solution (CDS) sustainment for complex, distributed intelligence architectures.

This senior‑level position requires deep technical acumen, independent decision‑making, and direct collaboration with DoW and Intelligence Community (IC) stakeholders. The engineer is embedded with the customer at Ford Island, functioning as the primary technical representative responsible for maintaining operational readiness, stability, and security of enterprise ISR infrastructures.

Location: Ford Island, Hawaii (Onsite, OCONUS)
Clearance Requirement: Active U.S. SECRET; ability to obtain Top Secret / SCI

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as the onsite technical SME for large‑scale FMV architectures, providing expert‑level diagnosis, recovery, and optimization of mission systems.
• Lead end‑to‑end engineering support for software applications, network systems, middleware, virtualized environments, and Linux‑based services.
• Own the operational sustainment and configuration of Cross Domain Solutions (CDS), ensuring secure and compliant data transfer across classified network boundaries.
• Perform advanced system diagnostics, root‑cause analysis, and implement corrective actions to ensure system availability in a 24×7 mission environment.

Mission‑Embedded Customer Engagement

• Operate as the senior onsite representative, regularly interfacing with DoW leadership, IC mission partners, and contractor engineering teams.
• Provide authoritative guidance to Tier I and Tier II staff, mentoring junior personnel and driving resolution of high‑impact technical issues.
• Deliver concise and mission‑relevant reporting—including incident updates, system performance metrics, operational risk assessments, and recommended remediations.

Architecture, Deployment & Sustainment

• Support ongoing system modernization efforts, including architecture implementation, network expansion, storage integration, and multi‑site FMV distribution upgrades.
• Oversee configuration, sustainment, and troubleshooting for LAN/WAN infrastructures using expert knowledge of core protocols and routing standards.
• Maintain complex virtualization ecosystems (VMware, Hyper‑V, Xen) and containerized deployments (Kubernetes, preferred).
• Ensure compliance with Information Assurance (IA) and cybersecurity requirements, including RMF, STIGs, and DoW IA controls.

Required Technical Expertise

• Extensive experience with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), CentOS, and enterprise Linux administration.
• Proven mastery in supporting mission‑critical video architectures, including streaming technologies, MISB standards, and H.264 encoding.
• Deep understanding of storage networking (Fibre Channel, iSCSI) and distributed storage systems.
• Ability to autonomously identify, document, and escalate complex software defects, infrastructure failures, or architectural limitations.
• Demonstrated history of supporting DoW or military intelligence systems, preferably in forward‑deployed or OCONUS environments.
• Competency with UAV/UAS data dissemination architectures and A‑ISR operational workflows (preferred).

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in electronics, computer science, information systems, or equivalent; with 7-8 years relevant experience.
• Previous experience supporting DoW or military operational environments strongly preferred.
• Ability to independently operate in a remote OCONUS field setting, adhering to all field operations standards.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with a strong customer‑centric approach.
• Proven ability to partner across diverse technical and leadership levels.

Role Positioning Summary

• Manages mission‑critical systems with minimal oversight.
• Serves as the customer‑facing technical expert onsite.
• Solves high‑complexity technical problems across the full systems stack.
• Provides mentorship, escalation management, and authoritative technical guidance.
• Ensures operational continuity in sensitive, high‑trust environments requiring elevated clearances.

Cubic Pay Range: $156,000.00 - $170,000.00 + benefits.