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Department Summary:MITRE's Transportation Automation and Infrastructure Evolution department is seeking a
Principal Systems Engineer to lead the technical transformation of the FAA's air traffic management systems. This is a high-impact, senior engineering role focused on shaping the future of aviation automation by designing and delivering next-generation solutions for the National Airspace System (NAS).
You will drive the modernization of safety-critical and decision support systems, leading the transition from legacy monoliths to modular, cloud-native platforms. This is an opportunity to architect change at national scale-working alongside technical experts, sponsor leadership, and strategic partners to deliver resilient, high-performance automation capabilities.
Roles & Responsibilities:To be successful you will:
- Passionately apply your Systems Engineering skills and experience to help the FAA chart the future of aviation
- Use your curiosity and interest to understand and solve complex problems using objective and quantitative methods
- Communicate results and recommendations in an intuitive, actionable manner
- Work on projects throughout their life cycle, including conceptualization, requirements definition, data procurement, development, integration, and socialization
- Develop close working relationships with our organization's senior leaders and with government sponsors and industry to gain an understanding of their challenges, evaluate solutions and conduct insightful, actionable analyses
- Work with Department and Division leadership to transform our work program by constantly aligning our efforts to our sponsor's current priorities; anticipating future priorities; and applying innovative thinking to shape our work program to have the greatest possible impact now and in the future
Basic Qualifications:- Typically requires a minimum of 10 years of related experience with a Bachelor's degree; or 8 years and a Master's degree; or a PhD with 5 years' experience; or equivalent combination of related education and work experience.
- Creative thinker with the ability to function in a dynamic, fast-moving environment
- Demonstrated ability to tackle problems and define solutions with an enterprise perspective
- Demonstrated success in developing and delivering high-quality technical products under government-funded projects that result in accomplishment of Sponsor outcome
- Excellent communication skills, both written an oral, of particularly complex and interconnected concepts
- Technical background in one or more of the following:
- Digital Transformation, Information Technology and Information Systems, Computer Science, or related discipline
- Aerospace Engineering, Systems Engineering, Digital Engineering, Modernized Software Development, or Acquisition
- Experience with the transportation sector generally, and the Federal Aviation Administration specifically
- Prior experience with FAA Systems, such as En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM), Terminal Flight Data Manager (TFDM), Time-Based Flow Management (TBFM), Traffic Flow Management (TFM), and Enterprise Information Display systems
- Applicants selected for this position must hold or meet eligibility requirements for FAA Suitability
- This position requires a minimum of 50% hybrid on-site
Preferred Qualifications: - Active clearance at the Secret level
- Research project leadership experience
This requisition requires the candidate to have a minimum of the following clearance(s):None
This requisition requires the hired candidate to have or obtain, within one year from the date of hire, the following clearance(s):Suitability - FAA
Salary compensation range and midpoint:$162,400 - $203,000 - $243,600 Annual
Work Location Type:Hybrid
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.
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