Long Wall

Produces hypersonic testbeds and defense interceptors

Program Chief Engineer - Cyclops

Spacecraft & Launch Vehicle SystemsConfirmed live in the last 24 hours

Full-time$190k - $275k /yr

About the Job

Requirements

A bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Aerospace, Systems Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
At least 12 years of experience in complex aerospace or defense system development, with significant ownership over system-level design, integration, or technical leadership.
Demonstrated experience leading multidisciplinary engineering teams and owning technical baselines in mission-critical environments.
Experience supporting government customers, milestone reviews, and structured engineering documentation.
Deep technical fluency across aerospace subsystems, including structures, propulsion, avionics, mechanisms, guidance, navigation and control, software, and manufacturing.
Proven ability to define requirements, architecture, interface control documents, verification plans, and configuration control structures.
A strong analytical foundation and the ability to challenge designs, analyses, and technical assumptions.
Demonstrated capability to lead technical teams through ambiguity, rapid development, shifting priorities, and fast-paced integration cycles.
Ability to brief executive leadership, engineering teams, and government customers on technical status, risks, and decisions.
Strong understanding of reliability, safety, and mission assurance principles for flight-critical systems.
Ability to sit or stand for extended periods.
Ability to use a computer for assignments and communicate effectively in person, through telepresence, and by phone.
Ability to travel between customer and company sites as required.
U.S. person status, including U.S. citizens, U.S. permanent residents, individuals granted U.S. asylum status, or individuals admitted in U.S. refugee status, is required for access to information protected under U.S. export control laws.

Responsibilities

Serve as the technical authority for the Cyclops product, owning the system architecture, requirements, technical baseline, and verification strategy.
Define and maintain the system’s technical configuration, ensuring all design changes follow disciplined evaluation and protect system integrity.
Lead technical decision-making across propulsion, avionics, structures, mechanisms, guidance, navigation and control, software, materials, manufacturing engineering, and integration.
Coordinate with systems engineering to maintain requirements traceability, interface control documents, architecture, and verification planning.
Partner with mission assurance to evaluate reliability, safety, and readiness, ensuring technical decisions reflect disciplined risk assessment.
Work as a peer leader with project management, protecting technical integrity while ensuring realistic schedule and resource alignment.
Lead architecture, design, integration, verification planning, and readiness reviews, and ensure technical artifacts are complete, defensible, and configuration controlled.
Guide cross-discipline engineering teams to ensure development, integration, and test work remains aligned with the technical baseline and long-term mission needs.
Resolve cross-functional technical issues, adjudicate design trades, and maintain system-level coherence across fast-paced development cycles.
Represent the technical state of the Cyclops product to executive leadership, external stakeholders, and government customers, communicating risk, maturity, and technical readiness.
Mentor engineering discipline leads and help grow the company’s technical foundations by establishing standards, processes, and review discipline.
Support expansion of chief engineering into a fully staffed technical authority function as the company scales across future product lines.

Desired Qualifications

Prior experience as a system chief engineer, technical director, principal engineer, or equivalent leadership role for missile, interceptor, launch vehicle, or military systems.
Experience working with the Missile Defense Agency, Department of Defense, or other government customers on technical baseline management.
Familiarity with government test readiness processes, hazard analyses, and mission assurance frameworks.
Experience scaling engineering governance from prototype development into rate production or multiple program environments.
An active or recent security clearance at the Secret level or above.

Salary Range: 190000 to 275000 (Currency: USD) (Pay period: per-year-salary)

Long Wall Company was created in 2024 to accelerate missile defense technology for the U.S. and our allies. We specialize in ballistic missile defense and are developing Cyclops, a low-cost, mass-producible interceptor. We also produce containerized launchers and offer low-cost targets for threat replication. The future of global security depends on defensive technology that redefines cost, magazine depth, and distribution to deter and defend against evolving threats. Join us.

WHAT WE LOOK FOR

Mission-Driven Problem Solvers – The problems in missile defense demand ingenuity. We want engineers, technicians, and corporate professionals who approach challenges with curiosity, embrace failure as a learning opportunity, and stay focused on delivering the best solution for the mission.

Total Ownership – We seek those who take full responsibility for delivering flight-ready work while recognizing that no one succeeds alone. The best engineers, technicians, and corporate professionals make their teammates better, knowing that complementary skills create force multiplication and drive mission success.

Program Chief Engineer, Cyclops

DESCRIPTION

The Chief Engineer for Cyclops is the ultimate technical authority for Long Wall’s major interceptor product. This role owns the technical baseline, architecture, requirements, configuration, verification strategy, and overall technical mission success of interceptor products. The chief engineer operates as a peer to program management, jointly leading the program while ensuring that technical integrity is never compromised by schedule pressure or external commitments. This role integrates the work of systems engineering, mission assurance, engineering disciplines, and project management into a coherent, defensible technical execution plan. The chief engineer ensures that all technical decisions are traceable, analytically supported, and aligned with customer expectations and mission needs.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Serve as the technical authority for the Cyclops product, owning the system architecture, requirements, technical baseline, and verification strategy.
Define and maintain the system’s technical configuration, ensuring all design changes follow disciplined evaluation and protect system integrity.
Lead technical decision making across propulsion, avionics, structures, mechanisms, GNC, software, materials, manufacturing engineering, and integration.
Coordinate closely with systems engineering to maintain requirements traceability, ICDs, architecture, and verification planning.
Partner with mission assurance to evaluate reliability, safety, and readiness, ensuring technical decisions reflect disciplined risk assessment.
Work as a peer leader with project management, protecting technical integrity while ensuring realistic schedule and resource alignment.
Lead technical reviews (architecture, design, integration, verification planning, readiness reviews) and ensure technical artifacts are complete, defensible, and configuration controlled.
Guide cross discipline engineering teams to ensure development, integration, and test work remains aligned with the technical baseline and long‑term mission needs.
Resolve cross functional technical issues, adjudicate design trades, and maintain system level coherence across fast paced development cycles.
Represent the technical state of Cyclops product to executive leadership, external stakeholders, and government customers, ensuring clarity on risk, maturity, and technical readiness.
Mentor engineering discipline leads and help grow Long Wall’s technical foundations by establishing standards, processes, and review discipline.
Support expansion of chief engineering into a fully staffed technical authority function as the company scales across future product lines.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Aerospace, Systems Engineering, or related engineering discipline.
12+ years of experience in complex aerospace or defense system development, with significant ownership over systemlevel design, integration, or technical leadership.

REQUIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

Demonstrated experience leading multidisciplinary engineering teams and owning technical baselines in mission critical environments.

Experience supporting government customers, milestone reviews, and structured engineering documentation

Deep technical fluency across aerospace subsystems (structures, propulsion, avionics, mechanisms, GNC, software, manufacturing).

Proven ability to define requirements, architecture, ICDs, verification plans, and configuration control structures.

Strong analytical foundation and ability to challenge designs, analyses, and technical assumptions.

Demonstrated capability to lead technical teams through ambiguity, rapid development, shifting priorities, and fast paced integration cycles.

Excellent communication skills for briefing executive leadership, engineering teams, and government customers on technical status, risks, and decisions.

Strong understanding of reliability, safety, and mission assurance principles for flight critical systems

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

Prior experience as a system chief engineer, technical director, principal engineer, or equivalent leadership role for missile, interceptor, launch vehicle, or military systems.
Experience working with the Missile Defense Agency, DoD, or other government customers on technical baseline management.
Familiarity with government test readiness processes, hazard analyses, and mission assurance frameworks.
Experience scaling engineering governance from prototype development into rate production or multiple program environments.
Active or recent security clearance (Secret or above).

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

Ability to sit or stand for extended periods.
Ability to use a computer for assignments and communicate effectively in person, telepresence, and phone.
Ability to travel between customer and company sites as required.

ITAR Requirement

This position requires access to information protected under US export control laws, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations and/or the Export Administration Regulations. As such, US person status (including US citizens, U.S. permanent residents, individuals granted U.S. asylum status, or individuals admitted in U.S. refugee status) is a required qualification for this position.

Equal Opportunity Employer

We are an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, genetics, or citizenship status (when otherwise legally authorized to work and access export-controlled data) and will not be discriminated against on the basis of such characteristics or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate. We encourage applicants of all ages.

National Security Suitability
Depending on the position, Long Wall may require the successful completion of a national security suitability screening in addition to its standard background check. Where required, the screening is conducted by Long Wall’s Facility Security Officer following offer acceptance and may include verification of any current or prior U.S. government security clearances or public trust positions. Information provided during the screening is used solely to determine suitability for the role and is held in confidence by Security. For positions subject to this requirement, any offer of employment is contingent upon a favorable suitability determination.

About the Company

Long Wall

Produces hypersonic testbeds and defense interceptors

Long Wall repurposes its launch heritage to serve U.S. defense needs, building deployable space and missile-defense testing tools for the government. Its RSX is a hypersonic flight-test vehicle used as a test bed and threat-replication target, Ironwood is a containerized ground system for responsive launch, and Cyclops is a surface-launched interceptor designed to engage missiles in midflight. Unlike rivals pursuing commercial satellite launches, Long Wall focuses on U.S.-made defense hardware and offers an integrated set of launch/test and interception capabilities to shorten timelines and reduce costs. Its goal is to strengthen national security by providing ready-to-use, deployable defense testing and interception solutions for government customers.

Company size: 51-200
Company stage: Grant
Total funding: $659.9M
Headquarters: Long Beach, CA
Founded: 2025

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