Lead Systems Engineer

SAIC seeks an experienced and energetic Senior Principal Systems Engineer to directly support the modernization of the space launch ranges, meeting mission requirements, providing range capabilities, and supporting the Assured Access to Space (AATS) mission. The overarching purpose of the program is to perform system modernization and digital transformation projects that will enable the acceleration of the space launch cadence to enable the Spaceport of the future. This position is located in Santa Maria, California.

The Western Range (WR) Lead Systems Engineer will provide technical leadership across complex, cross‑functional initiatives, driving systems architecture, integration, scalability, and operational excellence. This role partners closely with program management, product, and engineering teams to define system requirements, lead design reviews, ensure compliance with enterprise standards, and oversee delivery of high‑quality system solutions.

Job Responsibilities:

• Lead end to end systems engineering efforts across multiple projects or products.
• Define system architecture, interfaces, and integration strategy.
• Translate functional requirements into detailed technical specifications.
• Drive system design reviews, risk assessments, and trade studies.
• Oversee system validation, verification, and performance analysis.
• Partner with project managers to ensure alignment of technical scope, schedule, and resources.
• Mentor junior engineers and promote engineering best practices.
• Coordinate across cross functional teams to resolve issues and ensure seamless system integration.
•  Support roadmap planning, capacity forecasting, and technology strategy.
• Providing system-level engineering support and expertise to a cross-functional team.
• Providing preliminary solutions to engineering problems of moderate scope and complexity in an expeditious, efficient, and timely manner.
• Identify and apply current and emerging Digital Engineering practices, methods, and tools to address our sponsor and partners' most pressing challenges.
• Apply knowledge and principles of agile acquisition, architecture design, system integration, risk assessment/management, and other systems engineering disciplines to support recommendations to address these challenges.
• Employ rapid prototyping and technical recommendations to inform sponsor and partner capability requirements and decisions.
• Collaborate with platform partners to contribute to greater practice of MBSE and DE across the enterprise.
• Authoring and maintenance of technical documentation, such as Requirements Specifications, Concepts of Operation, Product and Performance Specifications, Interface Control Documents, Compliance Matrices, Qualification Test Plans, Procedures, and Reports.
• Development and documentation of engineering processes and standards in support of customer requirements.
• Has experience working on projects updating ground-based systems such as RF Systems, communication systems, telemetry, and/or virtualization of systems. 

•  Bachelor’s degree in an engineering, mathematics, physics or equivalent technical discipline and fourteen (14) years of systems integration and systems engineering related or equivalent experience or Master’s degree in an engineering, mathematics, physics or equivalent technical discipline and twelve (12) years of systems integration and systems engineering related or equivalent experience.
• Familiarity with team and administrative collaboration and analysis tools such as Microsoft SharePoint, Excel, Access, and Project.
• Familiarity with Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) including generating, analyzing, and maintaining a digital model.
• Must have a secret clearance.

Desired Education, Experience, and Qualifications:

• Master of Science in engineering, science or related technical field.
• Experience in large Government systems acquisition.
• Thorough understanding of space systems design, integration and test requirements and test execution, including test equipment support.
• Experience in cloud, distributed systems, embedded systems, or enterprise‑scale platforms.