Principal Engineer

4M Research, Inc. • $120K — $145K *
Aerospace & Defense
11 - 15 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Active DoD Secret clearance required.
  • Master's degree in STEM with 12+ years in missile defense or complex DoD programs.
  • Experience in end-to-end program lifecycle management.
  • Ability to thrive in a fast-paced and dynamic environment.
  • Skilled at multitasking under pressure.
  • Willingness to travel up to 20% of the time.

Responsibilities

  • Serve as the technical expert for payload and countermeasure requirements.
  • Review and assess prime contractor designs and technical procedures.
  • Evaluate target instrumentation requirements and testing methodologies.
  • Provide technical evaluation during major program milestones.
  • Respond to technical inquiries and lead Technical Interchange Meetings.
  • Support cost analysis team with technical assessments for budgeting.
  • Collaborate with program scheduler to monitor delivery deadlines.

Benefits

  • Participation in a mission critical defense program.
  • Opportunity to collaborate with multi-disciplinary teams.
  • Critical role in influencing program decisions and outcomes.
  • Access to advanced technological infrastructure.
  • Engagement with high-level technical discussions and evaluations.
Full Job Description
4M Research is seeking a PrincipalEngineer to provide engineering oversight for target system payloads and countermeasure development. In this role, you will act as a trusted advisor to the program office, delivering critical assessments of prime contractor designs, technical plans, and target instrumentation layouts. You will serve as a technical anchor during major program milestones-from System Requirements through Product Acceptance-while seamlessly collaborating across multiple organizations, modeling teams, cost analysts, and schedulers to ensure items are delivered accurately and on time.

Responsibilities:

Engineering Oversight & Design Assessment
  • Expert Advisory: Serve as the technical expert on payload and countermeasure requirements development, analysis, design, qualification, and fielding.
  • Independent Evaluation: Review and provide assessments of prime contractor designs, plans, reports, and technical procedures.
  • Instrumentation Analysis: Evaluate target instrumentation requirements, physical layouts, component selection, and testing methodologies.

Program Milestone & Lifecycle Support
  • Milestone Reviews: Provide technical evaluation and engineering support during all major program milestones (including SRR, PDR, CDR, TRR, FRB, MRB, and PAR).
  • Cross-Agency Coordination: Answer technical inquiries from external MDA organizations and lead multi-disciplinary Technical Interchange Meetings (TIMs).

Program Management & Operations Collaboration
  • Cost Estimation: Provide technical assessments to the cost analysis team to ensure accurate program management budget estimates.
  • Schedule Alignment: Partner with the program scheduler to track delivery deadlines and proactively keep leadership advised of status.

Required Qualifications:
  • Security Clearance: Active DoD Secret clearance.
  • Education & Experience: Master's degree in STEM and 12+ years supporting missile defense or large-scale, complex DoD programs.
  • Program Execution: Experience managing end-to-end program lifecycles, including the development, testing, and fielding of complex systems.
  • Adaptability: Thrive in a fast-paced environment where priorities change quickly.
  • Multitasking: Handle multiple urgent tasks at once without losing focus.
  • Travel: Able to support travel request up to 20% of the time.

Desired Qualifications:
  • Understanding of IR/RCS signatures for flight objects and countermeasures.
  • Experience with material properties and material property measurements.
  • Knowledge of real-world threat systems and how they impact target designs.
  • Have an understanding of MDA flight test requirements and apply that to the payload hardware development.
  • Technical proposal development and evaluation.

Please Note: U.S. Citizenship is required

Qualified candidates should apply online at

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