Description: Columbia Technology Partners is seeking a System Engineer 4 to support the design, integration, and lifecycle management of complex mission systems. This role applies systems engineering principles across all phases of the system lifecycle while serving as a technical leader, architect, and customer-facing engineer. The ideal candidate will work closely with government stakeholders, analysts, developers, and partner organizations to deliver innovative solutions that address critical mission requirements.
Key Responsibilities: - Apply systems engineering principles across the ISO/IEC 15288 lifecycle process areas, supporting systems from concept development through operational deployment and sustainment.
- Lead system architecture and integration efforts, defining technical approaches, integration patterns, interface requirements, and API contracts across multiple mission systems.
- Collaborate directly with government customers, analysts, operators, and partner organizations to translate operational needs into technical requirements and system capabilities.
- Develop and maintain integration architecture documentation, technical roadmaps, engineering artifacts, and customer-facing guidance.
- Analyze technical alternatives and recommend engineering solutions that balance mission needs, performance requirements, and technical risk.
- Design and support integration strategies leveraging REST APIs, GraphQL services, messaging platforms, and enterprise data exchange technologies.
- Work closely with development teams to guide technical implementation efforts and support system integration activities throughout the development lifecycle.
- Support the architecture of data-driven capabilities, helping define analytics requirements and enabling analysts to derive actionable insights from complex, multi-source data environments.
- Evaluate opportunities to incorporate AI/ML technologies, including anomaly detection, recommendation engines, pattern recognition, and advanced analytics capabilities that enhance mission effectiveness.
- Participate in technical exchanges, architecture reviews, and cross-program engineering discussions with customers, stakeholders, and partner organizations.
- Provide technical leadership and mentoring to engineering teams while coordinating the work of other engineers and technical staff.
- Analyze and recommend engineering standards, best practices, and processes to improve system quality, performance, and maintainability.
- Contribute to the development of innovative solutions addressing complex intelligence, mission operations, and systems integration challenges.
- Present technical approaches, system capabilities, and engineering recommendations to audiences ranging from end users and analysts to engineers, program managers, and senior leadership.
Qualifications: - Bachelor's degree and 10+ years of systems engineering experience; Master's degree and 8+ years; PhD and 8+ years; or High School Diploma/GED and 14+ years of systems engineering experience.
- Experience leading system architecture, technical design, and large-scale system integration efforts.
- Proven ability to work directly with customers and stakeholders to develop requirements and translate mission needs into technical solutions.
- Strong technical communication skills, including architecture documentation, engineering artifacts, technical presentations, and customer-facing deliverables.
Desired Skills: - Experience with data science, analytics architecture, AI/ML integration, or advanced data exploitation capabilities.
- Intelligence Community experience supporting SIGINT, RF, multi-INT, targeting, or analyst mission workflows.
- Knowledge of integration technologies, including REST APIs, GraphQL, Apache NiFi, Apache Camel, messaging platforms, or enterprise data exchange solutions.
- Familiarity with Java/Spring Boot environments and data modeling approaches involving relational, search, or graph-based architectures.
Requirements: - U.S. Citizenship is required for all applicants. CTP is an equal opportunity employer and abides by applicable employment laws and regulations. All applicants and employees are subject to random drug testing in accordance with Executive Order 12564. Employment is contingent upon successful completion of a security background investigation and polygraph.
- Certification Requirements:
This position requires an active Security Clearance with appropriate Polygraph. 
