Kratos Defense and Security Solutions

Systems Engineering Lead

Kratos Defense and Security Solutions • $120K — $145K *
Jupiter, FL 33458In-Person
Aerospace & Defense
8 - 10 years of experience
Today
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Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering, Master's preferred.
  • 10+ years in turbine engine or power-system design and development in aerospace or defense.
  • Deep knowledge of turbomachinery design across multiple disciplines.
  • Proven ability to lead multidisciplinary engineering teams as the senior technical authority.
  • Strong understanding of systems engineering processes and hardware lifecycle.
  • Experience with Safety, Reliability & Maintainability engineering practices.
  • Strong leadership and mentoring skills in applied systems engineering.

Responsibilities

  • Serve as senior technical lead across turbomachinery design teams.
  • Resolve cross-discipline design issues with comprehensive systems understanding.
  • Translate customer and program needs into actionable engineering requirements.
  • Develop and maintain system architecture and interface control documentation.
  • Drive requirements verification and validation through design and qualification stages.
  • Lead hardware integration activities to meet system performance objectives.
  • Conduct major technical reviews and communicate effectively with stakeholders.

Benefits

  • Opportunity to mentor and develop engineering talent.
  • Collaborative environment with cross-disciplinary teams.
  • Engagement in cutting-edge turbomachinery programs.
  • Participation in significant technical forums and reviews.
  • Exposure to a diverse range of aerospace engineering challenges.
Full Job Description
General Job Summary:

The Systems Engineering Lead will serve as a leader on advanced turbomachinery and power systems programs. This role is central to translating customer and program needs into clear, verifiable requirements and ensuring those requirements are successfully flowed, integrated, verified, and sustained across the full hardware product lifecycle - from concept through qualification, delivery, and fielded support.

As the technical interface between the Program Manager, customer, and multi-discipline engineering teams, this role requires knowledge and understanding of turbomachinery, strong systems engineering judgment, and the ability to lead cross-functional teams through complex design, fabrication, test, and delivery programs under aggressive schedules.

This is a technical leadership role focused on decision-making, risk management, and product integrity. We are looking for someone equally effective leading internal design reviews with discipline engineers and presenting program technical status to government and program stakeholders.

Essential Job Functions:
  • Serve as the senior technical lead and decision authority across multidisciplinary turbomachinery design teams, ensuring system-level requirements, performance, safety, reliability, maintainability, and integration objectives are met.
  • Lead technical decision-making and resolve cross-discipline design issues by understanding how requirements and design decisions propagate throughout the turbine engine or power system.
  • Partner with the Program Manager and customer to interpret top-level requirements, performance metrics, and operational needs, translating them into actionable engineering direction.
  • Lead development and maintenance of system architecture, functional allocation, requirements flowdown, and interface control documentation for internal and external system interfaces.
  • Drive requirements verification and validation from definition through qualification and acceptance, including verification methods, success criteria, traceability, compliance, and closure of verification evidence.
  • Lead hardware integration activities and resolve mechanical, thermal, fluid, electrical, data, and other system interfaces to achieve system-level performance and integration objectives.
  • Direct technical assessment of design outputs, test plans, qualification and acceptance testing, supplier technical data, and test anomalies; determine technical disposition where required.
  • Ensure rigorous application of Safety, Reliability & Maintainability processes and provide technical input to hazard analyses, FMEA/FMECA, reliability assessments, and safety-critical design decisions.
  • Identify, assess, and mitigate technical risks; lead trade studies and technical decision analysis through design, development, qualification, and field support.
  • Coordinate technical activities across internal engineering disciplines, suppliers, manufacturing/quality organizations, customers, and partner or associate contractor teams.
  • Maintain clear traceability from customer needs and system requirements through design, analysis, test, qualification, and fielded configuration.
  • Lead or significantly contribute to major technical reviews and customer-facing technical discussions, including SRR, PDR, CDR, TRR, FRR, and equivalent reviews.
  • Mentor engineers and champion practical, disciplined systems engineering practices throughout the hardware lifecycle.
  • Other job duties as assigned.


  • Deep understanding of turbine engine and turbomachinery design and how requirements interact across aerodynamics, structures, heat transfer, secondary air systems, controls, rotor dynamics, materials, manufacturing, and other disciplines.
  • Proven ability to serve as the senior technical authority for multidisciplinary engineering teams, make sound technical decisions, resolve cross-discipline design conflicts, and drive technically sound solutions under schedule and cost constraints.
  • Proven ability to interpret, decompose, and flow down complex system requirements into subsystem, component, and interface requirements from concept through qualification and fielded product.
  • Strong working knowledge of systems engineering processes and the hardware product lifecycle, including requirements management, system architecture, functional allocation, interface control, verification and validation, configuration management, change control, and hardware integration.
  • Demonstrated experience with Safety, Reliability & Maintainability engineering, including FMEA/FMECA, hazard analysis, reliability assessment, and identification of safety-critical or single-point failures.
  • Demonstrated ability to lead technical reviews and communicate complex technical issues and decisions to engineering teams, Program Managers, customers, and senior government or industry stakeholders.
  • Proven ability to identify and mitigate technical risks and lead trade studies and decision analysis throughout concept, detailed design, development, qualification, and field support.
  • Strong leadership and mentoring skills, with the ability to guide multidisciplinary teams and establish disciplined systems engineering practices without substituting process or tools for engineering judgment.

Education and Experience:
  • Bachelor's degree in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical discipline; Master's degree preferred.
  • 10+ years of experience in turbine engine, turbomachinery, propulsion, or power-system design and development within the aerospace or defense industry, with significant experience providing technical leadership.

Work Environment/Physical Requirements:
  • Office and/or manufacturing environment.
  • Ability to sit and stand for long periods of time.
  • Ability to perform repetitive motion (keyboarding, mouse, phones, rotating wrist, using tools/equipment).

Travel Requirements: Yes, if applicable.

About Kratos Defense and Security Solutions

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. provides mission critical products, solutions, and services in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Kratos Government Solutions, Unmanned Systems, and Public Safety & Security. The Kratos Government Solutions segment offers microwave electronic products, satellite communications, training systems, modular systems, and defense and rocket support services. The Unmanned Systems segment provides unmanned aerial, ground, and seaborne, as well as command, control, and communications systems. The Public Safety & Security segment designs, engineers, deploys, operates, integrates, maintains, and operates security and surveillance solutions for homeland security, public safety, critical infrastructure, government, and commercial customers. The company serves national security related agencies, the department of defense, intelligence agencies, and classified agencies, as well as international government agencies and domestic and international commercial customers; and critical infrastructure, power generation, power transport, nuclear energy, financial, IT, healthcare, education, transportation, and petro-chemical industries, as well as government and military customers. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.
Learn more about Kratos Defense and Security Solutions
Size
3,300 employees
Market Cap
$1.1 billion
Industry
Aerospace & Defense
Net Income
$79.6 million
Founded
1994
5 Year Trend
+8.4%
Revenue
$747.6 million
NASDAQ
KTOS
* Ladders Estimates

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