Space Protection Mission Engineer

Space Protection Mission Engineer

Job ID: 2614266

Location: Chantilly, VA, United States

Date Posted: Jul 6, 2026

Category: Engineering and Sciences

Subcategory: Systems Engineer

Schedule: Full-Time

Shift: Day Job

Travel: Yes - 10% of the time

Minimum Clearance Required: TS/SCI with Poly

Clearance Level Must Be Able to Obtain: None

Potential for Remote Work: On-Site

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Job Description

Description

SAIC is seeking a Space Protection Mission Engineer to join the Air Force, Space and Intelligence Business Group providing systems engineering and technical advisory services to a rapidly expanding Government Intelligence Community (IC) customer. The customer is developing the next generation of space and ground systems, architectures, and hardware and software solutions.

The Space Protection Mission Engineer will serve as the subject matter expert (SME) and System Program Office (SPO) representative coordinating with the development contractor and stakeholders (including end user operators) for deployment of new protection capabilities into space operations. The Space Protection Mission Engineer collaborates within a team of mission-related SMEs to coordinate system development, requirements verification testing (and sell-off), identification of discrepancies, and mission validation testing.

The Space Protection Mission Engineer responsibilities may include, but are not limited to:

• Coordinate with external SPOs to develop a common space protection concept of operations that identifies capability requirements and required interfaces to enable satisfaction of their unique protection needs, while simultaneously liaising, as required, to build relationships and manage expectations.
• Advocate for enterprise capability needs at developer working groups, SPO's internal decision forums, and other technical meetings to facilitate achieving capability delivery commitments.
• Shape strategy recommendations to include engineering and acquisition trades that meet enterprise's demand for space protection capabilities within the program's development priorities and budget profile.
• Serves as a SPO technical expert providing oversight for software development, implementation, and deployment of ground processing system capabilities that are integrated with the NRO space enterprise.
• Collaborate with other SMEs to develop technical plans and documentation, advise the customer on technical progress of the acquisition, and support the integration of ground processing systems with space systems.
• Produce technical materials depicting SPO's development progress in support of stakeholder equities in preparation for stakeholder's NRO oversight and/or other readiness events, as required.
• Support the Contracting Officer Technical Representative(s) and developers to refine requirements, designs, and testing capabilities to meet user needs.

Qualifications

Required:

• Bachelor's and 9 or more years of experience; master's and 7 or more years of experience; PhD and 4 or more years of experience.
• Active Top Secret/SCI clearance with Poly.
• Experience in Government System Engineering disciplines, including requirements development and management, readiness, and testing.
• Experience developing, testing, or fielding space and/or ground software systems.
• Familiarity with Space Domain Awareness (SDA) systems, activities, or operations.

Desired:

• Experience in SDA and Indication and Warning (I&W) mission areas.
• Experience supporting NRO SIGINT/GEOINT SPOs and/or familiarity with SIGINT/GEOINT operations.
• Familiarity with NRO's System's Engineering Directorate (SED) and its Requirements Development/Management, RFC, and Lifecycle Readiness processes.
• Familiarity with Agile development methodologies including participation in scrums, development of solution epics/features, and continuous integration/continuous deployment.
• Familiarity with Confluence and JIRA.

Target salary range: $160,001 - $200,000. The estimate displayed represents the typical salary range for this position based on experience and other factors.

Overview

SAIC accepts applications on an ongoing basis and there is no deadline.

SAIC is a premier mission integrator focused on advancing the power of technology and innovation to serve and protect our world. Our robust portfolio of offerings across the defense, space, intelligence, and civilian markets includes secure high-end solutions in mission IT, enterprise IT, engineering services, and professional services. We integrate emerging technology, rapidly and securely, into mission critical operations that modernize and enable critical national imperatives.

We are approximately 23,000 strong; driven by mission, united by purpose, and inspired by opportunities. SAIC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, SAIC has annual revenues of approximately $7.3 billion. For more information, visit saic.com. For ongoing news, please visit our newsroom.

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