Lead Systems Engineer at The MITRE Corporation
Colorado Springs, CO
$146,400–$219,600from the description
Aug 12, 2026
Colorado Springs, CO
Sep 24, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A Lead Systems Engineer role at MITRE supporting government sponsors in architecting and integrating complex national-security mission systems using Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) and digital engineering methods. The position involves developing executable architecture models, producing engineering analyses and digital artifacts, and advising senior government stakeholders on modernization strategies. Candidates should have a strong systems engineering background and be comfortable writing code in Python or Java to build prototypes and dashboards.
Senior level · 8+ years · Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV · Bachelor's required · Secret clearance · Full-time
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Rare in this occupation — lead with these, and say what you built with them.
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $160,085 (middle half $128,934–$179,584). This posting is about at that midpoint.
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Aug 13, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (9)
The SOC code 15-1299 (Computer Occupations, All Other) is used here because Model-Based Systems Engineering / Systems Architecture is not cleanly captured by any single standard SOC; 15-1252 (Software Developers) is a plausible runner-up given the explicit coding requirements in Java and Python.
The posting states the minimum clearance required at hire is 'None', but the candidate must obtain a Secret clearance within one year — this is treated as a clearance gate for hiring purposes.
The salary range shown ($146,400–$219,600) includes a midpoint of $183,000; the max figure is used as the top of the pay band.
The role is hybrid (minimum 50% on-site); remote is set to false accordingly.
MITRE's primary campus is in McLean, VA (Washington DC metro area); no specific city is stated in the posting but the hybrid requirement implies a DC-area location.
AI/ML is listed under Basic Qualifications as an 'interest in' rather than demonstrated experience, which is softer language, but it appears in the required section so it is treated as a hard gate. The preferred section separately calls for actual experience with AI/ML tools.
MOSA standards (OMS, UCI, FACE) are mentioned as context for system integration activities but are not explicitly listed as required skills — omitted from the skills list as they appear in narrative rather than a qualifications gate.
The experience floor follows the degree-adjusted scale in the posting; 8 years with a bachelor's degree is used as the overall years minimum.
Requires a Secret clearance — the cleared population is a small fraction of this occupation, so the real candidate pool is materially smaller than the estimate below, which does not model clearance.
Read the full posting
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