Lead Systems Engineer at AMERICAN SYSTEMS
Alexandria, VA
$180,000–$225,000from the description
Jul 1, 2026
Alexandria, VA
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A senior engineering leadership role supporting a Department of Defense office focused on systems engineering, developmental test and evaluation, and digital engineering policy. The position involves managing a team of engineers and analysts, driving adoption of digital engineering and AI tools into acquisition programs and T&E processes, and advising senior government decision-makers on risks across major defense acquisition programs. Suits a seasoned engineer with deep DoD acquisition and T&E background and an active TS/SCI clearance.
Principal level · 20+ years · Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV · Bachelor's required · TS/SCI clearance · Full-time
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
Why we read it this way (7)
The role is titled 'Deputy Chief Engineer' with explicit staff management responsibilities (managing a team of engineers and analysts, interfacing with senior government leadership), which maps most naturally to 11-3021 (Computer and Information Systems Managers). However, the day-to-day work is heavily systems/digital engineering analysis, making 15-1211 a plausible runner-up.
The posting states 'BS plus 20' as the hard requirement (Bachelor's degree plus 20 years of experience), with a Master's degree listed as 'highly desired' — the Master's is marked preferred accordingly.
The role is described as hybrid (not fully remote), located in the Washington DC area based on the DoD/OSD/OUSW context, though no city is explicitly named.
Active TS/SCI clearance is explicitly listed as a hard qualification gate.
Digital Engineering, Systems Engineering, T&E, AI integration, and DoD acquisition program expertise are all stated as core required competencies. No specific commercial software tools are named beyond general references to 'digital engineering tools' and 'AI applications.'
Ignored 2 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): Digital Engineering, Systems Engineering.
Requires a TS/SCI 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.
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