Principal Systems Engineer, Product Architecture at PDW
Denver, CO
$209,000–$261,000
Jul 23, 2026
Denver, CO
Jul 24, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A senior systems engineering role focused on defining the technical architecture for a portfolio of unmanned aircraft and related mission systems. The position sits at the intersection of product strategy and engineering execution, responsible for translating operational requirements into system architectures, interface definitions, and verifiable baselines using MBSE and SysML. It suits an experienced engineer with a decade or more working on complex aerospace or defense platforms through to production.
Senior level · 10+ years · Bachelor's required · Secret clearance · Full-time
Advertised as Principal, but the requirements read as Senior.
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
Posted 2 times — it's one opening, so apply once.
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.
What the occupation pays Median $119,144 (middle half $81,115–$160,963).
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (9)
No work location city is stated in the posting; CBSA is left blank. The role is clearly US-based given the defense/manufacturing context and clearance requirement.
The clearance gate reads 'must have the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Security Clearance' — the level is unspecified, but the defense/sUAS context and DoD customer references make Secret the minimum reasonable interpretation. Candidates who cannot obtain any clearance are gated out.
The title says 'Principal' but the scope — owning architecture for a single product portfolio at a growth-stage company, with 10+ years required — is consistent with a Senior individual contributor rather than a true org-wide Principal. Seniority is assessed as Senior accordingly.
Cameo Systems Modeler is listed as the primary tool 'or equivalent platforms'; alternatives reflect the two most common MBSE tool substitutes a hiring manager would accept.
RF systems, tactical communications, autonomy, and embedded systems appear in the required qualifications section but are framed as 'experience developing or integrating' any one of a list of domains — they are not all individually hard-gated, so they are marked preferred.
MOSA, Open Mission Systems (OMS), FACE, and DoD Digital Engineering initiatives appear explicitly under a 'Preferred Experience' heading.
Master's degree is explicitly 'preferred,' not required; the degree requirement is set to Bachelors (the stated minimum).
No compensation figures are provided in the posting.
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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