Principal Systems Engineer
Precise Systems · San Diego, CA
$154,000–$174,000from the description
Jul 1, 2026
San Diego, CA
Jul 20, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
This role centers on managing requirements for the U.S. Navy's Tactical Networks program, including the legacy ADNS system and its next-generation successor, under PEO C4I PMW 160 in San Diego. Day-to-day work involves leading the Requirements Review Board, analyzing the impact of hardware and software changes on the network architecture, and maintaining configuration and technical baseline documentation. It suits a deeply experienced systems engineer with a background in Navy communications and network infrastructure.
Senior level · 20+ years · San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA · 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.
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 $121,709 (middle half $101,433–$152,573). 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 Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (10)
The title is 'Principal Systems Engineer' but the role is fundamentally a Requirements Manager / Systems Analyst function (requirements development, configuration management, technical baseline management, documentation review) rather than hands-on software or hardware engineering — hence 15-1211 Computer Systems Analysts as the primary SOC, with 15-1299 as a runner-up given the defense/systems-engineering framing.
The 20+ years total experience requirement is very high, but the scope described (managing a requirements board for a single Navy program) is consistent with a Senior-level role rather than a true Principal/org-wide authority; 'Principal' here appears to be a company grade title rather than a reflection of org-wide technical leadership.
Seven (7) of the 20+ years must be within the Defense Industry, preferably with the Department of Navy — this is a hard gate embedded in the required experience section.
DOORS/Jira and MBSE are listed under 'Preferred Experience' and are treated accordingly.
ADNS/CANES knowledge is listed under 'Preferred Experience'; ADNS and CANES are listed as alternatives since the posting treats them as a paired preferred domain area.
The role is described as hybrid but requires willingness to travel and provide on-site support as customer needs dictate — not fully remote.
U.S. Citizenship is required in addition to an active Secret clearance.
Requirements Development and Configuration Management are core named processes explicitly required by the JD; they are retained as skills because they represent specific, named professional disciplines central to this role's day-to-day work.
Ignored 3 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): Systems Engineering, Requirements Development, Configuration Management.
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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