Principal Systems Engineer – Secure Systems
Saige Partners · Cedar Rapids, IA
$140,000–$185,000
Jul 6, 2026
Cedar Rapids, IA
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A senior-level systems engineering role focused on secure communications systems for defense and national security programs. Day-to-day work spans the full engineering lifecycle — from architecture and requirements decomposition through integration, verification, and production transition — in close collaboration with hardware, software, cybersecurity, and test teams. An active U.S. Secret clearance and at least eight years of systems engineering experience are required.
Senior level · 8+ years · Cedar Rapids, IA · Bachelor's required · Secret clearance
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.
Why we read it this way (7)
The job title says 'Principal Systems Engineer' but the body of the posting opens by calling the role 'Senior Systems Engineer.' The actual requirements (8 years minimum, no org-wide authority scope) support a Senior band; 'Principal' in the title appears to be a grade label rather than a true principal-level scope.
The 8-year minimum applies unless the candidate holds an advanced degree, in which case 5 years suffices; 8 years is used as the conservative floor.
Systems Engineering is a cross-disciplinary occupation not perfectly captured by a single SOC code. 15-1299 (Computer Occupations, All Other) is used as the best fit given the heavy software/systems focus; 15-1211 (Computer Systems Analysts) is a plausible alternative given the requirements analysis and architecture emphasis.
Defense/aerospace/secure communications program experience is listed under Preferred, as are all tool-specific and language skills (IBM DOORS, Cameo/SysML, Python, Rust, SAFe/Agile, cryptographic hardware, network encryption).
No compensation range is stated in the posting.
Ignored 3 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): Systems Engineering Lifecycle, Requirements Management, System Architecture.
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.
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