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Job Description:
Parsons is seeking a highly skilled Principal Engineering to provide engineering oversight for target system payloads and countermeasure development. In this role, you will act as a trusted advisor to the program office, delivering critical assessments of prime contractor designs, technical plans, and target instrumentation layouts. You will serve as a technical anchor during major program milestones—from System Requirements through Product Acceptance—while seamlessly collaborating across multiple organizations, modeling teams, cost analysts, and schedulers to ensure items are delivered accurately and on time.
What You'll Be Doing:
Engineering Oversight & Design Assessment
Expert Advisory: Serve as the technical expert on payload and countermeasure requirements development, analysis, design, qualification, and fielding.
Independent Evaluation: Review and provide assessments of prime contractor designs, plans, reports, and technical procedures.
Instrumentation Analysis: Evaluate target instrumentation requirements, physical layouts, component selection, and testing methodologies
Program Milestone & Lifecycle Support
Milestone Reviews: Provide technical evaluation and engineering support during all major program milestones (including SRR, PDR, CDR, TRR, FRB, MRB, and PAR).
Cross-Agency Coordination: Answer technical inquiries from external MDA organizations and lead multi-disciplinary Technical Interchange Meetings (TIMs).
Program Management & Operations Collaboration
Cost Estimation: Provide technical assessments to the cost analysis team to ensure accurate program management budget estimates.
Schedule Alignment: Partner with the program scheduler to track delivery deadlines and proactively keep leadership advised of status.
What Required Skills You'll Bring:
Security Clearance: Active DoD Secret clearance
Education & Experience: Bachelor's Degree in Engineering or an equivalent technical/scientific discipline specifically related to area of specialty and an Advanced degree may be preferred at this level
and 10+ years of related professional experienceProgram Execution: Experience managing end-to-end program lifecycles, including the development, testing, and fielding of complex systems.
Adaptability: Thrive in a fast-paced environment where priorities change quickly.
Multitasking: Handle multiple urgent tasks at once without losing focus.
Travel: Able to support travel request up to 20% of the time.
What Desired Skills You'll Bring:
Master's degree in STEM and 12+ years supporting missile defense or large-scale, complex DoD programs.
Understanding of IR/RCS signatures for flight objects and countermeasures.
Experience with material properties and material property measurements.
Knowledge of real-world threat systems and how they impact target designs.
Have an understanding of MDA flight test requirements and apply that to the payload hardware development.
Technical proposal development and evaluation.
Security Clearance Requirement:
An active Secret security clearance is required for this position.This position is part of our Federal Solutions team.The Federal Solutions segment delivers resources to our US government customers that ensure the success of missions around the globe. Our intelligent employees drive the state of the art as they provide services and solutions in the areas of defense, security, intelligence, infrastructure, and environmental. We promote a culture of excellence and close-knit teams that take pride in delivering, protecting, and sustaining our nation's most critical assets, from Earth to cyberspace. Throughout the company, our people are anticipating what’s next to deliver the solutions our customers need now.Salary Range: $134,100.00 - $241,400.00We value our employees and want our employees to take care of their overall wellbeing, which is why we offer best-in-class benefits such as medical, dental, vision, paid time off, Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), 401(k), life insurance, flexible work schedules, and holidays to fit your busy lifestyle!Parsons is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, veteran status or any other protected status.We truly invest and care about our employee’s wellbeing and provide endless growth opportunities as the sky is the limit, so aim for the stars! Imagine next and join the Parsons quest—APPLY TODAY!Parsons is aware of fraudulent recruitment practices. To learn more about recruitment fraud and how to report it, please refer to https://www.parsons.com/fraudulent-recruitment/.
Skills Required
- Active DoD Secret security clearance
- Bachelor's degree in engineering or an equivalent technical/scientific discipline related to the specialty
- 10+ years of related professional experience
- Experience managing end-to-end program lifecycles, including development, testing, and fielding of complex systems
- Ability to adapt in a fast-paced environment with changing priorities
- Ability to handle multiple urgent tasks simultaneously
- Ability to travel up to 20% of the time
- Advanced degree
- Master's degree in STEM
- 12+ years supporting missile defense or large-scale, complex DoD programs
- Understanding of infrared/radar cross-section signatures for flight objects and countermeasures
- Experience with material properties and material property measurements
- Knowledge of real-world threat systems and their impact on target designs
- Understanding of MDA flight-test requirements applied to payload hardware development
- Technical proposal development and evaluation experience
Parsons Corporation Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Parsons Corporation and has not been reviewed or approved by Parsons Corporation.
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Retirement Support — Retirement programs are framed as a major value driver, with an ESOP alongside a 401(k) match and additional stock-purchase options contributing meaningfully to total rewards. This structure is positioned as especially attractive for employees who value long-term wealth-building over immediate cash.
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Healthcare Strength — Health coverage is described as broad and choice-rich, with multiple plan types (PPO, HDHP, and some HMO networks) plus dental, vision, EAP, and wellness resources. The availability of different plan designs and national-carrier coverage supports varied employee needs.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time-off offerings are portrayed as competitive, including PTO, holidays, flexible schedules such as a 9/80 option for eligible roles, and floating holidays in the U.S. Paid parental leave of 160 hours is also highlighted as a meaningful component of the overall package.
Parsons Corporation Insights
What We Do
Parsons is a digitally enabled solutions provider with a focus on making the world safer, smarter, healthier, more sustainable, and more connected. Founded in 1944, Parsons primarily serves the defense, security, and infrastructure markets. Uniquely qualified to deliver cyber/converged security, technology-based intellectual property, and other innovative services, the corporation delivers state-of-the-art solutions to federal, regional, and local government agencies as well as to private industrial customers worldwide. Parsons has a reputation for inclusion and diversity and has been named to the Ethisphere Institute’s list of World’s Most Ethical Companies for 10 consecutive years. Parsons facilitates a culture of innovation by encouraging collaboration among its employees and providing opportunities for career growth. With offices around the globe, people of varied talents and backgrounds, and a wide range of exciting projects, the possibilities at Parsons are endless. For more about Parsons, visit www.parsons.com. Mission: Delivering innovative infrastructure, defense, and security solutions to enable a more sustainable, safer, smarter, and more connected world.
