At Parsons, you can imagine a career where you thrive, work with exceptional people, and be yourself. Guided by our leadership vision of valuing people, embracing agility, and fostering growth, we cultivate an innovative culture that empowers you to achieve your full potential. Unleash your talent and redefine what’s possible.
Job Description:
Parsons is seeking a Principal Innovation Engineer to drive applied innovation for a mission-critical global identity and mobility platform deployed across a wide range of operating environments, from remote and austere locations to high-throughput modern facilities to cloud-forward architectures.
This is a hands-on senior engineering role for a technologist who can identify promising technologies, evaluate them against real operational needs, build compelling prototypes and demonstrations, and help transition the best ideas into production-ready capabilities. The right candidate will be comfortable working across software, cloud, edge systems, biometrics/peripherals, networking, resilience engineering, and operational workflows.
We are looking for someone who can help ensure our platform remains modern, resilient, and visibly state-of-the-art to customers, stakeholders, and industry peers.
What you will do
Identify, evaluate, and prototype new technologies that improve a globally deployed mission-critical platform
Build working demonstrations, proof-of-concepts, and pilot implementations that can be shown to internal leadership, customers, and external stakeholders
Explore innovation across areas such as:
digital identity and verification
biometrics and contactless capture
edge computing and low-power deployments
resilient/offline-first operations
cloud-native modernization
analytics and AI-assisted workflows
automation and operator experience
secure peripherals and smart devices
Assess emerging commercial and open technologies for fit, maturity, operational value, security implications, and deployability
Translate innovation ideas into practical architectures that can operate in low-bandwidth environments with intermittent connectivity, power-constraints, environmental challenges, or infrastructure limitations
Assist leadership with transition from prototypes to implementation roadmaps
Produce technical trade studies, architecture recommendations, demonstration plans, and innovation briefings
Support technical presentations, showcases, and evaluations with customers, sponsors, and partners
Shape an innovation pipeline from concept to prototype to fieldable capability
Required qualifications
10+ years of experience in systems engineering, software engineering, platform engineering, or applied R&D
Demonstrated experience turning emerging technology concepts into working prototypes or production capabilities
Strong hands-on technical depth in several of the following:
distributed software systems
cloud platforms, especially AWS
edge or embedded deployments
networking or hybrid connectivity
identity or security systems
biometrics or device/peripheral integration
observability or operational analytics
Experience evaluating technology not only for technical merit, but for operational realism, reliability, security, supportability, and lifecycle fit
Experience working in mission-critical, operational, public sector, regulated, or globally distributed environments
Strong communication skills with the ability to present complex ideas clearly to both engineers and non-technical decision makers
Preferred qualifications
Experience with identity verification, biometrics, access-control, document technologies, automated gate/peripheral systems, or related domains
Experience designing solutions for remote, austere, power-constrained, or intermittently connected environments
Experience with Java-based distributed systems, microservices, and event-driven architectures
Experience with AWS, Terraform, and hybrid edge/cloud architectures
Familiarity with technologies such as MongoDB, Elasticsearch/OpenSearch, RabbitMQ/Kafka, Grafana, ELK, HashiCorp Consul, Nomad, and Vault
Experience with AI/ML-enabled analytics, computer vision, anomaly detection, or intelligent automation
Experience engaging with vendors, standards bodies, industry forums, or customer technical demonstrations
Why join Parsons in this role
Work on visible, high-impact innovation with real operational relevance
Help shape the future direction of a globally deployed platform operating in some of the most challenging environments
Build demonstrable capabilities that influence customer confidence, program growth, and technical direction
Operate at the intersection of edge systems, cloud, resilience, identity, security, and emerging technology
Join a team where senior engineers can take ideas from concept to showcased capability to operational adoption
Security Clearance Requirement:
An active Top Secret SCI 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: $176,900.00 - $332,400.00We 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
- 10+ years of experience in systems engineering, software engineering, platform engineering, or applied R&D
- Demonstrated experience turning emerging technology concepts into working prototypes or production capabilities
- Hands-on technical depth in distributed software systems
- Hands-on experience with cloud platforms, especially AWS
- Experience with edge or embedded deployments
- Experience with networking or hybrid connectivity
- Experience with identity or security systems
- Experience with biometrics or device/peripheral integration
- Experience with observability or operational analytics
- Ability to evaluate technology for operational realism, reliability, security, supportability, and lifecycle fit
- Experience working in mission-critical, operational, public sector, regulated, or globally distributed environments
- Strong communication skills to present complex ideas to engineers and non-technical decision makers
- Experience with identity verification, biometrics, access-control, document technologies, or automated gate/peripheral systems
- Experience designing solutions for remote, austere, power-constrained, or intermittently connected environments
- Experience with Java-based distributed systems, microservices, and event-driven architectures
- Experience with AWS, Terraform, and hybrid edge/cloud architectures
- Familiarity with MongoDB, Elasticsearch/OpenSearch, RabbitMQ/Kafka, Grafana, ELK, HashiCorp Consul, Nomad, and Vault
- Experience with AI/ML-enabled analytics, computer vision, anomaly detection, or intelligent automation
- Experience engaging with vendors, standards bodies, industry forums, or customer technical demonstrations
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.
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