Neural AI
Senior Defense Engineer
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RTX
Lockheed Martin
Northrop Grumman
Anduril
General Dynamics
BAE Systems
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The job description
Tech stack. systems architecture, design reviews, MBSE, technical risk management, requirements leadership, MATLAB, Python, integration planning
About the role
You will join a defense technology company as the senior technical owner of a mission-critical subsystem, the engineer the team turns to when tradeoffs are hard and the answer matters. You are expected to deliver designs that survive contact with manufacturing, test, and the field, owning your subsystem from architecture through qualification with sound judgment at every review. Your standards set the bar for everyone around you: in analysis rigor, in review quality, and in the honesty with which risks and margins are reported to program leadership.
What you will achieve
- Own the architecture and delivery of a subsystem through preliminary and critical design reviews, closing all actions with no repeat findings.
- Drive technical trades that cut subsystem cost or mass by 15 percent while protecting performance margins the customer depends on.
- Lead integration of your subsystem with adjacent teams, resolving interface issues in days rather than letting them become program risks.
- Mentor two or more junior engineers, raising their design quality and review readiness within a year.
- Deliver qualification results on schedule, with test failures analyzed to root cause and corrective actions verified before retest.
What you will bring
Must-haves
- You bring 5 to 8 years of defense or aerospace engineering experience with clear ownership of delivered hardware or software.
- You have led a subsystem through design reviews and into integration or qualification.
- You make sound technical trades under constraints of cost, schedule, mass, power, and performance.
- You are fluent in systems engineering practice: requirements, interfaces, verification, and risk management.
- You communicate decisions crisply in writing and in reviews, defending your approach with data.
- You raise the engineers around you through review feedback, pairing, and honest technical mentoring.
- You have recovered a troubled design or test campaign, diagnosing root causes and leading the team back to a qualified baseline.
Nice-to-haves
- You have taken a design from concept through fielding or production.
- You bring depth in one domain such as RF, power, structures, or embedded software.
- You have supported proposal or capture work with technical volumes or cost estimates.
- You hold an active security clearance or can obtain one.
- You bring experience estimating engineering effort and schedule for proposals or program replans.