Principal Systems Engineer

Job Overview

Principal Systems Engineer – Application Services for a next‑generation satellite Command and Control (C2) system.Location: Aurora, CO.Salary range: $107,500 – $204,500.Relocation eligible.

Responsibilities

• Lead systems engineering activities for reusable Application Services from concept through verification.
• Define functional behavior, interfaces, operational scenarios, acceptance criteria, and verification strategies for common application capabilities.
• Design observability solutions supporting application instrumentation, metrics, logging, tracing, health monitoring, alerting, and mission awareness across mission‑critical services.
• Develop verification strategies for automated unit, feature, integration, and end‑to‑end testing.
• Collaborate with software engineers to design and support automated test scenarios using Playwright or similar UI/API automation frameworks.
• Develop reusable engineering artifacts, design patterns, and shared services that improve consistency and reduce duplication across Agile product teams.
• Partner with Platform Engineering, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), Cyber Engineering, and application development teams to integrate common capabilities within CI/CD and DevSecOps workflows.
• Participate in technical reviews, Program Increment (PI) Planning, demonstrations, customer technical exchanges, and integration events while maintaining a systems‑level perspective.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM) and a minimum of 8 years of relevant experience.
• Experience performing Systems Engineering on software‑intensive systems, including requirements definition, interface development, and verification planning.
• Experience collaborating with software development teams in Agile environments and supporting software testing throughout the systems engineering lifecycle.
• Experience translating mission needs into technical solutions with strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Active and transferable U.S. government‑issued TS/SCI security clearance required prior to start date; U.S. citizenship required.

Preferred Qualifications

• Automated test scenario development using Playwright or similar UI/API automation frameworks.
• Observability solutions utilizing OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Grafana, or similar platforms.
• Experience with distributed systems, microservices, Kubernetes, containerized applications, and cloud‑native architectures.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines, DevSecOps practices, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), and automation scripting.
• Experience with Model‑Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) methodologies and digital engineering practices.
• Experience incorporating AI capabilities for anomaly detection, predictive analytics, intelligent alerting, root cause analysis, or log intelligence.
• Experience developing reusable software frameworks, shared services, or common engineering capabilities supporting multiple Agile product teams.
• Experience working with customers, operators, and external stakeholders to translate operational needs into engineering solutions.
• Experience supporting satellite Command and Control (C2), mission management, or other software‑intensive defense systems.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage; life insurance; short‑term and long‑term disability.
• 401(k) match; flexible spending accounts; flexible work schedules.
• Employee assistance program; parental leave; paid time off and holidays.

EEO Statement

RTX is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other applicable state or federal protected class. RTX provides affirmative action in employment for qualified Individuals with a Disability and Protected Veterans in compliance with Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act.