Principal Nuclear Detection Systems Engineer

Job ID: 2616360

Location: El Segundo, CA, US

Date Posted: 2026-08-31

Category: Engineering and Sciences

Subcategory: Systems Engineer

Schedule: Full-Time

Shift: Day Job

Travel: Yes - 10% of the time

Minimum Clearance Required: Secret

Clearance Level Must Be Able to Obtain: Top Secret

Potential for Remote Work: ORA_HYBRID

Description

Make a difference for national security by joining a team of dedicated professionals in El Segundo, CA who assist the US Space Force in developing and deploying the satellites and ground systems for Nuclear Detection System (NDS) capabilities. These systems provide timely and critical nuclear detection data to our warfighter to ensure national security mission success.

Our Systems Engineering & Integration (SE&I) team has an immediate need for a hybrid Principal Nuclear Detection System Engineer (USNDS) in El Segundo, CA with mission experience in space/ground systems for the management, development, and deployment of NDS systems to ensure on-time delivery of capabilities. As a SE&I professional, candidates will provide System Engineering (SE) services across all SE disciplines with emphasis in integration and test toward delivering operational capabilities into an enterprise system architecture.

Job Responsibilities:

• Provide Systems Engineering expertise with focus on Ground software development and verification to SSC NDS program office as a member of the SE&I team.
• Support Ground System DT&E, OT&E and associated milestone deliverables reviews and design maturity assessment.
• Perform requirement definition & allocations, refine enterprise operational concepts, evolve system architectures, and develop verification methodologies toward operational acceptance.
• Conduct and maintain the program technical baseline including Requirements Specification, ICDs, and Systems Engineering processes.
• Conduct mission analysis to define technical requirements and interfaces, provide analysis of alternatives, guide development, evaluate expected performance against requirements and mission needs.
• Perform milestone readiness reviews to demonstrate the design meets milestone criteria, specifications and specified customer requirements.
• Collaborate with internal and external stakeholders including executive officials, military officers, development contractors, and end users.
• Develop briefings and assessments to a variety of audiences and must be able to convey information in a clear and articulate manner to Government leadership.

Qualifications

Required Education, Experience, and Qualifications:

• Active Secret Clearance and willing to obtain a Top Secret clearance
• Bachelor's Degree and nine (9) or more years of experience. Masters Degree and (7) or more years of experience
• Experience with systems development, integration & test throughout the lifecycle
• Relevant DoD space and ground system development experience
• Experience leading combined hardware and software integration activities
• Experience with space-ground systems architectures and lifecycle support
• Experience implementing agile development techniques
• Strong leadership, interpersonal communications skills
• Experience in collaborating with Government & contractor teams

Desired Education, Experience, and Qualifications:

• Master's Degree in engineering, science or related technical field
• Experience in large Government systems development and acquisition
• Thorough understanding of SSC space & ground systems, including Navigation, Missile Warning, and NDS systems design, integration and test
• Active TS or TS/SCI Clearance

Target salary range: $160,001 - $200,000. The estimate displayed represents the typical salary range for this position based on experience and other factors.


SAIC is a premier technology integrator providing full life cycle services and solutions in the technical, engineering, intelligence, and enterprise information technology markets. SAIC is Redefining Ingenuity through its deep customer and domain knowledge to enable the delivery of systems engineering and integration offerings for large, complex projects. SAIC's approximately 15,000 employees are driven by integrity and mission focus to serve customers in the U.S. federal government. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, SAIC has annual revenues of approximately $4.5 billion. For more information, visit saic.com. For information on the benefits SAIC offers, see .