Principal Design Engineer

Position is contingent upon contract award and funding.

Entarian is seeking an experienced Principal Design Engineer to serve as the technical design authority for complex mission systems supporting Department of Defense and federal customers. The Principal Design Engineer is responsible for developing and governing end-to-end technical solutions that satisfy mission requirements while ensuring scalability, security, interoperability, and long-term sustainment. This role provides engineering leadership across the full system life-cycle, collaborating with architects, systems engineers, software developers, infrastructure engineers, cybersecurity personnel, and government stakeholders to deliver integrated technical solutions.

The ideal candidate will have demonstrated experience designing large-scale technical solutions involving space systems, ground infrastructure, mission operations, communications networks, cloud environments, or enterprise information technology capabilities.

Serve as the technical design authority for assigned programs, ensuring engineering solutions align with customer requirements, mission objectives, and enterprise architecture.
• Lead development of end-to-end solution designs spanning software, infrastructure, networking, cloud, cybersecurity, data management, and systems integration.
• Translate customer requirements, operational needs, and engineering constraints into comprehensive technical designs and implementation strategies.
• Develop and maintain solution architecture documentation, engineering specifications, interface definitions, technical roadmaps, and design packages.
• Lead engineering trade studies, technical evaluations, and architecture assessments to identify optimal technical approaches and design alternatives.
• Establish design standards, engineering best practices, and technical governance processes to ensure consistency across program deliverables.
• Review and approve engineering designs, interface specifications, implementation plans, and technical documentation to ensure quality and compliance.
• Collaborate with systems engineering, software development, cloud engineering, cybersecurity, networking, and infrastructure teams throughout design, development, integration, testing, and deployment.
• Identify technical risks, design gaps, integration challenges, and performance issues while developing practical engineering solutions and mitigation strategies.
• Support requirements decomposition, interface management, system integration planning, and verification activities.
• Participate in technical interchange meetings, design reviews, engineering working groups, and customer briefings.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend modernization strategies that improve capability, reliability, maintainability, and operational effectiveness.
• Prepare executive-level technical briefings, engineering recommendations, white papers, and design documentation supporting program leadership and government stakeholders.

Salary range: $190,000.00 - $212,000.00

• Active Top Secret security clearance with SCI eligibility.
• Bachelor's degree in Systems Engineering, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Aerospace Engineering, Information Technology, or a related technical discipline. Equivalent experience may be considered.
• Minimum fifteen (15) years of experience designing, developing, integrating, or implementing complex technical solutions supporting Department of Defense, Intelligence Community, federal, or commercial enterprise environments.
• Demonstrated experience serving as a Lead Engineer, Principal Engineer, Solution Architect, Technical Lead, or Design Authority for large-scale technical programs.
• Experience developing end-to-end solution designs across multiple engineering disciplines including software, infrastructure, networking, cloud, cybersecurity, and systems integration.
• Strong understanding of systems engineering principles, architecture development, interface management, technical baselines, and engineering life-cycle processes.
• Experience conducting engineering trade studies, technical evaluations, and solution analysis.
• Experience developing engineering documentation including system designs, interface control documents (ICDs), technical specifications, implementation plans, and architecture diagrams.
• Strong understanding of distributed systems, enterprise networking, cloud architectures, APIs, data integration, and modern software architectures.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to present complex technical concepts to engineering teams, program leadership, and government customers.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite, including Word, Power-Point, Excel, Project, and Outlook.
• Ability to travel approximately 25% to support customer locations, engineering reviews, mission partner engagements, and operational activities.

• Experience supporting Department of Defense, U.S. Space Force, Intelligence Community, NASA, or other classified government programs.
• Experience designing solutions supporting space systems, satellite communications, mission operations centers, enterprise command and control, or communications infrastructure.
• Experience with AWS GovCloud, Azure Government, Kubernetes, containerized applications, and hybrid cloud architectures.
• Familiarity with Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE), Digital Engineering, Digital Thread, or Digital Twin methodologies.
• Experience supporting DevSecOps, Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Ansible, CloudFormation), and CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience with Zero Trust Architecture, secure systems engineering, and cybersecurity-by-design principles.
• Knowledge of DoDAF, TOGAF, or other enterprise architecture frameworks.
• Professional Engineer (PE), INCOSE CSEP/ESEP, PMP, or cloud architecture certifications.
• Experience supporting proposal development, technical volume authoring, solutioning, and Basis of Estimate (BOE) development.
• Demonstrated ability to mentor engineers, establish technical standards, and lead multidisciplinary engineering teams.