Chief Engineer - Missile Warning Enterprise (Sr SME)

Stellar Solutions, a nationally recognized “Great Place To Work”, has exciting opportunities providing Engineering solutions for innovative new-entrant space companies, as well as established space systems manufacturers, commercial space system operators and service providers, and other industry stakeholders including investors.  

At Stellar Solutions, we offer talented, energetic, and immediately productive resources to satisfy our customers’ critical needs in systems engineering and integration, mission operations, program management and strategic planning. We are a leading service and expertise provider for high-tech commercial ventures, spanning communications, earth observation and remote sensing systems and data products, to the infrastructures that support earth orbiting and beyond earth orbit businesses.

Stellar Solutions is seeking a Chief Engineer to serve as the definitive technical authority for a modernized, open-architecture Missile Warning ground enterprise operating in a high-tempo delivery environment

This role is responsible for maintaining and driving system architecture, technical baselines, and system performance, while leading a multi-disciplined engineering organization and ensuring rigorous engineering practices across development, test, production, and sustainment.

This is a mission-critical leadership role supporting a Government customer focused on accelerating the delivery of software and hardware into operations using DevSecOps and CI/CD principles - requiring strong cross-enterprise collaboration, disciplined configuration management, and consistent engineering rigor across multiple integrated products and stakeholders.

Key responsibilities include:

• Act as the enterprise Chief Engineer and primary authority for technical decisions affecting architecture, performance, and system-level design across the Missile Warning ground enterprise.
• Own and evolve the system architecture and ensure architectural integrity across incremental deliveries, interfaces, and integrated product teams (IPTs).
• Lead and mentor a multi-disciplined engineering team; manage overall technical performance and ensure execution aligns with mission priorities and operational needs.
• Develop and maintain trusted relationships with customer leadership and stakeholder organizations; ensure needs, goals, and objectives are captured, balanced, and reflected in engineering direction and priorities.
• Support and/or lead system-level requirements development, allocation, and traceability; ensure coherent integration of hardware/software design and interface control across the enterprise.
• Provide technical leadership for verification and validation (V&V) strategy and execution, including readiness planning and decision-quality technical assessments.
• Serve as a key stakeholder and decision influencer for major reviews and boards (e.g., engineering reviews, readiness boards, configuration control boards), ensuring technical baselines are controlled and consistent.
• In coordination with the Government Systems Engineering, Integration & Test (SEIT) lead, ensure sound engineering processes are applied across the lifecycle - development, production, test, operations support alignment, and sustainment.
• Maintain cognizance over technical activities across IPTs and drive horizontal integration of best engineering practices across the enterprise (architecture consistency, interface discipline, quality gates, and configuration management).
• Provide independent technical consultation on enterprise risks, performance shortfalls, integration concerns, and improvement opportunities; recommend mitigation strategies and technical path forward.

Required Skills

• 15+ years of directly relevant experience supporting Missile Warning mission systems (ground enterprise, mission processing, command & control, operational acceptance, system engineering, and/or closely related domains).
• Master’s degree in engineering, physics, mathematics, computer science, or a related technical field.
• Demonstrated ability to serve as a senior technical authority - making high-impact technical decisions and guiding architecture/performance trade studies across complex integrated systems.
• Strong experience leading engineering organizations and influencing outcomes across multiple stakeholders, vendors, and Government teams.
• Experience supporting system-level engineering rigor: requirements, architecture, interface management, V&V, technical reviews, and configuration management.
• Ability to create and communicate clear technical direction and decision rationale to both technical and non-technical audiences, including senior leaders.
  

Desired Skills

• PhD preferred, or equivalent Missile Warning operational experience that demonstrates depth of mission expertise and credibility as an enterprise technical authority.
• Experience with modernization of large-scale, software-intensive mission systems using open architecture and multi-vendor integration models.
• Familiarity with engineering governance in high-tempo DevSecOps environments (e.g., maintaining technical baselines, integrating continuous delivery with disciplined systems engineering and mission assurance).
• Background spanning integration/test and operational mission needs, including performance monitoring, reliability, readiness, and sustainment considerations in a real-world operational context.

Clearance & Additional Requirements

• U.S. Citizen
• Top Secret (TS) clearance with a current SSBI, and ability to begin execution at Authority to Proceed (ATP)
• Ability to work on site per customer mission needs; some travel may be required.

Location

• This position is located in El Segundo, CA - On-site at a Government customer location (region-specific details provided during candidate engagement). Aurora, CO can be considered as alternate location. 

Compensation

• The typical salary range for this position is USD $170,000 - $200,000 per year. Individual pay is determined by many factors including work location, job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. This position is also eligible for a discretionary annual performance bonus, retirement plan and other benefits (all in addition to salary).

Deliverables may include reports, briefings, spreadsheets, plans, schedules, or other artifacts as directed by the Government, using Government-approved systems/software and processes governed by applicable guidance, instructions, policy, and/or direction. The nature of this work will, at times, require quick responses to stringent deadlines and always in a high-quality, professional manner.