Senior Systems Engineer - SE&I Lead

About IWV

Iron Will Ventures is a defense engineering and technical services company supporting some of the Department of War's most challenging missile defense, hypersonic, flight test, and advanced technology programs.  Guided by the philosophy of “I Will,” we help scale the defense industrial base through advanced testing, deep technical analysis, and resilient industrial ecosystems—accelerating the delivery of hypersonic, missile defense, and other critical national security capabilities.  Our teams work alongside government program offices, laboratories, ranges, and industry partners to solve difficult technical and integration problems and accelerate capability from development through flight test and fielding.

Out Test. Out Analyze. Out Build.

Position Summary

Iron Will Ventures is seeking a Senior Systems Engineer / Systems Engineering & Integration (SE&I) Lead to support a highly visible Department of War missile defense and space program.

This individual will serve as a senior technical leader within Iron Will's team, helping the Government plan, integrate, assess, and execute complex system integration and flight-test activities.

The position requires an experienced technical leader who can operate across traditional engineering boundaries—bringing together systems engineering, test and evaluation, mission analysis, integration, certification, schedule, risk, and operational considerations to help the Government make informed technical decisions.

The successful candidate will be comfortable working at both the system level and the program level: identifying technical issues, driving integration activities, assessing contractor products, leading multidisciplinary teams, and communicating technical risk and recommendations to senior government and industry leaders.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as a senior systems engineering and integration advisor supporting Government program leadership and the Chief Engineer.
• Lead and coordinate systems engineering activities across multiple technical disciplines, organizations, contractors, and test organizations.
• Support integration of payload, launch vehicle, ground, range, and mission-system elements throughout the test lifecycle.
• Review technical requirements, interfaces, test plans, analysis products, and engineering documentation and provide independent technical assessments to the Government.
• Support development, review, and adjudication of Interface Control Documents and resolution of mechanical, electrical, data, operational, and other system interfaces.
• Lead or support technical interchange meetings, integration working groups, design reviews, readiness reviews, and other major program technical reviews.
• Provide independent verification and validation of contractor and vehicle-provider technical products and analyses.
• Support test planning and execution, including pre-mission analysis, integration activities, range coordination, readiness assessment, and post-test evaluation.
• Identify system-level technical risks, integration issues, and schedule dependencies and drive issues toward resolution across Government and contractor teams.
• Lead system-level problem solving and root-cause analysis for complex technical issues and anomalies.
• Support development and maintenance of integrated schedules, risk and opportunity assessments, technical baselines, and configuration-managed engineering products.
• Provide on-site technical leadership during major integration, test, and mission activities as required.
• Translate complex engineering issues into clear recommendations for program leadership.
• Mentor and provide technical direction to engineers and analysts supporting the program.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, physical science, mathematics, or another relevant technical discipline is preferred.  Candidates with a combination of significant technical leadership, operational experience, advanced technical training, and demonstrated experience integrating and testing complex weapon or space systems will also be considered.
• 15+ years of relevant experience in systems engineering, test and evaluation, weapon-system integration, space systems, missile defense, strategic systems, or a closely related technical field.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex system integration or test activities involving multiple Government and industry organizations.
• Strong understanding of systems engineering principles and their application across the development, integration, test, certification, and fielding lifecycle.
• Experience with major weapon-system, space-system, missile-defense, flight-test, or other technically complex national-security programs.
• Demonstrated ability to lead multidisciplinary technical teams and coordinate engineering activities across organizational boundaries.
• Experience identifying and resolving system-level technical issues, including root-cause analysis and risk assessment.
• Experience supporting technical reviews, readiness assessments, certification activities, or formal Government test and acceptance processes.
• Ability to assess contractor-developed technical products and provide objective, defensible recommendations to Government customers.
• Experience developing, managing, or working within Integrated Master Schedules and understanding the relationship between technical dependencies, program risk, and schedule.
• Demonstrated ability to brief senior Government, military, and industry leaders on complex technical issues, risks, and recommended courses of action.
• Active TOP SECRET security clearance and ability to obtain SCI and Special Access Program access.
• U.S. citizenship.

Desired Qualifications

• An advanced degree is preferred but not required.
• Experience with missile defense, strategic weapon systems, hypersonic systems, space systems, or launch vehicles.
• Experience with payload-to-launch-vehicle or other complex vehicle/system integration.
• Experience supporting flight-test programs, launch operations, ranges, or mission integration.
• Experience with Interface Control Documents and formal interface-management processes.
• Experience with independent verification and validation (IV&V) or service as a Government technical advisor/SETA.
• Experience with multi-agency certification, acceptance testing, or operational-readiness processes.
• Familiarity with range safety, mission analysis, telemetry, trajectory analysis, or flight-test data products.
• Experience supporting or leading system-level anomaly investigation and root-cause analysis.
• Familiarity with Jira, Confluence, Microsoft Project, or comparable engineering and program-management tools.
• Prior military, Government laboratory, Federally Funded Research and Development Center, SETA, or major defense-program experience.

Travel

• Approximately 20–25% in support of integration and test activities.

Why Iron Will Ventures

This is an opportunity to join a growing team of experienced engineers, test professionals, analysts, and program leaders working directly on some of the nation's highest-priority missile defense, hypersonic, space, and advanced test programs.  At Iron Will, senior engineers are expected to do more than manage requirements or produce documentation. We look for people who can understand the mission, identify the real technical problem, bring the right organizations together, and help the customer get to a technically sound decision.  If you have spent your career solving difficult integration and test problems and want to continue doing consequential work with a small, highly experienced team, we want to hear from you.

Iron Will Ventures Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. We value diversity and do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected status.