Principal Escalation Engineer Jobs (NOW HIRING)

The Field Service Lead serves as the senior field service authority and organizational leader responsible for oversight of all Field Service Technicians (FST 1-3) and Field Service Engineers (FSE 1-3). This role provides overarching technical, operational, and strategic leadership for field service execution across all company security and surveillance system offerings.
The Field Service Lead ensures technical excellence, procedural consistency, execution quality, and professional development across the field service organization. This position leads by example through direct field engagement, advanced technical expertise, sound engineering judgment, and sustained operational success.
The Field Service Lead serves as the principal escalation authority for complex field engineering and execution matters and provides strategic direction to align field service operations with company engineering, product, and program objectives.
This position is in-office at the NDI Stevensville, MD location reports to engineering leadership as designated. CONUS and OCONUS travel is required up to 60%.
ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
Organizational Leadership & Oversight
• Provide comprehensive leadership and oversight of all Field Service Technicians and Field Service Engineers.
• Establish execution standards, technical expectations, and professional conduct benchmarks across the field service organization.
• Ensure consistent implementation of installation, troubleshooting, maintenance, and recovery processes across all deployments.
• Serve as the senior decision authority for field service prioritization, deployment planning, and technical escalation pathways.
• Evaluate field service performance, identify capability gaps, and implement structured improvement initiatives.
• Foster a culture of accountability, technical excellence, and continuous improvement within the field service organization.
Field Engineering & Execution Authority
• Lead and perform advanced on-site installation, configuration, maintenance, verification, repair, recovery, and system validation activities across all company product offerings.
• Perform and oversee server rack population, equipment mounting, structured cabling, labeling, integration, and physical system assembly activities when required to support mission-critical objectives.
• Serve as the final technical escalation authority for unresolved field issues spanning multiple subsystems, product lines, or domains.
• Make authoritative engineering change decisions for field-deployed systems in coordination with engineering and product stakeholders.
• Ensure field execution activities remain aligned with system design intent, technical baselines, and approved engineering documentation.
• Lead high-risk, high-visibility, or mission-critical field deployments.
Technical Governance & Standards
• Establish, refine, and govern field service engineering methodologies and execution procedures.
• Approve and standardize installation practices, troubleshooting methodologies, documentation requirements, and validation protocols.
• Ensure field-developed solutions are technically sound, safe, repeatable, and scalable across the organization.
• Translate field-derived technical insights into actionable recommendations that influence product design, system architecture, and engineering standards.
• Provide final approval authority for new or revised field service procedures prior to organization-wide adoption.
Diagnosis, Risk & System-Level Resolution
• Lead advanced root cause analysis efforts for persistent, systemic, or high-impact technical failures.
• Resolve novel, complex, and multi-domain system issues with limited precedent.
• Assess technical risk in dynamic field environments and make informed engineering decisions under operational constraints.
• Direct long-term corrective actions that improve reliability, maintainability, and system performance.
• Ensure verification, validation, and operational testing confirm long-term effectiveness of corrective actions.
Documentation & Reporting
• Ensure field service documentation, configuration records, and technical baselines accurately reflect approved engineering changes and field conditions.
• Oversee quality and technical accuracy of reports produced by Field Service Engineers and Technicians.
• Produce executive-level summaries of field performance, systemic issues, and technical trends when required.
• Maintain governance over documentation standards and reporting expectations across the field service organization.
Training, Mentorship & Organizational Development
• Lead the professional development of Field Service Engineers and Field Service Technicians.
• Define career progression standards across FST 1-3 and FSE 1-3 roles.
• Provide senior-level mentorship, technical coaching, and leadership development.
• Ensure training programs align with evolving product capabilities and deployment demands.
• Evaluate readiness of personnel for progression into higher responsibility roles.
• Serve as a visible role model for technical rigor, safety discipline, and customer engagement excellence.
Safety Responsibilities
The Field Service Engineer is responsible for performing all duties in accordance with company safety policies, OSHA standards, and customer site safety requirements. Due to the nature of field work supporting radar, communications, and surveillance systems, strict adherence to safety procedures is mandatory.
• Maintain constant situational awareness of safety hazards during field operations, including electrical, RF radiation, fall hazards, environmental conditions, and heavy equipment operations.
• Follow all established Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) procedures when working on energized electrical systems.
• Ensure safe work practices when operating near high-power RF transmitting equipment, including adherence to minimum safe distances and RF exposure guidelines.
• Utilize appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) including fall protection harnesses, helmets, RF monitors, gloves, and electrical safety equipment.
• Conduct pre-work Job Hazard Analysis (JHA) or risk assessments prior to beginning tower or elevated work activities.
• Stop work immediately if unsafe conditions exist and notify leadership or site safety representatives.
• Ensure compliance with customer safety regulations, including U.S. Government and DoD site safety requirements when applicable.
Requirements
Minimum Requirements
• Ability to follow established procedures, identify deviations, and escalate issues appropriately.
• Ability to read, understand, and apply technical manuals, engineering drawings, wiring diagrams, and system documentation.
• Ability to safely use hand tools, diagnostic equipment, and company-provided systems in accordance with established procedures.
• Strong team player with the ability to establish solid working relationships with technical staff, leadership, customers, and host nation end users.
• Effective verbal communication skills for coordination with field service personnel, engineering teams, project leadership, and executive stakeholders.
• Strong organizational skills and ability to manage concurrent field deployments in dynamic environments.
• Must be able to lift up to 50 pounds.
• Must maintain being a certified authorized climber/rescuer.
• Must be comfortable working at height for extended periods in outdoor environments including hot, cold, wind, and precipitation.
• Must become First Aid/CPR/AED Certified.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a valid U.S. passport for domestic and international travel.
• Must be eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Secret security clearance.
• Demonstrated mastery of all company security and surveillance system offerings, including cameras, radar systems, networking equipment, power systems, and supporting IT infrastructure.
• Ability to independently lead complex, multi-system troubleshooting and resolution efforts without oversight.
• Ability to serve as the senior technical and operational authority for field-deployed systems.
• Ability to assess technical risk, operational impact, and resource allocation across multiple deployments.
• Ability to author, review, approve, and govern technical procedures and field engineering standards.
• Strong understanding of system-level interactions, cross-domain dependencies, and integration architecture.
• Demonstrated ability to sustain high-quality technical outcomes across multiple complex deployments.
• Demonstrated leadership capability managing multi-level technical teams in field environments.
Preferred Qualifications
• Bachelor's degree in engineering or a related STEM discipline.
• Extensive experience with C4ISR systems, hardware fabrication, vehicle/platform integration, and test & evaluation.
• Experience influencing product design or engineering standards based on field-derived insights.
• Prior experience leading distributed technical teams supporting CONUS and OCONUS operations.
WORK EXPERIENCE / EDUCATION
• Typically requires demonstrated sustained success performing advanced Field Service Engineer 3-level responsibilities across company product offerings.
• Requires progressive leadership experience overseeing technical field service personnel.
• Equivalent experience may include extensive field service engineering experience supported by technical certifications and documented leadership performance.