Senior Interoperability Engineer Jobs in Washington

Senior Systems Engineer- SME Location: Ft. Meade, MD POSITION OVERVIEW
The Senior Systems Engineer-SME serves as the principal technical authority supporting the architecture, modernization, and integration of DISA’s enterprise cyber sensing capabilities. This role provides deep subject matter expertise across sensing platforms—including OSP, FPCAP, ASV, IDS, and next-generation cyber sensors—ensuring mission alignment, operational effectiveness, and technical excellence.
As the SME, you will guide requirements development, systems design, performance engineering, complex integrations, and technical decision-making across the full system lifecycle. You will partner with Government PMs, Engineering Leads, and cross-functional teams to deliver secure, scalable, and interoperable solutions that enhance cyber situational awareness and proactive defense. SUBJECT MATTER EXPERT RESPONSIBILITIES
As the designated SME, the Senior Systems Engineer will:
• Serve as a domain expert with deep knowledge in areas such as engineering, computer science, cybersecurity, or related technical disciplines.
• Provide specialized technical analysis across highly complex systems, architectures, and operational environments, offering expert guidance on design, integration, documentation, and implementation strategies.
• Support all phases of software and system development with emphasis on planning, analysis, testing, integration, documentation, and presentation of technical findings.
• Apply advanced engineering principles, mathematical methods, and scientific analysis to solve exceptionally difficult and narrowly scoped technical problems, developing automated or scalable solutions where applicable.
• Offer on-demand expert support to task assignments, ensuring technical accuracy, alignment with mission needs, and feasibility of solutions.
• Provide SME guidance on state-of-the-art software, hardware, sensing technologies, cloud architectures, and cyber defense capabilities.
• Coordinate with contractor leadership and government personnel to ensure problems are properly defined, requirements are validated, and the proposed solutions fully satisfy the Government’s mission and operational needs. RESPONSIBILITIES:
• Lead enterprise systems engineering and integration efforts supporting DISA’s cyber sensing modernization initiatives under Task Area 6.5.
• Translate mission needs, operational requirements, and capability gaps into detailed technical requirements and architectural specifications.
• Develop system architectures, interface definitions, engineering diagrams, and design documentation supporting current and future cyber sensing capabilities.
• Serve as the senior integrator for lab, cloud, hybrid, and production-representative environments, managing configuration, deployment, evaluation, and validation of sensing capabilities.
• Lead installation, configuration, and troubleshooting of sensing systems, including hardware platforms, software stacks, virtual appliances, network components, and storage systems.
• Direct interoperability, regression, and integration testing, ensuring cohesion across systems, data pipelines, analytics tools, and enterprise platforms.
• Lead performance and scalability testing—including throughput, latency, accuracy, and stress testing—to validate detection reliability and operational readiness.
• Conduct engineering trade studies, AoAs, feasibility assessments, and modernization analyses to inform long-term technical strategies and cloud migration efforts.
• Provide expert-level input for engineering reviews including SRR, SFR, PDR, and CDR, ensuring design rigor and compliance.
• Produce advanced engineering documentation, including System Design Descriptions (SDDs), updated ICDs, test plans/reports, build guides, and configuration documentation.
• Collaborate closely with developers, system administrators, cybersecurity SMEs, A&A/RMF personnel, and operations teams to ensure solutions meet security, compliance, and mission requirements.
• Troubleshoot and resolve complex technical issues, conduct root cause analyses, replicate issues in controlled environments, and drive cross-team resolution.
• Provide mentorship, knowledge transfer, and SME leadership to Systems Engineer II personnel and multidisciplinary engineering teams. REQUIREMENTS
• Active DoD Secret clearance • 10+ years of progressively responsible systems engineering or integration experience supporting DoD, cybersecurity, or large-scale enterprise environments.
• SME-level expertise in distributed sensor systems, cyber defense tools, security monitoring technologies, or enterprise sensing architectures.
• Strong knowledge of system design, network engineering, virtualization technologies, Linux/Windows systems, and cloud platforms.
• Demonstrated experience with integration, performance, and interoperability testing for complex systems.
• Expertise in creating architecture diagrams, technical documentation, SDDs, ICDs, and engineering artifacts.
• Prior participation in SRR/SFR/PDR/CDR engineering review cycles.
• Familiarity with SIEM integration, packet analysis tools, IDS/IPS, and cyber defense platforms.
• Proven ability to lead engineering teams, manage competing priorities, and coordinate across stakeholders.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to present and defend technical concepts to Government customers and executive decision-makers.