Senior Validation Engineer Jobs in Colorado (NOW HIRING)

Location: Schriever Space Force Base, Colorado Springs, CO
Clearance: TS/SCI
Employment Type: Full-Time

We are seeking a Senior Systems Engineer to provide technical leadership for the design, integration, validation, and lifecycle management of complex IT systems supporting a high-sensitivity Red LAN environment at Schriever Space Force Base.

The Senior Systems Engineer will serve as a senior technical authority responsible for system architecture, system-of-systems integration, requirements management, technical governance, verification, and sustainment engineering. This individual will work closely with government stakeholders, engineering teams, operations personnel, and program leadership to ensure the technical solution remains secure, reliable, supportable, and aligned with mission requirements.

• Plan, design, integrate, and validate complex IT systems and system-of-systems architectures supporting mission-critical operations.
• Own the system architecture and lifecycle strategy, ensuring technical decisions support current mission requirements and long-term sustainment objectives.
• Lead the development, maintenance, and evolution of system architectures, technical baselines, design documentation, and engineering roadmaps.
• Manage system-level interfaces, requirements, verification, validation, and sustainment engineering across the system lifecycle.
• Steward complex integrations between networks, infrastructure, applications, hardware, cybersecurity capabilities, and external systems.
• Establish and maintain system-level integration strategies to ensure interoperability, performance, reliability, and mission readiness.
• Chair technical reviews and engineering working groups, providing technical direction and ensuring decisions are supported by appropriate analysis.
• Review and approve test plans, verification strategies, integration plans, and readiness assessments.
• Provide technical leadership in determining system readiness for integration, testing, deployment, operational transition, and sustainment.
• Establish and govern engineering standards, design patterns, architectural principles, and technical processes across the engineering organization.
• Evaluate proposed technical solutions, architectures, and engineering changes for compliance with established standards and mission requirements.
• Lead resolution of complex system-level technical issues and coordinate engineering teams to identify root causes and implement sustainable solutions.
• Oversee requirements traceability and ensure system requirements are appropriately allocated, verified, validated, and maintained.
• Provide technical guidance on lifecycle management, modernization, technology refresh, obsolescence, and system sustainment strategies.
• Mentor and develop junior and mid-level engineers, providing technical coaching and guidance on systems engineering practices.
• Foster consistent application of engineering methodologies, documentation standards, design patterns, and technical governance processes.
• Communicate complex technical concepts, risks, tradeoffs, and recommendations to government customers, program leadership, and technical stakeholders.
• Support technical planning, risk management, configuration management, and long-term engineering roadmaps.

• Bachelor’s degree in Systems Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Information Technology, or a related technical discipline, or equivalent relevant experience.
• 10+ years of relevant systems engineering, systems integration, architecture, or IT engineering experience.
• Must have and maintain an active DoD TS/SCI clearance
• Ceritifcation in DCWF Advanced is required
• Demonstrated experience designing, integrating, and validating complex IT systems.
• Experience with system architecture, system-of-systems integration, requirements management, verification, and validation.
• Experience leading technical reviews and providing technical direction to engineering teams.
• Experience developing or approving test strategies, test plans, verification approaches, and system readiness decisions.
• Strong understanding of system lifecycle management and sustainment engineering.
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex technical initiatives involving multiple systems, interfaces, and stakeholders.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to communicate effectively with both technical and executive audiences.
• Ability to obtain and maintain the required security clearance.

• Experience supporting Department of Defense, U.S. Air Force, or U.S. Space Force programs.
• Experience supporting mission-critical or high-sensitivity IT environments.
• Experience working with Red LAN or Air Force/Space Force network environments.
• Experience developing enterprise or mission system architectures.
• Experience with architecture frameworks, modeling methodologies, or architecture management tools.
• Experience establishing engineering standards, design patterns, and technical governance processes.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary engineering teams through system integration, testing, deployment, and sustainment.
• Familiarity with cybersecurity, network infrastructure, cloud technologies, data systems, and enterprise IT architectures.
• Experience with technology refresh, modernization, obsolescence management, and lifecycle planning.
• Experience mentoring systems engineers and establishing engineering best practices.

• Architecture Leadership
• System-of-Systems Integration
• Technical Governance
• Systems Engineering amp; Lifecycle Management
• Requirements Management amp; Traceability
• Interface Definition amp; Integration
• Verification amp; Validation
• Test Strategy amp; Readiness Assessment
• Technical Risk Management
• Engineering Standards amp; Design Patterns
• Technical Review Leadership
• Engineering Mentorship

The successful candidate will be a senior technical leader and systems engineering authority capable of translating complex mission requirements into practical, scalable, and sustainable technical architectures.

This individual should bring strong architectural judgment, excellent problem-solving skills, and the ability to lead through influence across multiple engineering disciplines. The ideal candidate will be equally comfortable developing system architecture, chairing technical reviews, resolving complex integration challenges, and mentoring the next generation of engineers.

Success in this role requires the ability to balance technical excellence, mission requirements, security, operational readiness, lifecycle sustainability, and program priorities within a highly sensitive and mission-critical environment.