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Sustaining Engineer Jobs in Washington (NOW HIRING)

The cFS Software Developer will support the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Core Flight System (cFS) Project by providing sustaining engineering and software development support for reusable ...

DevOps Engineer

Chantilly, VA · On-site

$54 - $74/hr

... sustainment. DevOps developer responsibilities include working with software developers and site reliability engineers to design, develop and deliver high-volume, low-latency applications and ...

DevOps Engineer

Chantilly, VA · On-site

$54 - $74/hr

... sustainment. DevOps developer responsibilities include working with software developers and site reliability engineers to design, develop and deliver high-volume, low-latency applications and ...

DevOps Engineer

Chantilly, VA · On-site

$54 - $74/hr

... sustainment. DevOps developer responsibilities include working with software developers and site reliability engineers to design, develop and deliver high-volume, low-latency applications and ...

Senior Mechanical Engineer

Gaithersburg, MD · On-site

$112K - $149K/yr

Provide sustaining engineering support for field issues, updates, and product revisions. * Design with long-term availability, serviceability, and configuration control in mind. Required ...

Salesforce Developer

Washington, DC · On-site

$62K - $141K/yr

As a software sustainment engineer, you play a pivotal role in an application's functional life. From troubleshooting to fixing bugs, you use your operations and maintenance skills to ensure that ...

Showing results 41-60

Sustaining Engineer information

See Washington salary details

$65.1K

$117.4K

$175K

How much do sustaining engineer jobs pay per year?

As of Sep 4, 2026, the average yearly pay for sustaining engineer in Washington is $117,432.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $103,600.00 and $127,400.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is a sustaining engineer?

A Sustaining Engineer is responsible for maintaining and improving existing products or systems by addressing defects, enhancing performance, and ensuring long-term reliability. They work closely with manufacturing, quality, and support teams to troubleshoot issues, implement design changes, and support product lifecycle management. Their role is crucial in minimizing downtime, optimizing efficiency, and ensuring customer satisfaction by resolving technical challenges in released products.

What are typical daily responsibilities for a sustaining engineer?

Sustaining Engineers are primarily responsible for identifying, analyzing, and resolving issues in existing products, processes, or systems to ensure continued performance and reliability. Their day-to-day tasks often include investigating customer complaints, implementing engineering changes, coordinating with manufacturing and quality teams, and supporting root cause analysis of field failures. Sustaining Engineers also work closely with design, production, and customer support teams, ensuring that corrective actions are effectively communicated and implemented. This role provides exposure to a variety of technical challenges and cross-functional collaboration, making each day dynamic and rewarding.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a sustaining engineer?

To thrive as a Sustaining Engineer, you need strong problem-solving abilities, a background in engineering (often with a bachelor's degree), and practical experience in troubleshooting and maintaining products or systems. Familiarity with root cause analysis tools, quality management systems, and industry-specific software (such as CAD or PLM tools) is often required. Excellent communication, attention to detail, and teamwork are vital soft skills for quickly addressing issues and collaborating with cross-functional teams. These skills ensure quick and effective resolution of technical issues, minimizing downtime and maintaining high product reliability.

What does a sustaining engineer do?

A sustaining engineer is responsible for maintaining, improving, and supporting existing products or systems after their initial development. They analyze field issues, implement design changes, and work with cross-functional teams to ensure product reliability and performance, often using tools like CAD and data analysis software. This role requires strong problem-solving skills and knowledge of engineering principles to extend product lifecycle and customer satisfaction.

What are the most commonly searched types of Sustaining Engineer jobs in Washington?

The most popular types of Sustaining Engineer jobs in Washington are:

What job categories do people searching Sustaining Engineer jobs in Washington look for?

The top searched job categories for Sustaining Engineer jobs in Washington are:

What cities in Washington are hiring for Sustaining Engineer jobs?

Cities in Washington with the most Sustaining Engineer job openings:

Infographic showing various Sustaining Engineer job openings in Washington as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 91% Full Time, 4% Part Time, and 5% Contract. Highlights an 85% Physical, 4% Hybrid, and 11% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $117,432 per year, or $56.5 per hour.

$70K - $90K/yr

Full-time

Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, Retirement, PTO

Posted 2 days ago

New


Job description

JOB SUMMARY: The cFS Software Developer will support the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Core Flight System (cFS) Project by providing sustaining engineering and software development support for reusable flight software components utilized by NASA and other government agencies. The cFS Project delivers mission-enabling, cost-reducing, and risk-reducing flight software solutions that support current and future spaceflight missions while reinforcing GSFC's leadership in flight software technology.
The Software Developer will work closely with the cFS Product Development Lead (PDL) within the Flight Software Systems Branch as a member of the cFS Flight Software (FSW) development team. The position includes supporting multiple cFS customers by developing, maintaining, integrating, testing, and documenting reusable flight software components in accordance with NASA software engineering standards. Work Schedule: 4 days on-site, 1 day remote. Location: Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD. This position will be a hybrid role with on-site work as required.
PRIMARY DUTIES
Flight Software Development
  • Develop, maintain, and sustain reusable Core Flight System (cFS) software components.
  • Perform software requirements analysis, architecture definition, software design, coding, unit testing, integration testing, and formal build testing.
  • Support software development activities throughout the complete software development lifecycle.
  • Develop flight-ready software solutions supporting NASA missions and other government agencies.

Software Engineering & Integration
  • Collaborate with the cFS Product Development Lead (PDL) and Flight Software Systems Branch engineering team.
  • Support integration of cFS software components into customer flight software environments.
  • Participate in software builds, code reviews, peer reviews, technical demonstrations, and design reviews.
  • Assist with sustaining engineering activities including maintenance, enhancements, defect resolution, and software updates.

Customer & Technical Support
  • Provide software engineering support to identified cFS customers.
  • Participate in technical meetings, demonstrations, presentations, and customer reviews.
  • Support issue investigation, troubleshooting, and implementation of corrective actions.
  • Assist customers with software integration and implementation activities.

Software Quality & DevOps
  • Develop and execute unit and integration tests.
  • Support Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) processes and automated build environments.
  • Utilize configuration management and version control tools throughout software development.
  • Produce and maintain software documentation in accordance with NASA software engineering processes.

Laboratory & Development Environment Support
  • Support flight software laboratory configuration and hardware integration activities.
  • Assist with hardware maintenance and development environment setup.
  • Support development and testing on embedded hardware platforms and real-time operating systems.

Reporting Requirements
  • Provide regular status updates on assigned software development tasks.
  • Document software design, implementation, testing, and technical progress.
  • Participate in technical reviews and provide engineering presentations as requested.
  • Maintain project documentation consistent with NASA software engineering processes

REQUIREMENTS
Technical Skills
  • Experience with software development lifecycle (SDLC) processes.
  • Strong software development experience using C, C++, and Python.
  • Experience developing embedded software applications.
  • Experience developing flight software or other safety/mission-critical software.
  • Experience with Linux development environments.
  • Working knowledge of Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS).
  • Experience using Git for source code management.
  • Experience with Continuous Integration (CI/CD) methodologies.
  • Experience with Docker container technologies.

Leadership & Collaboration
  • Experience serving as a Software Development Team Lead, Software Lead, or Software Sustaining Engineering Lead is highly desirable.
  • Ability to work effectively within multidisciplinary engineering teams.
  • Strong analytical, debugging, and problem-solving skills.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
  • Ability to interact effectively with NASA personnel, government customers, and contractor teams.
  • Ability to support multiple development efforts and customer requests simultaneously.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:
  • Experience supporting NASA, DoD, aerospace, or other government software development programs.
  • Experience with reusable flight software frameworks and mission software architectures.
  • Experience with OpenC3 COSMOS or similar mission operations tools is preferred.
  • Experience defining and implementing Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) is preferred.
  • Knowledge of systems engineering processes is desirable.
  • Familiarity with cybersecurity policies and secure software development best practices is preferred.
  • Knowledge of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), or data architecture technologies is desirable.
  • Experience implementing Fault Detection, Isolation, and Recovery (FDIR), GEONS, or other estimation/filtering algorithms is desirable.
  • Knowledge of embedded hardware architectures including Xilinx, Zynq, or PicoZed platforms is desirable.
  • Experience with VxWorks and/or RTEMS is preferred.

RELEVANT EXPERIENCE: 0-3 years of professional experience developing embedded or flight software systems.
EDUCATION/CERTIFICATION: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Software Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
SECURITY CLEARANCE: Must be a U.S. Citizen and able to pass NASA badging and onboarding requirements in accordance with applicable federal security policies.
ABOUT US: At MCSG Technologies, we believe the path to success begins by empowering our employees to do what is best for our customers. This helps create value for our customers and business partners through efficiencies and cost-effective relationships that are built on trust, while delivering on-time and within budget. Our company ethos is simple Empowered to serve our customers, our communities, our colleagues. If you would like to learn more, please visit our website at www.mcsgtech.com or find us on Glassdoor.
BENEFITS OFFERED: Medical, dental, vision, life insurance, short-term disability, long-term disability, 401(k) match, flexible spending accounts, EAP, parental leave, paid time off, holidays and more. Learn more about MCSG Technologies benefits:https://www.mcsgtech.com/benefits/.
COLORADO'S EQUAL PAY ACT: In compliance with Colorados Equal Pay for Equal Work Act; MCSG Technologies considers several factors when extending an offer, including but not limited to, the role and associated responsibilities, a candidate's work experience, education/training, and key skills.
EOE STATEMENT: We are an equal employment opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law.
PAY TRANSPARENCY NONDISCRIMINATION PROVISION: The contractor will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractors legal duty to furnish information. 41 CFR 60-1.35(c)