Systems Engineer in Fairfax, Virginia at Xenon Innovations, Inc

Operational requirements arrive in the language of the mission. Designs get built in the language of interfaces, budgets, and specifications. This role does that translation and then holds the design accountable to it all the way through delivery.

Working within the architecture set by the chief engineer and system architect, you will decompose operational requirements into buildable specifications, define and maintain the interfaces between subsystems, and keep traceability intact from the customer document to the verification evidence. As the design evolves, you are the one tracking whether it still satisfies what was asked for, and raising it early when a decision several levels down has inadvertently broken a top-level requirement.

This is a rigor role rather than an authority role. Architecture decisions belong to the chief engineer; you make sure those decisions are specified precisely enough to build against, and that what gets built matches what was specified.

Requirements engineering

• Decompose customer and operational requirements into system, subsystem, and component-level specifications
• Establish and maintain requirements traceability from customer documents through verification evidence
• Identify requirement conflicts, gaps, and untestable language before they become problems
• Manage requirement changes and assess their downstream impact across the design

Interfaces and system budgets

• Author and maintain interface control documents for internal subsystems and external platform interfaces
• Maintain and track RF chain, timing, data rate, processing, and SWaP budgets developed with subsystem leads; flag when allocations are being consumed faster than planned
• Maintain system block diagrams, functional decompositions, and specification documentation
• Coordinate interface agreements across engineering disciplines and with integration partners

Design accountability through delivery

• Assess design artifacts and implementation decisions against allocated requirements as the baseline matures
• Develop verification cross-reference matrices and coordinate verification approach with the test team
• Review test results against requirements and confirm closure of verification objectives
• Support configuration management and baseline control across program milestones

Reviews and documentation

• Prepare artifacts for SRR, PDR, CDR, and TRR events and support their execution
• Track and close review action items across the engineering team
• Produce the specification and analysis documentation that goes to the customer

Customer and partner support

• Support technical interchange meetings and customer working groups
• Translate between operational language and engineering language in both directions
• Contribute to technical volumes for proposals and white papers

• BS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, systems engineering, or related
• 6+ years of systems engineering on defense programs, with RF, SIGINT, or comparable sensor system content
• Demonstrated ownership of requirements decomposition and interface definition on a delivered system
• Working knowledge of DoD acquisition documentation and formal milestone review structure
• Strong technical writing ability; this role produces documents that get read by customers
• Ability to obtain a TS/SCI clearance

• Experience on an ACAT program of record
• Requirements management tooling experience (DOORS, Jama)
• MBSE experience with SysML and tools such as Cameo or Rhapsody
• Navy afloat integration experience, including shipboard installation and certification processes
• Familiarity with modular open systems approaches and relevant standards
• Active TS/SCI

Estimated Salary Range: $130,000-$230,000 per year

The salary range noted is intended as a general guide. Actual base salary offers from Xenon Innovations are determined based on several factors, including the position's scope and responsibilities, along with the candidate's experience, education, skill set, and prevailing market conditions.

Xenon Innovations, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, or protected veteran status.