Advanced Programs Lead Mission Architect

Job Summary

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), an affiliate of General Atomics, is a world leader in proven, reliable remotely piloted aircraft and tactical reconnaissance radars, as well as advanced high‑resolution surveillance systems.

The Advanced Programs group has an exciting opportunity in San Diego, CA (Poway, CA) for a Senior Engineering Manager in support of multiple existing and emerging programs. As a Lead Mission architect, it is your responsibility for defining and shaping the end‑to‑end mission concepts, operational architectures, and system‑of‑systems solutions for advanced unmanned aircraft programs. This role bridges operational needs, engineering design, autonomy development, survivability, sensors, communications, and command‑and‑control to ensure mission success across contested and complex environments.

This role will lead early‑phase concept development, requirements decomposition, trade studies, and architectural decisions that guide vehicle design, payload integration, autonomy frameworks, and ground systems. You will evaluate and resolve complex issues, problems, and conflicts while communicating the status, progress, and results to senior management. Finally, you will apply critical thinking, creativity, and innovation to ensure alignment and satisfaction with customers and stakeholders.

• Develop mission‑level concepts of operations (CONOPS), use cases, and operational threads for unmanned aircraft across ISR, strike, electronic warfare, communications relay, and teaming missions.
• Translate warfighter or customer mission needs into system‑level architectures and performance requirements.
• Define mission success criteria, key performance parameters (KPPs), and measures of effectiveness (MOEs).
• Lead system‑of‑systems architecture development across air vehicles, sensors, networks, ground control, autonomy, and logistics.
• Conduct architecture trade studies evaluating platform sizing, survivability approaches, sensor suites, comms architectures, autonomy levels, basing concepts, and mission payload mixes.
• Guide multidisciplinary design teams through mission‑driven design decisions.
• Develop modeling and simulation approaches to assess mission effectiveness in contested environments.
• Evaluate alternative concepts against cost, schedule, risk, and technical maturity.
• Regular communication with Advanced Programs and ASI executive leadership.
• Provide regular technical mentorship to lower‑level technical team members.
• Support the definition and decomposition of mission use cases that will inform system and segment requirements.
• Collaborate closely with chief engineers, program managers, and business development teams.
• Collaborate with Operations Analysis team to define technical performance.
• Support program objectives by ensuring technical performance, cost, schedule, and risk objectives align with defined mission architecture(s).
• Support proposal development, technical volumes, and customer engagements.
• Promote a continued strong culture of systems thinking and engineering rigor.
• Identify mission‑level technical risks and maturation plans.
• Define mission‑level verification strategies and demonstration roadmaps.
• Support flight test planning and operational experimentation.
• Track architecture decisions through design reviews (SRR, PDR, CDR).

We recognize and appreciate the value and contributions of individuals with diverse backgrounds and experiences and welcome all qualified individuals to apply.

• Typically requires a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree or PhD in engineering or a related technical discipline from an accredited institution and progressive engineering experience as follows; eighteen or more years of experience with a bachelor’s degree, sixteen or more years of experience with a master’s degree, or thirteen or more years with a PhD. May substitute equivalent engineering experience in lieu of education.
• Has demonstrated leadership and creativity in directing/developing the solution(s) to highly technical and complex engineering problems, and is influential in attracting and retaining engineering business as well as key…