Senior Systems Engineer

Who we are:

Fuse builds innovative communications, networking, and computing solutions that improve the sharing of information, video, text, and voice among operators distributed throughout the airborne, maritime, and ground environments. We are a technology firm creating in‑house software, network and hardware solutions that support our noble cause of advancing warfighter capabilities with elegant, user‑focused communications, networks, and software systems.

About this role:

Fuse is seeking a Senior Systems Engineer to lead mission definition, architecture clarity, and integration risk reduction across complicated tactical communication systems. This role elevates systems engineering maturity and ensures predictable system behavior under operational stress.

Define

• Establish and maintain Design Reference Missions (DRMs) that anchor mission intent and guide hypothesis formation
• Translate customer intent into system‑level behaviors
• Identify mission‑level risks and architectural uncertainties

Design

• Lead system architecture definition across disciplines
• Define critical interfaces and integration strategies
• Conduct and lead trade studies to support architecture decisions
• Frame Epics as architectural hypotheses, explicitly stating assumptions, mission impact, and risk posture
• Ensure risks and opportunities are surfaced and managed at the architecture level rather than at execution detail

De‑risk

• Design and drive modeling and simulation strategies
• Lead early integration experiments to reduce uncertainty
• Ensure traceability from mission intent through validation
• Own system‑level risk posture and drive cross‑discipline alignment to reduce integration uncertainty early in the lifecycle
• Drive integration learning cycles that validate or invalidate architectural assumptions
• Ensure Stories and integration events produce evidence tied directly to mission intent

Deliver

• Establish objective delivery readiness criteria based on integration risk retirement rather than schedule milestones alone
• Ensure integration and verification activities are aligned with mission threads
• Ensure delivery readiness is based on validated system behavior under stress conditions, not artifact completion
• Communicate confidence levels in system performance based on evidence generated through spiral iterations
• Establish criteria for delivery readiness based on risk posture
• Drive resolution of cross‑discipline issues impacting system behavior
• Ensure traceability from mission intent through formal validation
• Communicate system risk posture to program and technical leadership

• Establishes architecture clarity across programs
• Reduces late‑cycle integration surprises
• Elevates systems engineering maturity across the organization

• Bachelor's Degree in Engineering or related technical field or equivalent experience
• 10+ years of experience in complicated system development
• Experience leading system architecture and integration efforts
• Experience with requirements management tools (e.g., Jama, DOORS) in complex DoD programs
• Demonstrated ownership of traceability from mission intent through verification artifacts (digital thread)
• Demonstrated ability to lead iterative, uncertainty‑reduction driven development efforts across hardware and software domains
• Comfortable operating in environments where architecture evolves through experimentation and integration learning
• Experience establishing and maintaining traceability from Design Reference Mission (DRM) through integration evidence
• Demonstrated ownership of architectural risk posture at the Epic (hypothesis) level
• Experience structuring integration and test activities as learning mechanisms to validate or refute system‑level assumptions
• Active U.S. Secret Clearance

• Experience with SysML, Cameo, or MBSE practices
• Experience using Jira or similar tools to coordinate cross‑discipline integration efforts
• Experience with digital engineering and simulation approaches
• Experience implementing digital thread practices where traceability is treated as a learning signal rather than a compliance artifact
• Experience operating above WBS structures, preserving…