System Engineer, Cyber Missions

This is an active, impact-ready, fully-funded position.

Location: Columbia, MD , Travel

Telework: TBD , subject to manager approval and tasking

Clearance Required: TS/SCI with Polygraph

Salary Range: $170,000 to $190,000

At Shadow Strategies, you will join a culture defined by innovation, purpose, and meaningful impact. We seek systems engineers who bring structure to complexity, connect technical decisions across the system, and turn mission needs into reliable operational capability. If you are inspired by complexity, motivated by clarity, and committed to excellence, we invite you to become part of something exceptional.

This role supports the creation of a declarative, mission-adaptable workflow capability for cyber operations. The capability will enable operators to express mission intent, define parameters and boundaries, understand system behavior, and guide automation through a unified operational experience. You will define requirements, interfaces, integration approaches, and verification activities that help move the platform from static infrastructure management toward offensive mission automation.

What You'll Do

• Translate mission needs and operator workflows into clear system requirements, technical specifications, and acceptance criteria

• Define and document system interfaces, dependencies, data flows, and integration points across software, infrastructure, automation, and mission services

• Integrate technical components into cohesive mission capabilities and resolve issues that cross system boundaries

• Maintain requirements traceability through design, implementation, integration, test, and operational acceptance

• Analyze system behavior, constraints, risks, and dependencies across complex cyber environments

• Support architecture development, technical trade studies, and system evolution as mission needs change

• Plan and support system integration, verification, validation, and operational testing

• Collaborate with software engineers, UX practitioners, cyber operators, and mission stakeholders to turn operational needs into executable system solutions

• Produce and maintain system diagrams, interface documentation, requirements artifacts, test documentation, and operational guides

Who This Might Be a Fit For

• You have independently supported systems engineering across complex, software-intensive systems

• You are comfortable moving between requirements, architecture, integration, test, and operational problem solving

• You understand how software, infrastructure, automation, data, and operator workflows intersect

• You can translate ambiguous mission needs into testable technical requirements and practical system decisions

• You prefer clarity over cleverness and durable solutions over quick fixes

• You communicate system behavior, risks, interfaces, and technical decisions clearly to engineering and mission audiences

Required Skills

• Systems engineering for complex, software-intensive systems

• Requirements development, decomposition, and traceability

• System architecture, interface definition, and integration

• Verification, validation, test planning, and technical troubleshooting

• Technical documentation, system modeling, and configuration awareness

Helpful Experience Areas

• CYBERCOM or related cyber mission environments

• Offensive cyber operations, mission automation, or declarative workflow systems

• Cyber infrastructure, networked systems, and distributed services

• DevSecOps , CI/CD, and configuration management practices

• Cloud, containerized, or Kubernetes-based environments

• REST APIs, service integrations, infrastructure as code, and automated provisioning

Years of Experience and Degree Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field and 7 years of experience

OR an associate degree and 11 years of experience

OR 13 years of experience without a degree

Degrees must be obtained from an accredited college or university recognized by the U.S. Department of Education

Work Environment

Based in Columbia, MD with travel opportunities

Telework policy is being defined as this is a new contract , subject to manager approval and tasking

Multidisciplinary teams supporting cyber mission systems in classified environments

Journeyman engineers are expected to perform functional duties independently and own assigned systems engineering outcomes

What Comes With It

You will have what you need to do your best work:

• Fully covered health insurance for medical, dental, and vision

• Paid parental leave: 16 weeks if you give birth, 4 weeks if your partner does

• Flexible leave: 36 days total each year, including 25 days of PTO and 11 paid holidays

• 401(k) for your future

• Short-term and long-term disability

• Annual health stipend if you opt out of our insurance

The Extras? They're Built In.

No points systems. No bean bags. Just clarity, autonomy, and a mission that matters.

Shadow invests in exceptional people because demanding work requires more than a paycheck. Our benefits are designed to provide meaningful support inside and outside the mission.

See our benefit plan at: https://www.shadowstrategies.io/benefits

Shadow Strategies is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to creating a workplace that values diversity and fosters inclusion. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, age, disability, genetic information, or any other protected status in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws.

Salary is determined by various factors , including but not limited to location, the individual's particular combination of education, knowledge, skills, competencies, and experience, as well as contract-specific affordability and organizational requirements.