
Lead Communications Engineer
McLean, VAJob$147–221K/yrSeen 1w agoSeen in employer's feed 6 days ago
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Requirements
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Job overview
The Lead Communications Engineer will support command, control, and communications missions by assessing communications infrastructure, capabilities, and architectures and developing strategies for legacy and emerging concepts. The role involves advising government stakeholders, researching technology, shaping system designs and policy, and providing technical analysis to sponsors. The position requires four days per week onsite and an active Top Secret clearance, with the ability to obtain Top Secret/SCI within one year.
Skills & qualifications
Skills
Qualifications
Full job description
At MITRE, your passion fuels work that impacts our nation and improves lives. This is where your skills strengthen national security, cybersecurity, health, transportation, and citizen services. We’re a nonprofit engineering, applied research, and advanced technology organization working in the public interest. With objectivity and integrity at our core, we lead federally funded research and development centers for U.S. government agencies – collaborating with industry and academia to deliver integrated, high-impact solutions that advance our nation’s health, security, and prosperity. Our people tackle the toughest technical challenges, supported by competitive benefits, meaningful career development, and a culture of innovation, collaboration, and technical excellence. Choose MITRE for a career with purpose — and help shape the future.
MITRE’s Technology & Engineering Organization is seeking highly motivated, innovative, and self-directed engineers to join our team. You will be working with military and technology experts in support of command, control, and communications that provide accurate, integrated, timely, and assured access to data, information, intelligence, communications, services, situational awareness, warnings, and indicators.
You will be focused on communications infrastructures, capabilities, and architectures as well as development of strategies that support both legacy and new concepts. As part of our team, you will have the opportunity to assess technical capabilities and solutions, research emerging technology and implications, influence national infrastructure decisions, and most importantly, directly impact the sponsor’s mission.
Roles & Responsibilities:
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Work with and advise Senior Government stakeholders to address command, control, and communications challenges and operational requirements within protected communications networks.
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Collaborate with MITRE internal subject matter experts to develop unbiased technical solutions to advance communications and networking within the sponsor’s current mission set.
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Develop system architectures to influence current and future designs.
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Provide recommendations to influence White House, Congressional, and Secretary of Defense-level directives, and policy.
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Understand and analyze command, control, and communications network’s infrastructure architecture, capabilities, concepts, services, security, and operational demands.
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Provide technical input in the form of reports and briefings to Government sponsors.
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Lead and participate in inter-agency working groups across the Government and Department of Defense.
Basic Qualifications:
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Typically requires a minimum of 8 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 6 years and a Master’s degree; or a PhD with 3 years’ experience; or equivalent combination of related education and work experience.
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Five years of demonstrated experience with radio frequency technologies in communications, wireless networking, radar, PNT, SATCOM, or other related areas.
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Willingness to engage with and advise Senior Government Leaders in a fast-paced environment.
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Strong written and oral communication skills are essential.
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Demonstrated collaboration skills to support internal team development of technical analysis, tools, reports, or other products. Demonstrated ability to work under minimal direction and lead product deliverable ideation, development, and delivery in pre-determined timelines.
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Willingness to learn new emerging wireless communications technologies and stay up to date with current state-of-the-art in given technology areas.
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Ability to define and lead small efforts.
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Must have an active Top Secret U.S Government issued Security Clearance with the ability to obtain and maintain a Top Secret/SCI U.S. Government issued Security Clearance. Per the U.S. Government’s eligibility requirements, you must be a U.S Citizen to be considered for a security clearance.
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This position has an on-site requirement of 4-days a week on-site
Preferred Qualifications:
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Master of Science in Electrical or Communications Engineering.
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Eight years of demonstrated experience with radio frequency technologies in communications, wireless networking, radar, PNT, SATCOM, or other related areas.
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Demonstrated understanding of Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (JCIDS)
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Demonstrated work experience with National Leadership Command Capability; DoD Continuity of Operations; Continuity of Government; Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications; Senior DoD Command, Control, and Communications Infrastructure.
This requisition requires the candidate to have a minimum of the following clearance(s):
Top Secret
This requisition requires the hired candidate to have or obtain, within one year from the date of hire, the following clearance(s):
Top Secret/SCI
Salary compensation range and midpoint:
$147,200 - $184,000 - $220,800 Annual
Work Location Type:
Onsite
Commitment to Non-Discrimination
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to disability, status as a protected veteran or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, local or international law.
MITRE intends to maintain a website that is fully accessible to all individuals. If you are unable to search or apply for jobs and would like to request a reasonable accommodation for any part of MITRE’s employment process, please email [email protected] for general support and [email protected] for intern positions. This service is for individuals requiring reasonable accommodation requests. Please note that vendor solicitations will not receive a reply.
Benefits information may be found here (https://careers.mitre.org/us/en/benefits) .
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How this job compares
Set against the 11,696 open Systems Engineer jobs on Olive Jobs, counted November 7, 2026.
- Pay
- This posting$147–221K/yr
- Virginia median$120–182K/yr854 salary ranges
- US median$116–190K/yr8,703 salary ranges
This range's midpoint, $184K, is 21% above the Virginia median midpoint ($152K) — in the top quarter of Systems Engineer salary ranges in Virginia.
- Openings
- Olive Jobs lists 1,087 open Systems Engineer jobs in Virginia and 11,696 across the US. 5% of them nationwide are listed as remote or flexible.
- Experience
- This posting asks for at least 5 years of experience; Systems Engineer postings that state a minimum ask for 5 years at the median (9,778 postings).
- Education
- 4,476 of the 11,696 open Systems Engineer jobs (38%) ask for a bachelor's degree or higher.
Counted across the open, public US postings on Olive Jobs on November 7, 2026. Pay medians are the middle values of the low ends and of the high ends of postings that list both ends of a range in the same cadence (a yearly salary or an hourly rate); a range's midpoint is halfway between its ends. Pay and experience figures resting on fewer than 20 postings are left out.
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