Lead Engineer and Senior Technical Advisor, Air-to-Ground Weapons

Title:

Lead Engineer and Senior Technical Advisor, Air-to-Ground Weapons

At KBR, we deliver science, technology and engineering solutions to governments and companies around the world. KBR employs approximately 37,000 people worldwide with customers in more than 85 countries and operations in over 28 countries. KBR is proud to work with its customers across the globe to provide technology, value-added services, and long-term operations and maintenance services to ensure consistent delivery with predictable results.

Trinzic is the future independent company to be created through the planned spin-off of KBR's Mission Technology Solutions business, expected in January 2027. Our people work at the frontier of what is possible, delivering solutions in challenging environments and advancing some of the world's highest-priority national security and space missions.

Backed by decades of mission success, deep expertise, and trusted partnerships, Trinzic will launch as a global organization with more than 18,000 employees supporting customers around the world. Join us at a defining moment and help shape the future of a company built to tackle complex challenges and make a meaningful impact.

Candidates who join KBR's Mission Technology Solutions business before the spin-off will transition to Trinzic when the separation is complete and will not need to reapply for employment.

Position Summary:

KBR is seeking a highly-experienced Lead Engineer and Senior Technical Advisor to provide subject matter expert-level technical leadership for the rapid development, test and production of a high-priority air-to-ground weapon program. The selected candidate will serve as a principal technical advisor to Government leadership, providing independent engineering judgment, systems-engineering expertise, and technical integration across the weapon system lifecycle.

Key Responsibilities:

• Serve as the senior technical advisor and engineering SME for a high-priority air-to-ground weapon program.

• Provide technical leadership and independent engineering assessment across system requirements, design, integration, verification, test, production, fielding, sustainment, and modernization activities.

• Advise Government program leadership on technical risks, tradeoffs, issues, dependencies, and recommended courses of action.

• Lead or support technical reviews, engineering working groups, risk-review boards, configuration-management activities, and program milestone preparation.

• Evaluate weapon-system requirements, interfaces, system architectures, design changes, and engineering proposals to ensure alignment with operational needs, affordability, producibility, maintainability, and lifecycle objectives.

• Support development and refinement of technical baselines, performance specifications, interface-control documentation, engineering plans, verification strategies, and technical data packages.

• Assess system-level integration across air vehicle, weapon, mission-planning, targeting, guidance, navigation, communications, software, and support-equipment interfaces, as applicable.

• Provide technical oversight and analysis of contractor engineering deliverables, including system-engineering artifacts, test plans, technical reports, risk assessments, failure analyses, and corrective-action plans.

• Support developmental test, operational test, live-fire test, qualification, certification, and verification activities by reviewing plans, data, deficiencies, and recommended corrective actions.

• Identify technical and programmatic risks affecting schedule, performance, cost, safety, producibility, reliability, maintainability, and operational suitability; develop mitigation options for Government consideration.

• Support root-cause analysis and resolution of complex engineering, integration, manufacturing, quality, reliability, and field-performance issues.

• Coordinate with program management, engineering, logistics, test, production, contracting, financial-management, and operational stakeholders to synchronize technical priorities and resolve cross-functional issues.

• Develop concise, decision-ready technical briefings, executive summaries, issue papers, read-aheads, and recommendations for senior Government and industry audiences.

• Mentor junior engineers and analysts; promote disciplined systems-engineering practices, technical rigor, and effective knowledge transfer across the team.

Work Environment:

• Location: On-site (Eglin AFB, FL)

• Travel Requirements: Low

• Working Hours: Standard – Core hours 0900 - 1500

Qualifications:

Required:

• Active SECRET Clearance

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, physics, computer science, mathematics, or another relevant technical discipline.

• Extensive progressively responsible engineering experience supporting complex defense acquisition, weapon-system, aerospace, missile, or guided-munition programs.

• Must have served as a Government, Industry or Support Contractor Lead Engineer, Chief Engineer, Deputy Chief Engineer, or equivalent senior technical lead on an Acquisition Category (ACAT) I or ACAT II weapon-system development program, or an equivalent major defense acquisition, aerospace, missile, or guided-munition development program.

• Demonstrated responsibility for leading technical execution across major development activities, including requirements maturation, system design, integration, technical-risk management, developmental test, technical reviews, and transition to production or fielding.

• Demonstrated experience providing senior technical leadership, engineering oversight, or independent technical advice to Government program offices, technical organizations, or executive-level stakeholders.

• Significant experience in systems engineering, including requirements development and management, functional analysis, interface management, technical-baseline development, verification, and risk management.

• Experience supporting one or more phases of the weapon system lifecycle, including concept development, engineering and manufacturing development, test and evaluation, production, fielding, sustainment, or modernization.

• Demonstrated experience with air-to-ground weapon systems, guided munitions, aircraft-weapons integration, missile systems, or closely related weapon-system technologies. Extensive engineering leadership experience can substitute for lack of weapon-specific experience.

• Experience assessing technical risks and tradeoffs involving system performance, cost, schedule, reliability, maintainability, producibility, safety, and operational effectiveness.

• Experience preparing and presenting technical analyses, findings, and recommendations for senior Government, military, industry, and technical audiences.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to convert complex technical issues into clear, decision-ready products.

• Demonstrated ability to lead multidisciplinary teams and coordinate effectively across Government, industry, test, logistics, operational, and engineering organizations.

• Ability to operate independently, manage competing priorities, and exercise sound professional judgment in a high-visibility, mission-focused environment.

Desired:

• Active Top Secret clearance

• Master’s degree in systems engineering, aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, physics, operations research, or related technical discipline.

• Professional Engineer license, Systems Engineering Professional certification, Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act certification, or comparable engineering/program-management credential.

• Experience supporting Department of War weapon-system program offices, acquisition organizations, test organizations, depots, or air armament centers.

• Experience with air-to-ground weapon development, seeker and guidance systems, propulsion, fuzing, warheads, stores management, weapon employment, aircraft integration, or mission-planning systems.

• Experience supporting developmental test and evaluation, operational test and evaluation, live-fire test and evaluation, qualification, certification, or weapon-system safety programs.

• Experience with digital engineering, model-based systems engineering, digital twins, modeling and simulation, or data-driven engineering and sustainment methods.

• Experience with production readiness, manufacturing engineering, quality assurance, configuration management, obsolescence management, or supply-chain risk management.

• Familiarity with technical-review processes, including system requirements reviews, preliminary design reviews, critical design reviews, test readiness reviews, production readiness reviews, and program milestone decision support.

• Prior military operational experience involving air-delivered weapons, combat aviation, munitions, weapons employment, test, or acquisition is highly desirable.

Ready to Make a Difference?

If you’re excited about making a significant impact in the field of space defense and working on projects that matter, we encourage you to apply and join our team at KBR. Let's shape the future together.

KBR Benefits

KBR offers a selection of competitive lifestyle benefits which could include 401K plan with company match, medical, dental, vision, life insurance, AD&D, flexible spending account, disability, paid time off, or flexible work schedule. We support career advancement through professional training and development.

Belong, Connect and Grow at KBRAt KBR, we are passionate about our people and our Zero Harm culture. These inform all that we do and are at the heart of our commitment to, and ongoing journey toward being a People First company. That commitment is central to our team of team’s philosophy and fosters an environment where everyone can Belong, Connect and Grow. We Deliver – Together.

KBR is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, veteran status, genetic information, union status and/or beliefs, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.