Staff Systems Engineer- DRT

Req Id: 436 Location: GERMANTOWN, MD, US, 20876 Date: Oct 11, 2026 Thales Defense & Security, Inc. (TDSI) Headquartered in Clarksburg, MD, is a U.S. company that has been serving domestic and international defense Air, Land and Sea domains for 60+ years.

With over 1,000 employees, TDSI and its four subsidiaries (Advanced Acoustic Concepts, Digital Receiver Technology, Tampa Microwave, and Trusted Cyber Technologies), supports U.S. Joint Services, special operations forces and multi-national partners with a variety of communication, visualization, signal intelligence/electronic warfare, and sensor/sonar capabilities.

TDSI’s key technologies include tactical handheld radios, expeditionary satellite terminals, helmet-mounted displays, optics and target recognition capability, advanced radars, undersea sensing and missile systems. Lives depend on what we do!

Top Benefits (Subject to terms of applicable policies/plans) Competitive Salary Yearly Incentive Compensation Plan Medical insurance for self and eligible family members Generous 401(k) program- up to 7% company contribution and 100% immediate vesting Tuition Reimbursement Paid wellness, vacation, and holiday leave Paid maternity, paternity, and parental leave 9/80 Work Schedule (every other Friday off) Hybrid working environment We are excited to announce that we have an opening in our Germantown, MD office for a Principal Systems Engineer , which will focus on our EW/SIGINT line of Digital Receiver Technology (DRT) products.

DRT is a highly regarded innovative SIGINT/EW system solution provider for the US military, Five-Eyes, and Intelligence Community. We develop state-of-the-art RF transceivers, DF antennas, and extensive signal processing exploitation, geolocation, and electronic attack applications. DRT has a broad, comprehensive, multi-disciplined development engineering team with on-site production facilities.

DRT is a commercial product house who works closely with their customers to customize the product line to solve complex real operational problems. It has the benefits and attractiveness of a small company with the support of a larger organization.

Responsibilities

• Provide systems engineering expertise with developing SW Defined Radios for SIGINT and EW applications.
• Provide systems engineering guidance with signals exploitation, geolocation techniques, precision PNT, RF jamming modalities, information assurance, IA, and Cyber security.
• Lead product development systems activities/teams with use case analysis, requirements capture, allocation, and derivation, architectural analysis and design, system level testing, integration, verification and validation efforts, and transition to manufacturing.
• Support Business Development with customer meetings, product presentations and demonstrations, requirements elicitation, architecture development, and systems implementation.
• Provide subject matter expertise as a project design authority of HF, UHF, VHF, and SHF SIGINT and EW systems.
• Provide systems engineering expertise with SIGINT/EW solutions integration into military platforms and larger Enterprise level collection systems Lead complex systems integration efforts of multi-disciplined engineering teams.
• Develop technical proposals and support cost estimation and evaluate competing product and solution offerings.
• Represent Thales at relevant industry forums.
• Serve as a customer liaison, supporting design reviews and other technical interchanges.
• Support field installation, testing, evaluation, and troubleshooting of equipment, along with government acceptance testing.

Qualifications

• The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.
• Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
• U.S.
• Citizenship Required- along with the ability to obtain and maintain U.S.
• Top Secret or SCI Level Security Clearance upon hire (current TS/SCI preferred).
• BSEE, BSCS, or equivalent.
• MSEE, MSCS or equivalent preferred 8+ years as a Design/ Systems Engineer.
• Must have strong presentation and writing skills.
• Fluent in English.
• Experience with system level design, development, and testing of tactical, secure, state-of-the-art military communications systems.
• Experience with requirements elicitation, decomposition, traceability, and lifecycle management.
• Knowledge of RF design, Digital design, Software design, and Information Security.
• Experience working in a laboratory environment with RF and Digital test equipment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with developing Software Defined Radios.
• Experience with developing SIGINT/EW systems.
• Experience integrating SIGINT/EW systems into platforms and Enterprise collection systems.
• Experience working with Direction Finding, DF, and Time Difference of Arrival, TDOA collection systems.
• Experience with signals exploitation and Electronic Attack SW development.
• Information Assurance and Cyber security experience.
• The annualized pay range for this role is $149,702-$191,286 USD along with a target incentive compensation plan (ICP) of 5% .
• The pay range provided is a good faith estimate representative of the experience level for the role described above.
• TDSI considers several factors when extending an offer, including but not limited to, the role, function and associated responsibilities, a candidate’s work experience, location, education/training, and key skills.
• For specific questions about this job posting, candidates may contact talent acquisition at [email protected].
• Thales Defense & Security, Inc. is committed to non-discrimination as applicable under federal, state and local laws.
• We are an E-Verify Employer.
• If you need an accommodation or assistance in order to apply for a position with Thales Defense & Security, Inc., please call Human Resources at 202-961-1016.

Nearest Major Market

Washington DC