Technical Program Director / Lead Systems Engineer

Peraton Labs is seeking a senior technical and strategic leader to serve as the primary customer-facing technical authority for a premier research program operating across classified and unclassified environments for our Maryland-based customer. This role provides infrastructure and research enablement, ensuring the platform is mission-ready, resilient, compliant, and continuously modernized. You’ll be the senior technical leader ensuring our research mission can execute reliably by shaping the platform roadmap, leading certification/compliance-heavy initiatives, and keeping both infrastructure and research enablement moving forward with discipline and clarity.This position combines Lead Systems Engineering responsibilities with program technical leadership. You’ll guide technical strategy, lead cross-functional execution and drive high-priority engineering efforts at scale.This position requires full-time on-site work at a customer site near College Park, MD.Key responsibilities may include:Serve as the primary technical interface to the customer, leading technical discussions, briefings, risk decisions, tradeoffs, and roadmap alignmentTranslate evolving mission needs into actionable technical strategy, execution plans, and modernization priorities across research and infrastructureOwn technical delivery outcomes: availability, performance, compliance posture, platform evolution, and operational excellenceAct as the senior systems engineering authority for end-to-end architecture across multi-domain environments (unclassified and classified networks)Lead engineering efforts for system development, integration, and certification, including high-visibility compliance initiativesLead core infrastructure support services enabling research teams: compute, storage, network services, identity/access patterns, monitoring, backup/restore, and lifecycle refreshImprove resiliency and operational maturity: incident response patterns, root-cause analysis, performance tuning, capacity planning, and change controlGuide modernization efforts while maintaining uptime and mission continuityDrive secure baselines across multi-OS environmentsLead implementation and validation of controls aligned to appliance governance policies, always ensuring audit readinessPartner with security/compliance stakeholders to close gaps and continuously improve security posture without breaking research velocityLead and mentor cross-functional teams, ensuring infrastructure priorities align to research executionDirect subcontract personnel, establish accountability, and maintain consistent delivery quality through clear technical expectations and operation rhythmMinimum qualifications20+ years of experience in planning and leading Systems Engineering efforts and a bachelor’s degree in Systems Engineering, Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering Management, or related discipline. Five years of additional relevant experience may be substituted for bachelor’s degree, for a total of 25 years of experience5+ years of demonstrated experience working with large complex engineering systems and subsystems with expertise applied across multiple engineering disciplines such as electrical, computer, software, telecommunications, information security, and networkingDemonstrated success as a hands-on technical leader who can also set strategy and drive execution across teams and stakeholders within complex mission environmentsProven customer-facing leadership: ability to brief clearly, make tradeoffs, manage expectations, and communicate risk/impact that is clearly understoodHigh level of experience within classified environments and the operational realities of compliance, access controls, and mission uptimeExperience implementing security best practices in high-compliance environmentsAbility to plan work, manage technical risk, and drive accountability across mixed teams of Peraton, subcontract, and customer personnel, to deliver outcomes on scheduleThis position requires an active/current TS/SCI w/ PolygraphPreferred qualificationsExperience serving as an engineering director, program engineering lead, or equivalent senior technical authorityExperience designing secure data management solutionsVirtualization, hyperconverged infrastructure, enterprise storage platforms and/or research compute environments (HPC)Experience supporting research teams and experimental environments where requirements evolve and rapid iteration is neededPeraton is a next-generation national security company that drives missions of consequence spanning the globe and extending to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. As the world’s leading mission capability integrator and transformative enterprise IT provider, we deliver trusted, highly differentiated solutions and technologies to protect our nation and allies. Peraton operates at the critical nexus between traditional and nontraditional threats across all domains: land, sea, space, air, and cyberspace. The company serves as a valued partner to essential government agencies and supports every branch of the U.S. armed forces. Each day, our employees do the can’t be done by solving the most daunting challenges facing our customers. Visit peraton.com to learn how we’re keeping people around the world safe and secure.$190,000 - $304,000. This represents the typical salary range for this position. Salary is determined by various factors, including but not limited to, the scope and responsibilities of the position, the individual’s experience, education, knowledge, skills, and competencies, as well as geographic location and business and contract considerations. Depending on the position, employees may be eligible for overtime, shift differential, and a discretionary bonus in addition to base pay.EEO: Equal opportunity employer, including disability and protected veterans, or other characteristics protected by law.

Created: 2026-03-07