Space Combat Power Project Leader

Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado; Albuquerque, New Mexico; El Segundo, California

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.

The N181 Space Warfighting Integration Department brings the space enterprise to bear on the all-domain fight by integrating mission needs, technical capabilities, and sponsor priorities across the national security space enterprise. We deliver mission integration, mission engineering, system-of-systems analysis, architecture and resilience assessments, modeling and simulation, and operational analysis to help sponsors close kill chains, improve combat credibility, and field mission-relevant space capabilities. Our work spans space operations, command and control integration, space combat power, operational test and training, and future force design.

The work associated with this role primarily supports the Program Acquisition Executives (PAE) for Space Combat Power, PAE for Electronic Warfare and Cyber, including Space Rapid Capabilities Office, and involves other stakeholders including Space Systems Integration Office (SSIO), Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition (SAF/SQ), and PAE for Battle Management Command, Control, and Communications and Space Intelligence (BMC3I).

Roles & Responsibilities:

The department is seeking an experienced, mission-focused, and technically credible Project Leader with a proven record of senior sponsor engagement, strategic work shaping, and leadership through influence to shape and execute a large, complex, multi-mission, multi-domain, multi-sponsor Space Combat Power and Advanced Space Capabilities work program. Several of the highest priorities in the space domain are included in this project portfolio. The Project Leader will develop and lead the execution strategy for mission engineering, system-of-systems integration, modeling and simulation, rapid capability development, and operational analysis to evaluate combat-power effectiveness, close kill-chain gaps, and reduce technical, operational, and acquisition risk. The role also requires serving as a trusted advisor to senior government leaders across multiple PAEs, anticipating emerging mission and business challenges, reconciling competing priorities, and shaping decisions and work without relying on formal authority. This work supports the development, assessment, integration, and operational employment of capabilities that enable the United States and its allies to contest and control the space domain, preserve freedom of action, and deliver combat power in, from, and to space.

The Project Leader will cohere and guide work across orbital warfare, electronic warfare, defensive cyber operations for space, rapid capability development, operational prototyping, and space-based missile defense integration. The selected candidate will lead a geographically dispersed multidisciplinary team, integrate contributions across sponsors, PAEs, divisions, and MITRE Technology & Engineering (MTE) capability organizations; shape sponsor work; ensure technical quality; manage project execution; and develop MITRE’s role as a trusted, independent technical integrator for combat-credible space capabilities. The role must integrate priorities across these sponsors and PAEs as authorities, funding, and work transition, requiring senior-level engagement, judgment, and flexibility across organizational and mission boundaries.

The Project Leader will also be responsible for building and sustaining a high-performing, geographically dispersed team by mentoring task leaders and associate project leaders, supporting staff growth and onboarding, enabling access to the tools and environments required for execution, providing performance feedback to supervisors, and fostering a strong culture of collaboration, accountability, speed, inclusion, belonging, and technical excellence.

The Project Leader will:

• Lead the technical direction, execution, staffing, financial management, sponsor engagement, and delivery of a large, complex, multi-mission, multi-domain, multi-sponsor Space Combat Power and Advanced Space Capabilities work program.
• Shape and execute work across orbital warfare, electronic warfare, defensive cyber operations for space, rapid capability development, operational prototyping, and space-based missile defense integration.
• Cohere priorities, dependencies, and transition plans as sponsor authorities and portfolios evolve.
• Partner with department and division leadership and senior sponsor stakeholders to align the work program with MITRE strategy, sponsor priorities, and mission outcomes.
• Lead mission engineering, system-of-systems integration, modeling and simulation, and operational analysis to evaluate combat-power effectiveness, close kill-chain gaps, and reduce technical, operational, and acquisition risk.
• Build trusted sponsor relationships with government leaders across multiple sponsors and PAEs through regular engagement, technical interchange, in-person collaboration, and proactive identification of emerging sponsor needs.
• Leverage expertise across MITRE, especially MTE, other centers, projects, and geographic sites to bring the right technical talent, capabilities, and laboratories to complex space warfighting problems. Identify opportunities to reuse and integrate project work to create cross-sponsor synergies.
• Build a high-performing project team; mentor task and associate project leaders; provide performance feedback to supervisors; and foster collaboration, accountability, speed, inclusion, and technical excellence.
• Staff leadership - evolve the team and grow staff through career training, mentoring, hiring, and onboarding; handle/process requests for badge, network, and lab access, visit requests, tool integration, etc.
• Culture development - foster and demonstrate a strong and positive culture built upon MITRE's behaviors and cultural attributes while maintaining a consistent sense of belonging for all.

Basic Qualifications

• Typically requires a minimum of 12 years of related experience with a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering, especially aerospace engineering, physics, operations research, mathematics, or a related technical discipline; or 10 years and Master of Science degree in engineering, physics, operations research, mathematics, or a related technical discipline; or a PhD with 7 years’ experience; equivalent combination of related education and work experience.
• Proven experience leading multidisciplinary technical teams, tasks, or projects with significant complexity and risk in complex and shifting national security environments.
• Demonstrated technical depth in one or more relevant areas such as orbital warfare, electronic warfare, defensive cyber operations, space systems engineering, modeling and simulation, operational analysis, rapid prototyping, missile defense, fire control, engagement management, satellite design, or system-of-systems integration.
• Proven ability to build trusted-advisor relationships with government sponsors and experience leading multidisciplinary teams to shape, lead, and deliver technical products that inform operational, acquisition, architecture, test, or fielding decisions.
• Knowledge of rapid capability development, agile acquisition, digital engineering, prototyping, test, and transition approaches for national security systems.
• Strong technical writing, briefing, communication, and stakeholder engagement skills, including the ability to present complex technical topics to senior leaders and non-technical audiences.
• This position is anchored in Colorado Springs, CO, Los Angeles, CA, or Albuquerque, NM and requires regular 5 days a week on-site presence.
• Must have an active Top Secret/SCI U.S Government issued Security Clearance with the ability to obtain and maintain a Top Secret/SCI w/SAP 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.
• This position has an on-site requirement of 5 days a week on-site.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master of Science degree in engineering, physics, operations research, mathematics, or a related technical discipline with 12 years of related experience.
• Three or more years of task, project, or work-program leadership experience, preferably leading multidisciplinary teams across multiple sponsors, locations, or technical domains.
• Experience supporting space combat power, orbital warfare, space electronic warfare, defensive cyber operations for space, space superiority, missile defense, space-based interceptors, or rapid space capability development.
• Experience with mission engineering, system-of-systems engineering, modeling and simulation, operational analysis, digital engineering, architecture analysis, or test and evaluation for complex national security systems.
• Experience evaluating fire control, engagement management, command and control, common ground, interface design, or end-to-end kill-chain performance.
• Understanding of space systems and missions across DoD, the Intelligence Community, civil agencies, and commercial industry.
• Demonstrated strategic space system-of-systems thought leader.
• Experience in space interagency (USSPACOM, USSF, NRO, NGA, MDA, etc.) operations, capabilities, and C2.
• Experience shaping new work, developing sponsor relationships, and translating sponsor mission needs into executable technical work programs.
• Experience leading or contributing to prototype development, operational demonstrations, technology insertion, transition planning, or rapid fielding of classified capabilities.
• Active DoD TS/SCI clearance and cleared for Special Access Programs.

This requisition requires the candidate to have a minimum of the following clearance(s):

This requisition requires the hired candidate to have or obtain, within one year from the date of hire, the following clearance(s):

Salary compensation range and midpoint:

Work Location Type:

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.

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