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Senior Principal Systems Engineer - Weapons and Energetics

General Dynamics
Wayne, IN Full Time
POSTED ON 8/30/2026
AVAILABLE BEFORE 9/29/2026
Basic Qualifications

Education Requirements:

Bachelor's degree in Systems Engineering, or a related Science, Engineering or Mathematics field, plus a minimum of 10 years of relevant experience; or Master's degree, plus a minimum of 8 years of relevant experience.

Clearance Requirements:
Department of Defense Secret security clearance is required at time of hire. Applicants selected will be subject to a U.S. Government security investigation and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information. Due to the nature of work performed within our facilities, U.S. citizenship is required.

Responsibilities for this Position

Required Skills and Expertise
  • Demonstrated technical ownership of warhead, energetic payload, munitions, or comparable high-consequence hardware through design, qualification, and production readiness.
  • Experience defining payload architecture and decomposing system requirements into interfaces, verification evidence, technical trade studies, and risk-reduction plans.
  • Ability to balance mission effects, safety, insensitive-munitions objectives, integration, manufacturability, cost, and schedule in defensible engineering decisions.
  • Experience managing interfaces among energetic payloads, initiation or fuzing systems, mechanical structures, and weapon or delivery platforms.
  • Experience planning and leading verification, qualification, environmental, and live-fire test activities; interpreting results and driving corrective action.
  • Experience applying system-safety, hazard-analysis, and safety-evidence practices for energetic or safety-critical hardware.
  • Experience with supplier technical oversight, configuration control, traceability, and technical-data review for controlled or safety-critical components.
  • Experience with modeling and simulation processes and tools (e.g. Design of Experiments ,Digital Twins, Ansys Tool chain, MATLAB, Hydrocode, CTH).
  • Technical leadership experience across engineering, safety, test, manufacturing, quality, suppliers, customers, and program management.
  • Ability to lead technical reviews, communicate risks and evidence clearly, and mentor engineers in disciplined engineering practice.

Highly Desired Differentiators
  • Leadership on fielded or government-qualified warhead, energetic-payload, or munitions programs.
  • Direct experience shaping or executing insensitive-munitions strategy, survivability assessment, or associated redesign efforts.
  • Experience preparing technical evidence for DoD or service munitions-safety reviews.
  • Background with government laboratories, test ranges, or munitions-development organizations.
  • Experience using physics-based analysis, modeling, and test correlation to support payload design decisions.
  • Experience transitioning energetic hardware from development into qualified, repeatable production.
  • Experience supporting multiple military services, international programs, or controlled export programs.

Our Commitment to You
  • An exciting career path with opportunities for continuous learning and development.
  • Research oriented work, alongside award winning teams developing practical solutions for our nation's security
  • Flexible schedules with every other Friday off work, if desired (9/80 schedule)
  • Competitive benefits, including 401k matching, flex time off, paid parental leave, healthcare benefits, health & wellness programs, employee resource and social groups, and more
  • See more at gdmissionsystems.com/careers/why-work-for-benefits]

Workplace Options
This position is fully onsite or hybrid/flex with opportunity to be fully remote/telework for candidates with strong experience and background.

While on-site, you will be a part of the Advanced Electronics Systems team located in Ft Wayne, Indiana

#CJ3

Salary Note

This estimate represents the typical salary range for this position based on experience and other factors (geographic location, etc.). Actual pay may vary. This job posting will remain open until the position is filled.

Combined Salary Range

USD $174,203.00 - USD $183,730.00 /Yr.

Company Overview

General Dynamics Mission Systems (GDMS) engineers a diverse portfolio of high technology solutions, products and services that enable customers to successfully execute missions across all domains of operation. With a global team of 12,000 top professionals, we partner with the best in industry to expand the bounds of innovation in the defense and scientific arenas. Given the nature of our work and who we are, we value trust, honesty, alignment and transparency. We offer highly competitive benefits and pride ourselves in being a great place to work with a shared sense of purpose. You will also enjoy a flexible work environment where contributions are recognized and rewarded. If who we are and what we do resonates with you, we invite you to join our high-performance team!

Equal Opportunity Employer / Individuals with Disabilities / Protected Veterans

Salary : $174,203 - $183,730

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