What are the responsibilities and job description for the Payload SME position at SAIC?
Job ID 2610526
Location Chantilly, VA, US
Date Posted 2026-03-23
Category Engineering and Sciences
Subcategory Systems Engineer
Schedule Full-Time
Shift Day Job
Travel Yes - 10% of the time
Minimum Clearance Required TS.SCI_wPoly
Clearance Level Must Be Able to Obtain None
Potential for Remote Work ORA_ON_SITE
Description
SAIC has an opening for a Spacecraft Payload SME Engineer with an understanding of Digital Receiver Processors. The individual selected will provide subject matter expertise to support customer decisions with respect to contractors’ development of spacecraft RF collection payloads and overall mission capabilities. Individual will perform the following duties.
Qualifications
Location Chantilly, VA, US
Date Posted 2026-03-23
Category Engineering and Sciences
Subcategory Systems Engineer
Schedule Full-Time
Shift Day Job
Travel Yes - 10% of the time
Minimum Clearance Required TS.SCI_wPoly
Clearance Level Must Be Able to Obtain None
Potential for Remote Work ORA_ON_SITE
Description
SAIC has an opening for a Spacecraft Payload SME Engineer with an understanding of Digital Receiver Processors. The individual selected will provide subject matter expertise to support customer decisions with respect to contractors’ development of spacecraft RF collection payloads and overall mission capabilities. Individual will perform the following duties.
- Responsible for overseeing vendor development of RF antenna and receiver payload path to flight as the primary technical expert.
- Responsible for supporting end-to-end payload development to include
- Analysis of alternatives
- Requirements generation, evaluation and compliance assessments
- Concept design evaluation
- Critical technology element (CTE) identification and assessments; Technology readiness assessments (TRA); manufacturing readiness assessments (MRA).
- Concept of Operations (CONOPS) development
- Oversight of payload integration
- Transition to operations to include development; operator training; payload initialization and checkout; on-orbit operations and end of life operations
- Responsible for assessing proposed payload design updates and understanding all performance and spacecraft impacts due to these updates.
- Responsible for performing assessments of risk reduction plans associated with improving the maturity of payload design and hardware.
- Responsible for working with contacts at prime and subcontractors to ensure work is on schedule and progressing.
Qualifications
- Bachelor in Electrical Engineering or a technical field such as Physics, Math, or Astronautics with 9 years or more of experience; Masters with 7 years of experience or PhD and 4 years of experience.
- Experience with Satellite RF systems
- Proven ability to effectively work with a large team of Government, FFRDC, and SETA contractors as well as Developers.
- Ability to convey complex technical and programmatic issues concisely to senior management