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Principal Systems Engineer- DRT

Thales Communications, Inc
Germantown, MD Full Time
POSTED ON 7/21/2026
AVAILABLE BEFORE 8/20/2026
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

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 .

#LI-JD1 #LI-Hybrid

Salary : $149,702 - $191,286

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