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L3Harris is dedicated to recruiting and developing high-performing talent who are passionate about what they do. Our employees are unified in a shared dedication to our customers’ mission and quest for professional growth. L3Harris provides an inclusive, engaging environment designed to empower employees and promote work-life success. Fundamental to our culture is an unwavering focus on values, dedication to our communities, and commitment to excellence in everything we do.

L3Harris Technologies is the Trusted Disruptor in the defense industry. With customers’ mission-critical needs always in mind, our employees deliver end-to-end technology solutions connecting the space, air, land, sea and cyber domains in the interest of national security.

Job Title:  Senior Scientist, Systems Engineer

Job Code:  25385

Job Location: Herndon, VA

Job Schedule: 9/80

Job Description:  

The Advanced Concept Engineer (ACE) provides the strategic technical leadership to draw on L3Harris' technical competencies to meet the business needs of L3Harris and its customers. The ACE is the technical interface between L3Harris and our customers’ engineering staff, supporting the Business Development staff in the creation of new business opportunities. The successful ACE will engage with customer, engineering, operations, and management personnel to define and document the customer’s CONOPS and requirements, perform trade studies, engage L3Harris Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to architect an affordable solution carrying acceptable risk, and lead resulting proposal efforts. The ACE takes into account all of the needs, resources, and constraints, including the customer mission, budget limitations, technical preferences, physics boundaries, and the political climate, in a manner that creates trust in the ACE as well as L3Harris. During program execution, the ACE is the technical advocate and voice of the customer during program reviews.  This role requires experience in systems engineering, system architecture development, competitive assessment, project engineering management and development program execution. 

The Advanced Concept Engineer should be a subject matter expert in multiple technical domains with an entrepreneurial background.  This individual will work closely with business development and senior management to respond to customer needs with technical presentations, white papers and proposals; requests for proposals, information and broad agency announcements; and provide market and subject matter expert guidance to business strategy and existing development efforts.  Demonstrated communication and interpersonal skills, coupled with the ability to work cross-functionally between a large engineering enterprise and external partners is required.

Essential Functions: 

• Interpretation of customers’ mission needs with a focus on identifying mission gaps and addressable market
• Advocates customer critical needs to internal stakeholders
• Builds business cases and manages discretionary resources  
• Roadmaps organic technology, discretionary funding, external partner capabilities, and customer funded studies to build new business opportunities
• Performs technical and management competitive assessments to clearly communicate why and how the new business opportunities provide value to L3Harris and the customer
• Evaluates customer and operational needs to help define and coordinate high level system performance, physical, functional, and program interface requirements
• Synthesis and life cycle ownership of mission architecture
• Generation of the initial Concept of Operations (CONOPS) or Operational Descriptions Document (ODD)  
• Generation of initial system architecture views; decomposing opportunity to addressable configuration items in a compressive value chain framework
• Leads the development of appropriate solutions to customer needs  
• Demonstrates broad and deep technical knowledge; accesses Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) as needed  
• Determines whether requirements can be met with existing capabilities/designs or if new design requirements must be developed
• Leads and coordinates various analyses to optimize total system of systems and/or system architecture  
• Assess and provide direction for make/buy decisions and selection of strategic suppliers
• Establishes the technology integration or migration strategies
• Leads and perform trade studies required to make both tactical and strategic technical decisions for pursuit
• Provides technical coordination between customer, industry, and internal engineering groups to articulate technical issues
• Prepares and presents technical information that addresses specific subjects of interest
• Analyzes and develops recommendations to resolve contractual technical issues
• Maintains a macro view of L3Harris' existing and emerging technologies  
• Leads and coordinates pursuit activities such as: technical baseline reviews, request for input (RFI) responses, request for proposal (RFP) responses, and white papers. 

Qualifications: 

• Bachelor’s Degree with a minimum of 15 years of prior related experience. Graduate Degree with a minimum of 13 years of prior related experience. In lieu of a degree, minimum of 19 years of prior related experience.
• Deep expertise in RF Engineering including ideation, analysis of alternatives, and link budgets
• Broad creative thinking beyond RF to shape proposals and execution of multi-disciplinary systems
• Satellite SME with expertise in multi-orbit communications over a wide range of frequencies (5G/LTE, L, S, Ka and Ku bands)
• Ability to develop and implement SDR solutions for satellite communications.
• Offensive and defensive Cyber mission experience with the ability to identify core mission gaps and influence customer solution space
• Previous experience executing DoD/government programs
• Proven technical business development skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Excels in communication, adeptly translating complex technical concepts for diverse audiences, including non-technical stakeholders and cross-functional teams
• Experience with functional and physical architecture development
• Experience collaborating in a team environment
• Ability to work autonomously and with others to resolve technical issues
• Must have ability to obtain and maintain US Government Secret Security Clearance. 

Preferred Additional Skills:

• Experience with IP networking, routing, and switching
• Knowledge of cloud-based infrastructure and services, including storage, computing, and networking
• Experience with securing communication links and data
• Experience with AI tools and frameworks for developing intelligent systems and automating processes
• Understanding of regulatory requirements for satellite communications with experience in obtaining necessary licenses and ensuring compliance
• Demonstrated entrepreneurial success
• Demonstrated quick reaction technical team leadership experience
• Experience analyzing, developing, and integrating electronic systems in areas such as remote sensing, aerospace payloads, mission computing, communications, networking, robotics, and cyber / electronic warfare
• Experience working with and for Department of Defense (DoD), Intelligence Community (IC) — both domestic and international 

In compliance with pay transparency requirements, the salary range for this role is $180,500 - $335,000. This is not a guarantee of compensation or salary, as final offer amount may vary based on factors including but not limited to experience and geographic location. L3Harris also offers a variety of benefits, including health and disability insurance, 401(k) match, flexible spending accounts, EAP, education assistance, parental leave, paid time off, and company-paid holidays. The specific programs and options available to an employee may vary depending on date of hire, schedule type, and the applicability of collective bargaining agreements. The application window for this requisition is anticipated to close August, 31, 2025

L3Harris Technologies is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. L3Harris is committed to treating all employees and applicants for employment with respect and dignity and maintaining a workplace that is free from unlawful discrimination. All applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, national origin, ancestry, ethnicity, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding or other related medical conditions), gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status, disability, genetic information, citizenship status, characteristic or membership in any other group protected by federal, state or local laws. L3Harris maintains a drug-free workplace and performs pre-employment substance abuse testing and background checks, where permitted by law.

Please be aware many of our positions require the ability to obtain a security clearance. Security clearances may only be granted to U.S. citizens. In addition, applicants who accept a conditional offer of employment may be subject to government security investigation(s) and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information.

By submitting your resume for this position, you understand and agree that L3Harris Technologies may share your resume, as well as any other related personal information or documentation you provide, with its subsidiaries and affiliated companies for the purpose of considering you for other available positions.

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