Principal Architect Jobs

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.

As an operator of Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs), MITRE staff are tasked with applying their skills to impact programmatic and technical decisions of highest importance to the nation. The Advanced Wireless & SATCOM Department, which is part of the MITRE Technology and Engineering Infrastructure, Networking, and Communications Division, has as its mission to provide premier communications network engineering services for our customers at all classification levels. Our engineers have expertise in research, design, analysis, modeling and simulation, lab experimentation, field testing, and implementation of networks across a diverse set of networked communication environments including virtual, wired, and wireless. We are adept at combining networking research and innovation with practical hands-on experience to provide risk reduction and deployable solutions for our customers.

Roles & Responsibilities:

• Ability to work on a collaborative team and interface effectively with other teams across the company.
  
• Provide unbiased assessments of relevant market segments, government and commercial technologies, terminal and networking solutions, service models and procurement considerations.
  
• Lead engagements with government and industry that deepen the understanding of the potential for commercial capabilities to provide critical capabilities for government missions and associated challenges.
  
• Identify targeted opportunities for MITRE’s SATCOM Labs to integrate, prototype and experiment with emerging technologies to validate concepts and reduce risk for USG.
  
• Partner with MITRE work leaders to develop and deliver relevant assessments and insight to effectively shape sponsor thinking and decision-making
  
• Develop affordable Hybrid SATCOM terminal solutions that provide resilient connectivity throughout a range of conditions for ground, mobility, and aviation applications.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree with 10 years of related experience; or master’s degree with 7 related years; or a PhD with 5 years’ experience; or equivalent combination of related education and work experience.
  
• Excellent analytical, written, and oral communication skills
  
• Strong interpersonal skills to effectively collaborate across multiple organizations and engineering disciplines
  
• Understanding of commercial SATCOM architectures and service offerings
  
• Familiarity with commercial and military SATCOM terminals, antennas, and other key technologies
  
• Understanding of networks, especially layers 1-4 and 7 of the OSI model.
  
• Expertise in several technologies including but not limited to NGSO satellite communications, ground station as a service, mesh networking, edge computing platforms, network protocols, encryption, open architectures/standards, etc.
  

• Must have an active Top Secret U.S Government issued Security Clearance with the ability to obtain and maintain a Top Secret/SCI 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 requires a minimum of 3 days per week on-site

Preferred Qualifications:

• Recognition as a thought leader in SATCOM or NGSO space capabilities among government, industry, or academia
  
• Experience with antenna certification, terminal type certification, and EIRP Spectral Density (ESD) management
  
• Experience with aviation SATCOM or in-flight connectivity (IFC)
  
• RF Modeling and Simulation, to include link budget, performance and capacity analysis.
  
• Experience in sponsor engagement and business development to include work shaping, work management, collaboration across internal and external organizations, and transitioning prototypes to operational use.
  
• Active Top Secret/SCI Clearance

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

Top Secret

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

Top Secret/SCI

Salary compensation range and midpoint:

$162,400 - $203,000 - $243,600 Annual

Work Location Type:

Onsite

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

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.

MITRE intends to maintain a website that is fully accessible to all individuals. If you are unable to search or apply for jobs and would like to request a reasonable accommodation for any part of MITRE’s employment process, please email recruitinghelp@mitre.org for general support and collegerecruiting@mitre.org for intern positions. This service is for individuals requiring reasonable accommodation requests. Please note that vendor solicitations will not receive a reply.

Benefits information may be found here.

Copyright © 1997-2026, The MITRE Corporation. All rights reserved. MITRE is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation. Material on this site may be copied and distributed with permission only.