Systems Engineer Jobs in Washington, DC
Systems Engineer jobs in Washington, District of Columbia are driven by federal defense and intelligence contracts, civilian agency IT modernization, and private-sector technology work concentrated in the Capitol Hill corridor, Foggy Bottom, and the broader National Landing area. Employers hiring right now include Peraton, VTG Defense, and Leidos. Find a role that fits below and apply directly.
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LMI is a new breed of digital solutions provider dedicated to accelerating government impact with innovation and speed. Investing in technology and prototypes ahead of need, LMI brings commercial-grade platforms and mission-ready AI to federal agencies at commercial speed.
Leveraging our mission-ready technology and solutions, proven expertise in federal deployment, and strategic relationships, we enhance outcomes for the government, efficiently and effectively. With a focus on agility and collaboration, LMI serves the defense, space, homeland, healthcare, and intelligence sectors—helping agencies navigate complexity and outpace change. Headquartered in Tysons, Virginia, LMI is committed to delivering impactful results that strengthen missions and drive lasting value.
Responsibilities:LMI is seeking a skilled Systems Engineer to design, integrate, validate, and sustain enterprise IT capabilities across a network of new and existing secure facilities. The Systems Engineer will work across networking, infrastructure, cybersecurity, cloud, applications, data, and operations to ensure that individual components function together as a secure, resilient, and supportable system. This is an execution-oriented role supporting a fast-paced, milestone-driven prototype effort with near-term deliverable commitments. Success requires systems thinking, disciplined technical analysis, effective communication, and the ability to manage requirements, interfaces, dependencies, risk, and lifecycle considerations.
Primary duties include:
- Enumerate and document the technical baseline across geographically dispersed sites, including systems, services, interfaces, dependencies, security boundaries, and classified and unclassified network enclaves.
- Translate mission and stakeholder needs into clear, measurable, testable, and traceable system requirements.
- Develop current-state, transition-state, and target-state system designs that integrate network, infrastructure, cybersecurity, cloud, application, identity, and data capabilities.
- Define system boundaries, interfaces, data flows, assumptions, constraints, and performance requirements across engineering disciplines.
- Conduct technical analyses and trade studies addressing capability, interoperability, security, resilience, cost, schedule, risk, and lifecycle impacts.
- Develop and execute integration, verification, validation, and acceptance plans demonstrating that delivered capabilities satisfy mission and operational requirements.
- Establish and maintain system configurations, technical baselines, architecture products, interface documentation, and engineering decision records.
- Coordinate with engineering leads, operators, security personnel, and government stakeholders to identify and resolve cross-domain technical issues.
- Develop automated methods for system provisioning, integration, testing, configuration validation, monitoring, compliance assessment, and recovery to improve consistency and reduce manual effort.
FOUNDATIONAL SKILLS
- Systems engineering lifecycle principles and systems thinking.
- Requirements analysis, decomposition, allocation, and traceability.
- System architecture, integration, interfaces, and dependency management.
- Verification, validation, test planning, and acceptance criteria.
- Network, compute, storage, virtualization, cloud, identity, cybersecurity, application, and data fundamentals.
- Reliability, availability, maintainability, scalability, resilience, and continuity of operations.
- Configuration management, change control, technical baselines, and decision analysis.
- Automation, scripting, configuration management, and infrastructure-as-code concepts.
- Structured troubleshooting, root-cause analysis, technical documentation, and stakeholder communication.
Location: This position is based in the Washington, DC metro area, with travel to program locations.
Travel: This position requires approximately 25-50% travel to support activities across multiple program locations.
Qualifications:- Bachelor's degree in Systems Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related field.
- 8+ years of experience designing, integrating, testing, or sustaining complex enterprise IT systems, including in classified environments.
- Demonstrated experience managing system requirements, interfaces, dependencies, configurations, and technical documentation.
- Experience integrating capabilities across network, infrastructure, cybersecurity, cloud, application, identity, or data domains.
- Experience engineering capabilities for SCIF or other accredited classified environments, including multi-enclave systems and security boundaries.
- Working knowledge of the Risk Management Framework (NIST SP 800-37 / 800-53) and experience advising senior leaders.
- Active Top Secret Clearance (SCI eligibility) required.
Nice to Have:
- Relevant systems engineering, architecture, or cybersecurity certification.
- Experience integrating cross-domain solutions (CDS) into enterprise architectures.
- Experience supporting Special Access Program (SAP) facilities, systems, or environments.
- Experience designing or standing up network or security operations centers (NOC/SOC), including 24x7 coverage models.
TS/SCI clearance and SAP eligibility are required for this position. Applicants selected will be subject to a government security investigation and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information. LMI will only consider applicants with current security clearances. Please note that only U.S. citizens are eligible for a security clearance.
Target salary range: $125,000 - $250,000
Disclaimer:
LMI is a new breed of digital solutions provider dedicated to accelerating government impact with innovation and speed. Investing in technology and prototypes ahead of need, LMI brings commercial-grade platforms and mission-ready AI to federal agencies at commercial speed.
Leveraging our mission-ready technology and solutions, proven expertise in federal deployment, and strategic relationships, we enhance outcomes for the government, efficiently and effectively. With a focus on agility and collaboration, LMI serves the defense, space, homeland, healthcare, and intelligence sectors—helping agencies navigate complexity and outpace change. Headquartered in Tysons, Virginia, LMI is committed to delivering impactful results that strengthen missions and drive lasting value.
Responsibilities:LMI is seeking a skilled Systems Engineer to design, integrate, validate, and sustain enterprise IT capabilities across a network of new and existing secure facilities. The Systems Engineer will work across networking, infrastructure, cybersecurity, cloud, applications, data, and operations to ensure that individual components function together as a secure, resilient, and supportable system. This is an execution-oriented role supporting a fast-paced, milestone-driven prototype effort with near-term deliverable commitments. Success requires systems thinking, disciplined technical analysis, effective communication, and the ability to manage requirements, interfaces, dependencies, risk, and lifecycle considerations.
Primary duties include:
- Enumerate and document the technical baseline across geographically dispersed sites, including systems, services, interfaces, dependencies, security boundaries, and classified and unclassified network enclaves.
- Translate mission and stakeholder needs into clear, measurable, testable, and traceable system requirements.
- Develop current-state, transition-state, and target-state system designs that integrate network, infrastructure, cybersecurity, cloud, application, identity, and data capabilities.
- Define system boundaries, interfaces, data flows, assumptions, constraints, and performance requirements across engineering disciplines.
- Conduct technical analyses and trade studies addressing capability, interoperability, security, resilience, cost, schedule, risk, and lifecycle impacts.
- Develop and execute integration, verification, validation, and acceptance plans demonstrating that delivered capabilities satisfy mission and operational requirements.
- Establish and maintain system configurations, technical baselines, architecture products, interface documentation, and engineering decision records.
- Coordinate with engineering leads, operators, security personnel, and government stakeholders to identify and resolve cross-domain technical issues.
- Develop automated methods for system provisioning, integration, testing, configuration validation, monitoring, compliance assessment, and recovery to improve consistency and reduce manual effort.
FOUNDATIONAL SKILLS
- Systems engineering lifecycle principles and systems thinking.
- Requirements analysis, decomposition, allocation, and traceability.
- System architecture, integration, interfaces, and dependency management.
- Verification, validation, test planning, and acceptance criteria.
- Network, compute, storage, virtualization, cloud, identity, cybersecurity, application, and data fundamentals.
- Reliability, availability, maintainability, scalability, resilience, and continuity of operations.
- Configuration management, change control, technical baselines, and decision analysis.
- Automation, scripting, configuration management, and infrastructure-as-code concepts.
- Structured troubleshooting, root-cause analysis, technical documentation, and stakeholder communication.
Location: This position is based in the Washington, DC metro area, with travel to program locations.
Travel: This position requires approximately 25-50% travel to support activities across multiple program locations.
Qualifications:- Bachelor's degree in Systems Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related field.
- 8+ years of experience designing, integrating, testing, or sustaining complex enterprise IT systems, including in classified environments.
- Demonstrated experience managing system requirements, interfaces, dependencies, configurations, and technical documentation.
- Experience integrating capabilities across network, infrastructure, cybersecurity, cloud, application, identity, or data domains.
- Experience engineering capabilities for SCIF or other accredited classified environments, including multi-enclave systems and security boundaries.
- Working knowledge of the Risk Management Framework (NIST SP 800-37 / 800-53) and experience advising senior leaders.
- Active Top Secret Clearance (SCI eligibility) required.
Nice to Have:
- Relevant systems engineering, architecture, or cybersecurity certification.
- Experience integrating cross-domain solutions (CDS) into enterprise architectures.
- Experience supporting Special Access Program (SAP) facilities, systems, or environments.
- Experience designing or standing up network or security operations centers (NOC/SOC), including 24x7 coverage models.
TS/SCI clearance and SAP eligibility are required for this position. Applicants selected will be subject to a government security investigation and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information. LMI will only consider applicants with current security clearances. Please note that only U.S. citizens are eligible for a security clearance.
Target salary range: $125,000 - $250,000
Disclaimer:
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Find Systems Engineer JobsSystems Engineer Job Market in Washington
Who's Hiring
Systems Engineer Jobs in Washington: Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get a systems engineer job in Washington?
Focus your search on the federal contracting ecosystem, which dominates Washington hiring for systems engineers across defense, intelligence, and civilian agency programs. Clearance eligibility is a significant differentiator here, even for roles that do not yet require an active clearance. Employers in Foggy Bottom, Capitol Hill, and the Navy Yard corridor hire heavily, and experience integrating with government IT architectures or meeting federal compliance standards gives candidates a concrete edge over generalist applicants.
Which companies hire systems engineers in Washington?
Employers hiring systems engineers in Washington right now include Peraton, VTG Defense, and Leidos, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of September 2026. Washington's hiring landscape is anchored by large defense contractors, federal civilian agency contractors, and a growing cluster of technology firms supporting government modernization initiatives.
Are there remote systems engineer jobs in Washington?
Yes, though availability depends heavily on the role: systems engineers doing hands-on infrastructure, lab, or classified work are almost always required on-site, while architecture, design, and analytical functions tend to be more remote-compatible. About 79% of systems engineer openings tied to Washington are remote or hybrid as of September 2026, skewing toward roles in enterprise architecture and cloud systems rather than hardware or classified environments.
How can I get a systems engineer job in Washington with little or no experience?
The most realistic entry path in Washington is through federal contractor apprentice or associate programs, which hire candidates with relevant degrees or certifications and train them on government-specific methodologies. Targeting mid-tier contractors working on civilian agency projects, rather than large primes on classified programs, lowers the experience bar. Familiarity with ITSM frameworks, cloud platforms, or network fundamentals, combined with any federal internship or co-op experience in the region, makes entry-level candidates noticeably competitive in this market.
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