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Posted: February 4, 2026 (3 days ago)

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General Engineer

Missile Defense Agency

Department of Defense

Fresh

Location

Salary

$130,987 - $197,200

per year

Closes

February 13, 2026

GS-13 Pay Grade

Base salary range: $88,520 - $115,079

Typical requirements: 1 year specialized experience at GS-12. Expert-level knowledge in field.

Note: Actual salary includes locality pay (15-40%+ depending on location).

Job Description

Summary

This job involves leading engineering projects for complex weapon systems at the Missile Defense Agency, including analyzing data, running simulations, and working with international partners to develop and test defense technologies.

It's a senior-level role focused on guiding teams and communicating findings to high-level managers.

A good fit would be an experienced engineer with a strong background in defense systems, project leadership, and technical analysis who enjoys collaborative, high-stakes work.

Key Requirements

  • Bachelor's degree in engineering from an ABET-accredited program or equivalent combination of education and experience meeting OPM 0801 series standards
  • One year of specialized experience at NH-03/GS-13 level or equivalent
  • Experience leading system engineering projects for complex weapon systems across multiple disciplines
  • Experience analyzing complex data, drawing conclusions, and providing recommendations to senior management
  • Experience collaborating with international partners on requirements, simulation objectives, and executing models in client/server architectures
  • Strong oral and written communication skills, including developing presentations for engineering and program management leaders
  • Professional engineering registration (e.g., PE, EIT) preferred or as a qualifier for education/experience combination

Full Job Description

The position(s) covered by this vacancy announcement is in the Department of Defense (DoD) Acquisition Workforce Personnel Demonstration Project (AcqDemo).

For more information please see: ACQDEMO You may qualify at the NH-04 Broadband Level, if you fulfill the following qualifications: A.

One year of specialized experience equivalent to the NH-03/GS-13 grade level in the Federal service as listed below and must meet 3 of the 4 specialized experience listed below to be qualified: Experience leading a portfolio of system engineering projects involving multiple disciplines, concepts, principles, and methods related to complex weapon systems.

Experience analyzing complex data, developing conclusions and informing recommendations presented to senior management within the engineering and program management divisions.

Experience collaborating with international partners to understand requirements, developing simulation objectives, and then executing models and simulations in a client/server architecture in either stand alone or distributed modes.

Experience in oral and written communications, to include the development of presentations, to senior management within the engineering and program management divisions.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social).

Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment.

You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

In addition to meeting qualifications, your application package must reflect the applicable experience to meet the Individual Occupational Requirements for the 0801, series as listed below: This position has a Basic Requirement for the 0801 series: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/0800/files/all-professional-engineering-positions-0800.pdf 0801 Series: A.

Degree: Engineering.

To be acceptable, the program must: (1) lead to a bachelor's degree in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by ABET; or (2) include differential and integral calculus and courses (more advanced than first-year physics and chemistry) in five of the following seven areas of engineering science or physics: (a) statics, dynamics; (b) strength of materials (stress-strain relationships); (c) fluid mechanics, hydraulics; (d) thermodynamics; (e) electrical fields and circuits; (f) nature and properties of materials (relating particle and aggregate structure to properties); and (g) any other comparable area of fundamental engineering science or physics, such as optics, heat transfer, soil mechanics, or electronics.

OR B.

Combination of education and experience -- college-level education, training, and/or technical experience that furnished (1) a thorough knowledge of the physical and mathematical sciences underlying engineering, and (2) a good understanding, both theoretical and practical, of the engineering sciences and techniques and their applications to one of the branches of engineering.

The adequacy of such background must be demonstrated by one of the following: Professional registration or licensure -- Current registration as an Engineer Intern (EI), Engineer in Training (EIT)1, or licensure as a Professional Engineer (PE) by any State, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico.

Absent other means of qualifying under this standard, those applicants who achieved such registration by means other than written test (e.g., State grandfather or eminence provisions) are eligible only for positions that are within or closely related to the specialty field of their registration.

For example, an applicant who attains registration through a State Board's eminence provision as a manufacturing engineer typically would be rated eligible only for manufacturing engineering positions.

Written Test -- Evidence of having successfully passed the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE)2 examination or any other written test required for professional registration by an engineering licensure board in the various States, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico.

Specified academic courses -- Successful completion of at least 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences and that included the courses specified in the basic requirements under paragraph A.

The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program as described in paragraph A.

Related curriculum -- Successful completion of a curriculum leading to a bachelor's degree in an appropriate scientific field, e.g., engineering technology, physics, chemistry, architecture, computer science, mathematics, hydrology, or geology, may be accepted in lieu of a bachelor's degree in engineering, provided the applicant has had at least 1 year of professional engineering experience acquired under professional engineering supervision and guidance.

Ordinarily there should be either an established plan of intensive training to develop professional engineering competence, or several years of prior professional engineering-type experience, e.g., in interdisciplinary positions.

(The above examples of related curricula are not all-inclusive.) NOTE: Failure to provide transcripts will result in you being rated ineligible for this position.

All materials must be submitted by the closing date of the announcement. Major Duties:

This position is part of the Department of Defense (DoD), Missile Defense Agency (MDA).

The incumbent will be responsible for: Directly supporting the BMDS acquisition program by performing systems planning, research, development, and other engineering task under the direction and guidance of the engineering Functional Manager and Functional Leads.

This is a Direct Hire Authority (DHA) solicitation utilizing the DHA for Acq Demo Engineering, Technical & Management (ETM) to recruit and appoint qualified candidates to positions in the competitive service.

As a General Engineer at the NH-0801-4 broadband level, some of your typical work assignments may include: Manage the cost, schedule, performance requirements, technical, and security for the Theater-Based Defense, U.S.

Israeli Cooperative Program (MDA/TBI) Israeli Test Bed (ITB) Project (U.S. and Israel Labs). Ensure the ITB Project achieves all objectives in accordance with the ITB Program Plan.

Coordinate with the Israeli Missile Defense Organization ITB lead to develop the project plan for experiments and exercises each year including definition of objectives, scenarios, and participants.

Participate in Upper Tier Coordination Officer training to incorporate lessons learned into ITB warfighter exercises.

Administer the contract for the ITB including oversight of the experiment and exercise schedule to ensure all required events are completed each contract year, assessing deliverables from the Israeli ITB Prime Contractor following each experiment and exercise for completeness.

Provide oversight of installation software and hardware updates in the U.S. lab to ensure that it is in full compliance with the Israeli lab for enhanced and continuous ITB laboratory operations.

Manage and support MDA Ground Test planning and execution related to the US ITB lab in enterprise level risk reduction testing.

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Posted on USAJOBS: 2/4/2026 | Added to FreshGovJobs: 2/5/2026

Source: USAJOBS | ID: MDA-26-12878353-DH