Manufacturing, Engineering Services

Strategic Mission Engineer

Washington, DCOnsiteFull Time$160,000–$220,000 /yrPosted 4 days agoVisa sponsorship available

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Required skills

military operational experience
defense
national security
commercial programs
Air Defense
kill chain
peer or near-peer adversary
intelligence community reporting
classified data exchanges
mission data accreditation

Nice to have

full kill chain analysis
air
surface
space
electronic warfare engagements
established relationships

Role summary

CHAOS Industries is seeking a Strategic Mission Engineering Lead with recent military operational experience to design, test, and field defense products. This role involves operational analysis and system performance assessment across defense, national security, and commercial programs, focusing on Air Defense and Counter Unmanned Aerial Systems (C-UAS). You will translate operational concepts into mission engineering designs, identify unmet needs, and develop creative solutions. Responsibilities include scenario development, threat analysis, briefing senior leadership, and partnering with engineering and data science teams. The ideal candidate demonstrates initiative, problem-solving skills, and the ability to lead cross-functional efforts. A Bachelor's degree or equivalent military experience and 5+ years of relevant program support are required.

CHAOS Industries is redefining modern defense with a multi-product portfolio that gives the ultimate advantage—domain dominance. The company's products are powered by Coherent Distributed Networks (CDN™), empowering warfighters, commercial air operators, and border protection teams to act faster, adapt rapidly, and stay ahead of evolving threats.

CHAOS Industries was founded in 2022 and has raised a total of $1 billion in funding from leading investors, including 8VC, Accel, and Valor Equity Partners. The company is headquartered in Los Angeles, with offices in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, San Diego, and London. For more information, please visit www.chaosinc.com.

Role Overview:

As a Strategic Mission Engineering Lead at CHAOS, you will bring recent, real-world military operational experience to the way CHAOS designs, tests, and fields its products. You will help design, develop, execute, analyze, and validate the models, simulations, scenarios, and operational assessments that deliver operational analysis and system performance assessment across defense, national security, and commercial programs – which will guide internal engineering investment and assist business development in shaping customer requirements. Your work will span Air Defense, Counter Unmanned Aerial Systems (C-UAS), and the broader set of mission areas CHAOS supports, and will directly inform decisions around product requirements, product engineering, business development strategy, and product road mapping.

This is a foundational hire. You will operate with limited guidance in a fast-moving environment, identify what the warfighter actually needs, and generate creative, practical solutions to operational problems that do not yet have a defined answer. You will have the freedom to move fast.

Responsibilities:

Support execution of the mission engineering and operations analysis strategy across CHAOS's Air Defense, C-UAS, and related product development and business development efforts.

Translate current and future concepts of operation – including US and allied force standard operating procedures (SOPs) and tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) for static and mobile forces – into mission engineering and operations analysis design.

Identify unmet operational needs across the kill chain and generate creative, practical solutions, working with engineering and product teams to turn them into capability concepts, CONOPS, and study designs.

Enable the translation of validated intelligence community products (NASIC, DIA, MSIC, ONI, NGIC, MCIA, and partner agency assessments) on adversary air, missile, and related threat systems into modeling parameters, scenario constructs, and red force order of battle for mission-level simulations.

Lead blue force CONOP-informed scenario development across all domains, ensuring scenarios reflect credible blue force CONOPS, doctrine, and projected capabilities, not generic boilerplate.

Validate blue force operating models, assumptions, and simulation outputs against authoritative source data and operational experience; engage customer users and partners to resolve discrepancies and refresh representations as new CONOPS and CONEMPS are developed.

Maintain continuous awareness of adversary threats, capabilities, and evolving TTPs – drawing on intelligence community reporting, operational lessons learned, and open-source analysis – and ensure threat representations in models, scenarios, and studies remain current.

Brief CONOP assessments, scenario rationale, and analytical findings to senior technical leadership, program executives, and government customers, including DoD, DARPA, and IC stakeholders up to the flag/SES level, in order to better inform their requirements development and advantage CHAOS in future competitive programs.

Partner with engineers, data scientists, and analysts to translate operational and intelligence questions into well-structured analytical approaches. Push back when the question being asked isn't the right one.

Stay forward of emerging blue force capabilities, doctrine, TTPs/SOPs, and technologies, and shape study designs to address what's coming, not just what's documented.

Serve as a primary interface to US and allied partner operators and air defenders, including support to classified data exchanges and mission data accreditation.

Support programs spanning DoD services, DARPA, intelligence community, and commercial customers, and partner with engineering, product, growth, and customer teams to shape new business pursuits.

Minimum Requirements:

Bachelor's degree or higher, or equivalent military operational and analytical experience.

5+ years of experience supporting defense, intelligence, or advanced technology programs through industry or government employment.

Recent experience planning and executing military operations – Air Defense, C-UAS, fires, ISR, or a related mission area – in a deployed or operational environment.

Direct experience employing sensing and effecting capabilities against a peer or near-peer adversary.

Demonstrated ability to operate with limited guidance: define the problem, set the approach, and deliver without waiting to be told what to do.

Track record of generating creative, practical solutions to operational problems and carrying them through to adoption.

Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional efforts spanning operations, engineering, product, and business development teams.

Experience guiding analysts in the use of analytical tools and rigorous methods, and in interpreting and presenting results to decision makers.

Strong data visualization skills and comfort developing CONOPS/OV-1 visuals and briefing packages.

Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including experience briefing flag/general officer or SES-level audiences.

Eligibility to obtain a Top Secret clearance.

Willingness and ability to travel domestically and internationally, including to customer, partner, and operational sites.

Preferred Requirements:

Active Top Secret clearance.

Experience analyzing the full kill chain (find, fix, track, target, engage, assess) across multiple domains, including air, surface, space, and electronic warfare engagements.

Established relationships across US and allied operational communities, including service air defense branches, the joint C-UAS community, and allied partners.

Experience leading study teams or working groups across organizations, including threat-informed scenario development, model accreditation, or V&V efforts.

Experience supporting rapid development programs across DoD services, DARPA, ONR, AFRL, COCOMs, the acquisition community, or commercial advanced technology programs.

Experience supporting capture and positioning activities (RFI/RFP responses, white papers, technical exchanges) and shaping new business pursuits.

Why CHAOS?

Health Benefits: Medical, dental, and vision benefits 100% paid for by the company

Additional benefits: 401k (+ 50% company match up to 6% of pay), FSA, HSA, life insurance, and more

Our Perks: Free daily lunch while you're working onsite, fully-stocked kitchen, unlimited PTO, casual dress code

Compensation Components: Competitive base salaries, generous pre-IPO stock option grants, relocation assistance, and (coming soon!) annual bonuses

Team Growth: 500+ employees and counting across 5 global offices

Salary Range: $160,000 - $220,000

The stated compensation range reflects only the targeted base compensation range and excludes additional earnings such as bonus, equity, and benefits. If your compensation requirements fall outside of the range, we still encourage you to apply. The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary offer may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and/or training, critical skills, and/or business considerations.

Recruiting Agencies: CHAOS Industries does not accept unsolicited resumes or outreach. Unsolicited submissions will not be reviewed or compensated.

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