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Defense, Government Contracting, Cybersecurity, IT Services, Aerospace, Healthcare Technology

Scaled Hypersonics Chief Engineer​

AlabamaOnsiteFull TimeChief / Executive$154,050–$278,475 /yrPosted 1 month agoVisa sponsorship available

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Required skills

  • Scaled Hypersonics
  • Chief Engineer
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Aerospace Engineering
  • ABET-accredited
  • Mission-focused
  • high-performing team
  • technical execution
  • manufacturing
  • supply-chain integration

Nice to have

  • graduate degrees

Role summary

Leidos Defense Sector seeks a Scaled Hypersonics Chief Engineer in Huntsville, Alabama, to lead the technical execution of next-generation hypersonic vehicle designs. This role focuses on achieving unprecedented levels of manufacturing, supply-chain integration, cost, and schedule. The Chief Engineer will be the technical authority, guiding programs through development, test, production, and sustainment, ensuring design integrity and performance. This position requires a systems-minded leader balancing near-term production with long-term technology advancement, working with talented engineers on challenging technical problems. The role involves leading technical teams, communicating progress to leadership and stakeholders, and mentoring staff to foster innovation and collaboration.

Leidos’ Defense Sector is seeking a Scaled Hypersonics Chief Engineer to join our team in Huntsville Alabama designing the next generation of hypersonic vehicles to protect America and its allies. You will lead the technical execution of scaling existing hypersonic vehicle designs to achieve levels of manufacturing, supply-chain integration, cost, and schedule never before achieved. You will guide the program through development, test, production, and sustainment activities. The Chief Engineer will serve as the technical authority across multiple product lines and configurations, ensuring design integrity, technical performance, and disciplined engineering execution. This role requires a systems-minded leader with the ability to balance near-term production needs with long-term technology advancement. This is not your average engineering position. You will work on a team of the most talented engineers in the region who push you to be better every day. This is a fast-paced program with unique technical challenges that will be a rewarding milestone in any engineering career. If you are up for the challenge of joining this team, then apply today to be considered. 

Are you ready to make an impact? Share your resume with us today! 

Primary Responsibilities

  • Lead your technical team to design a product that conforms to requirements, on schedule, within budget. 

  • Serve as the program’s technical lead for engineering execution, system performance, and compliance with requirements across multiple product lifecycle stages. 

  • Communicate technical progress, challenges, and opportunities to senior leadership and government stakeholders. 

  • Provide technical direction and oversight to subsystem leads, IPTs, and specialty engineering disciplines to ensure design maturity, integration, and risk mitigation. 

  • Mentor and develop technical staff, fostering a culture of innovation, rigor, and collaboration across the engineering organization. 

Basic Qualifications

  • Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or equivalent degree from an ABET-accredited university 

  • 15+ years of applicable experience in design and/or analysis of mechanical systems 

  • Mission-focused. Ready to contribute to a high-performing team. 

Preferred Qualifications

  • Candidates with experience leading large multi-disciplinary engineering design teams will be preferred. 

  • Candidates with graduate degrees will be preferred 

If you're looking for comfort, keep scrolling. At Leidos, we outthink, outbuild, and outpace the status quo — because the mission demands it. We're not hiring followers. We're recruiting the ones who disrupt, provoke, and refuse to fail. Step 10 is ancient history. We're already at step 30 — and moving faster than anyone else dares.

Original Posting:

September 18, 2026

For U.S. Positions: While subject to change based on business needs, Leidos reasonably anticipates that this job requisition will remain open for at least 3 days with an anticipated close date of no earlier than 3 days after the original posting date as listed above.

Pay Range:

Pay Range $154,050.00 - $278,475.00

The Leidos pay range for this job level is a general guideline only and not a guarantee of compensation or salary. Additional factors considered in extending an offer include (but are not limited to) responsibilities of the job, education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity, alignment with market data, applicable bargaining agreement (if any), or other law.

Sample Leidos interview questions

  • 1

    What are the key considerations when designing a highly available and consistent service registry?

    system designmedium
  • 2

    Buildings with an Ocean View Find all buildings that have an ocean view. Input: heights = [1,2,3,4] Output: [3] Explanation: Since the ocean is to the right, only the rightmost tallest building (index 3) is not blocked by any others.

    codingmedium
  • 3

    Merge K Sorted Linked Lists Merge K sorted linked lists. Input: lists = [[2,2,3],[1,5]] Output: [1,2,2,3,5] Explanation: Extracts the smallest current node iteratively using a priority queue to build a single merged and sorted linked list.

    codingmedium
  • 4

    Optimal Meeting Point Calculate the optimal meeting point for multiple people on a 2D grid. Input: grid = [[1,0],[0,1]] Output: 2 Explanation: The optimal meeting point is either (0,1) or (1,0), requiring exactly 1 step from each person resulting in a total distance of 2.

    codingmedium
  • 5

    Maximize the minimum distance between aggressive cows in stalls. Input: stalls = [0,4,3,7,10,9], cows = 3 Output: 4 Explanation: Placing the cows at positions 0, 4, and 10 yields a maximum possible minimum distance of 4 between any two cows.

    codingmedium

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