Job Abstract

Why choose between doing meaningful work and having a fulfilling life? At MITRE, you can have both. That's because MITRE people are committed to tackling our nation's toughest challenges—and we're committed to the long-term well-being of our employees. MITRE is different from most technology companies. We are a not-for-profit corporation chartered to work for the public interest, with no commercial conflicts to influence what we do. The R&D centers we operate for the government create lasting impact in fields as diverse as cybersecurity, healthcare, aviation, defense, and enterprise transformation. We're making a difference every day—working for a safer, healthier, and more secure nation and world. Our workplace reflects our values. We offer competitive benefits, exceptional professional development opportunities, and a culture of innovation that embraces diversity, inclusion, flexibility, collaboration, and career growth. If this sounds like the choice you want to make, then choose MITRE—and make a difference with us.

The Cyber Operations and Effects Innovation Center seeks a Chief Engineer (CE) who will integrate across the division, partner government-facing divisions, MITRE Labs, and government and industry stakeholders to lead critical technical aspects of the work program. The CE will be a core leader in enabling the mission strategy of the eight Cyber Operations and Effects Capability Areas: Defensive Cyber Operations (DCO), Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI), Cyber Analytics and Malware, Cyber Adversary Emulation, Cyber Deception and Adversary Engagement, Cyber Forensics, and Autonomous Cyber Operations, and Offensive Non-Kinetics. They will provide technical oversight of capabilities including MITRE ATT&CK ®, MITRE Caldera TM, and MITRE Engage TM. They will be responsible for prototyping and accelerating the deployment of tangible defensive and offensive capabilities while identifying new capabilities to increase impact to FFRDC sponsors and industry partners. The CE must provide individual, distinguished technical support directly to government sponsors including classified work in the Intelligence Community, as well as shape work and ensure technical excellence of others to drive sponsor success. The CE will in partnership oversee division capability development budgets to direct research, oversee division labs to focus them on program needs, influence the MITRE Labs Cyber Horizon Strategy, and work with MITRE Innovation Area Leads to support the vision of their areas and research proposal selection. They will also help drive the public reputation, publishing, and conference presentations of Cyber Operations capabilities to establish public, global resources.

Roles & Responsibilities:

Chief Engineer responsibilities include: 

Technical Quality

• Lead technical quality efforts and development of technical quality standards within Cyber Operations and related Capability Areas

• Partner with business and people leadership, including quality of staff hired, development of staff, and training initiatives to ensure appropriate technical quality is achieved

• Drive technical quality across the Cyber Operations technical area and related missions

• Drive technical quality across the center, across multi-disciplines including what type of MITRE work should be doing today and the work programs of the future

Technical Impact

• Ensure the technical strength of the work program by shaping its content, participating in technical product definition and reviews, and bringing a perspective that reflects knowledge of the domain, understanding of the state of the art and practice in technology, and comprehension of MITRE and key external communities.

• Ensure individual projects are driving change at a technical level, while partnering with project leaders to ensure the project itself is the right level impact for MITRE, during its inception and onset.

• Regularly publish material, or actively and successfully support the publishing of others, on subject matter expertise to further enhance external MITRE visibility and achieve broader impact

• Drive MITRE and the sponsor to new heights technically

Strategy Development

• Develop and lead execution of the mission or technical strategy and core competency areas and collaborate at the division level to focus on impact and growth of these core competencies

• Develop the strategy for enhancing a technical specialty within MITRE or how that specialty is used, including the ability to call for a technical review on a specific project within the scope of the Chief Engineer

• Develop the strategy for enhancing a technical field within MITRE or how that field is used including research, internal and external initiatives, and partnerships

• Drive MITRE’s development of technical capabilities, including identifying new areas to develop, areas to shape out of, and help see MITRE’s technical strengths and weaknesses. Includes strategic planning around the technical strategy such as guiding investments or input into platforms across MITRE

Staff Development

• Mentor and develop technical staff

• Lead efforts in deliberately growing the organization’s core competency areas and ensuring deliberate early career workforce shaping by growing expertise based on training, mentoring, and project work opportunities

• Conduct staff development and provide input into talent assessment and development planning (hiring, mentoring, and training needs), including senior staff across Centers. Develop and define cultural initiatives in partnership with others to meet desired culture

• Participate in defining desired culture across MITRE

Partnerships and Initiatives

• Develop and maintain relationships with key technical leaders across MITRE Program Divisions, MITRE Labs, and external partners for new project collaboration opportunities, technical skillset development, and technical quality

• Work with other Chief Engineers and MITRE’s internal R&D program to fund and pursue projects beyond our direct sponsor requests. Work with Project Leaders to identify and execute work proposals aimed at injecting innovation across critical department projects, and potentially developing new program areas.

• Coordinate technical outreach to industry, academia, and other stakeholders, ensuring that best practices and technologies are brought to bear on technical products.

• Lead cross-Center technical initiatives, with MITRE wide impact, potentially involving visibility with MITRE’s Board of Trustees

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s of Science degree with 15 years of related experience, Master’s of Science degree with 12 years of related experience, PhD with 10 years of related experience.

• Minimum of seven years of leadership/mentorship experience leading technical teams and large projects

• Demonstrated collaboration and communication skills to support individual, team, and customer-related interaction.

• Proven experience engaging senior sponsors with successful impacts and outcomes and establishing and maintaining strategic partnerships.

• Personal, hands-on technical depth in at least one of the Cyber Operations and Effects Capability Areas:

  • Defensive Cyber Operations (DCO)

  • Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI)

  • Cyber Analytics and Malware

  • Cyber Adversary Emulation

  • Cyber Deception and Adversary Engagement

  • Cyber Forensics

  • Autonomous Cyber Operations

  • Offensive Non-Kinetics

• Active Top-Secret Clearance

Preferred Qualifications:

• Personal, hands-on technical depth in at least three of the Cyber Operations and Effects Capability Areas.

• A proven history of creatively injecting innovation into projects.

• Strong evidence of a mission and public service focus

• Mentoring experience and academic outreach experience.

• Cursory knowledge of the FFRDC role and MITRE’s project leader business processes.

• Demonstrated experience working collaboratively across diverse sponsors/stakeholders, to include the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and/or United States Intelligence Community.

• Active Top Secret/SCI Clearance with current Polygraph

Our culture is a tangible asset that endures through our people and leaders. At MITRE, our leaders must also demonstrate and continually develop a consistent set of shared Leadership Competencies:

• Lead with a Strategic Mindset: Drives alignment across MITRE to achieve our mission by engaging across and beyond the enterprise, making and executing decisions, and activating the Good Growth Strategy.

• Create Value: Takes a broad approach to solving complex problems using a national and global lens. Unleashes the full capabilities of our people in a relentless pursuit of innovative solutions that are scalable, equitable, transferable, and sustainable.

• Cultivate Inclusion: Creates an environment and opportunities, built on trust, where people can be their whole authentic self, feeling welcomed, supported, engaged, and respected for who they are and what they contribute to the organization. Embraces and engages all dimensions of diversity to exponentially expand MITRE’s impact in solving problems for a safer world.

• Communicate for Impact: Conveys powerful messages tailored to the unique needs of stakeholders—and desired outcomes—in a style that engages and inspires action. Exemplifies active listening to foster collaboration, understanding, and alignment.

• Commit to Action and Outcomes: Holds self and others accountable for acting on and achieving established objectives. Exemplifies cultural attributes while executing and delivering impactful outcomes.

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

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

Work Location Type:

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