Communications Systems Engineer (Optical/Quantum)

Location: Chantilly, VA, US | Schedule: Full‑Time, Day shift | Travel: Yes – up to 10% | Clearance: TS/SCI (with polygraph) required | Potential for remote work: On‑site (ORA_ON_SITE)

About the role

SAIC is seeking a Communications Systems Engineer with strong optical and quantum communications engineering experience to support specialized analysis, engineering, design, and operations for Intelligence Community (IC) and Department of War (DoW) customers. The role involves developing next‑generation national security systems across land, sea, air, and space domains, providing systems engineering and technical advisory (SETA) support to an IC R&D customer developing advanced hardware, software, and architectural solutions for mission‑critical optical and quantum communication systems.

Responsibilities

• Perform technical reviews, assessments, and risk evaluations of optical and quantum communication system development efforts at the component, subsystem, system, and architecture levels.
• Evaluate designs and technologies including optical terminals, free‑space optical links, photonic components, entanglement‑based communication architectures, and quantum‑enhanced optical subsystems.
• Assess emerging technologies and identify gaps related to high‑bandwidth space links, advanced modulation formats, pointing/tracking systems, link budgets, networking performance, and secure quantum‑enabled transport architectures.
• Support development of technology roadmaps, requirements, specifications, verification approaches, and transition strategies for optical and quantum system modernization.
• Conduct technical outreach with mission users to capture needs and evaluate applicability of emerging optical and quantum capabilities.
• Prepare system engineering documentation, technical analyses, and program‑level briefings to communicate findings and strategic recommendations.
• Provide support to programmatic and acquisition activities, including source selections, lifecycle documentation, and system integration planning.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, physics, or a related discipline and nine (9) + years of experience; or a Master’s degree and seven (7) + years; or a PhD/JD and four (4) + years.
• Experience with USG program management and acquisition lifecycle processes and documentation.
• Strong interpersonal, verbal, and technical writing communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively within multidisciplinary teams.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office tools.

Desired Qualifications

• Master’s degree in engineering, physics, or a related discipline.
• 12 + years of relevant experience, including at least 4 years in optical or quantum communication systems.
• 1 + year of experience supporting USG R&D acquisition processes and documentation.
• Experience with space‑based optical terminals, quantum optical payloads, photonic systems, or advanced quantum‑enhanced communication architectures.

Pay

Target salary range: $160,001 – $200,000 (typical range based on experience and other factors).