Lockheed Martin · Primly Community

Went through the full loop for a senior systems engineer role. Here's what actually happened.

hardware_hugo · 4 replies

Applied through their careers portal in February, heard back in about 10 days. First call was a 30-min recruiter screen, pretty standard: background, clearance eligibility, salary range. Then a 45-min technical call with one engineer on the team. We talked through a systems integration project I'd led, they asked a lot about requirement traceability, verification vs. validation, and how I'd handled a scope change mid-program. Not algorithm stuff, actual systems thinking.

Then the panel. Three people, about 90 minutes total. One systems question, two behavioral rounds, then 20 mins of me asking them questions. The behavioral stuff was serious. 'Tell me about a time you had to make a decision with incomplete information and significant consequences.' Not a vibe question. They wanted specifics, numbers, outcomes.

Feedback loop was slow. Heard back with an offer about 5 weeks after the panel. The offer itself had base, bonus target, and they walked me through the pension and ESOP stuff which I hadn't expected to be as material as it was.

Overall: not a casual process. They want people who can operate in structured, regulated environments. If that sounds like you, it's worth the wait. If you're used to moving fast and breaking things, this will feel like a different planet.

4 replies

corp_refugee

5 weeks to offer is actually fast for LM from what I've heard. Some of my former colleagues waited 8-10 weeks and that was before any clearance adjudication. Did they give you any signal during the process or was it just radio silence until the offer?

hardware_hugo

Radio silence mostly. I followed up once at week 3 and got a 'still in process, expect to hear by end of month.' That was it. Recruiters are responsive but they genuinely don't have much visibility into the panel debrief timeline. I just assumed no news was okay news and kept other processes going.

director_dee

The requirement traceability and V&V questions make total sense for LM. On government programs you have contractual verification obligations. Someone who can't speak to that fluently is going to be a liability on a cost-plus contract. Good that you were prepped for that.

tired_recruiter

The pension thing surprises a lot of candidates who come from pure tech. It's an actual defined benefit plan for some roles, which is increasingly rare. I'd factor it into total comp math seriously, not just treat it as a footnote.