Jose Balderrama, an engineer at Portfolio Acquisition Executive (PAE) Strategic Systems Programs (SSP), didn’t consider pursuing a degree in engineering until his older sister nudged him in the right the direction.
Balderrama, who always maintained a deep interest in how things worked, enjoyed tinkering with broken furniture around the house and fixing remote control cars. His family owned and operated a local restaurant in southern Florida, so whenever Balderrama could find time between school and work, he would exercise his engineering curiosity by taking apart and repairing anything within reach. As he approached high school graduation, he thought about attending a trade school, but then his sister introduced him to the world of engineering.
“Problem-solving machinery interested me at a young age,” Balderrama said. “Graduating high school, I took advice from my sister to go to college under a mechanical engineering program where I worked on the ‘Mini-Baja’ program. I knew I wanted to do something different and this opportunity opened the door to a new path that excited me.”
The Baja Society of Automative Engineers, also referred to as “Mini-Baja,” is a scaled vehicle competition for collegiate students. The program brings teams to compete in a condensed format featuring static and dynamic events, design execution, and more, providing exposure to various engineering design challenges. Balderrama not only had the opportunity to participate as a competitor, but also received college credit that was applicable to his mechanical engineering curriculum.
After graduating with his bachelor’s degree in 2004 from the University of Central Florida, Balderrama secured a job as a design engineer for United Space Alliance’s space shuttle program. He also volunteered as a firefighter in his spare time on Merritt Island, a peninsula in Florida, ensuring the fire truck’s engine and water pressure system ran smoothly for operational use and to fight fires.
“The shuttle program started making me think about the type of technical work I wanted to do in the future,” he said. “While I was there, I worked with shuttle brakes, windows, actuators, and other parts. Then, one day, when I was playing racquetball with a couple friends – who were Navy civilians – they told me of openings at Cape Canaveral, and that’s where my journey started with the U.S. Navy.”
Balderrama applied and received an offer to work as the technical cognizant engineer in the Program Management Office at Cape Canaveral, Florida. In this role, Balderrama worked with various equipment in support of the Navy’s strategic weapons system. After six years there, he applied to another opening, except this time, at PAE SSP headquarters in Washington D.C.
He worked as an engineer in branches supporting the command’s Nuclear Weapon Security (NWS), and in 2017, apart from assuming new work responsibilities, Balderrama was simultaneously completing a master’s degree in systems engineering at the Naval Postgraduate School.
As his curiosity for PAE SSP grew, Balderrama was motivated to accrue a holistic view of the command’s strategic deterrence mission, which led him to various positions at PAE SSP and, eventually, to the Fire Control/Guidance Subsystem Branch.
“I really took an interest in this branch because it was very technical – it reminded me of my time working with the space shuttle program,” he said. “That experience, learning what goes into launching a shuttle, helped me understand this side of the program. My previous SSP roles also provided me with an appreciation for all the functions from the branches in the command and what is required in the construction of a new boat. Now, my responsibilities revolve around supporting the success of the Navy’s strategic weapon system and ensuring we’re meeting warfighter needs.”
Today, Balderrama works with some of the Navy’s engineering duty officers to educate and train them on configuration management across PAE SSP’s technical work. This experience encouraged him to become a mentor to younger employees in the engineering and acquisition field at the command, establishing a solid process of knowledge transfer and guidance for PAE SSP’s next-generation of leading technical professionals.
“Helping and guiding our new professionals ensures mission success,” he said. “It helps them become better to support the mission – they gain a head start that many of us might not have had and it allows the program to remain in good hands. One of the things I personally aim to do with my mentees is improve communication. I encourage them to do toastmasters to improve public speaking and to work through difficult conversations. We are all one team and continuously improving our communication with each other is something that will ensure our success with our teammates, the Navy, and the warfighter.”
Balderrama said one of the things he’s enjoyed most about his work with the U.S. Navy is seeing how his part of the job supports Sailors at sea.
“To see the fruits of your labor at sea is incredible,” he said. “That gives me such an amazing feeling, seeing how my job impacts the Navy and mission success. The process of getting the job done and then seeing it be successful is a great feeling. It really puts what you’re doing into perspective.”
PAE SSP is responsible for sustaining the strategic weapon system on the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines and supporting the integration of the D5LE weapon system on the new Columbia-class SSBNs. Looking to the future, PAE SSP is actively modernizing the sea-based leg of the nuclear triad through the development of the D5LE2 SWS and pioneering regional strike capabilities of the future through development of the nuclear-armed sea launched cruise missile and the non-nuclear hypersonic conventional prompt strike system.