Program Chief Engineer - Space Technologies

We are seeking a Laser Communications (Lasercomm) Program Chief Engineer with strong leadership abilities, excellent engineering skills, and extensive experience in product innovation and technical execution to oversee and lead a Lasercomm payload program with the Space Technologies (SpaceTech) Business Unit.

This position requires experience in developing/maintaining strong customer relationships and fulfilling deliverables, thereby positioning the SpaceTech team for future growth. The candidate should have a strong technical and project engineering background with significant knowledge in the design and development of complex optical communication systems. The Program Chief Engineer is responsible for the development and execution of plans to support a SpaceTech Lasercomm program within the cost, schedule and requirements of the contract as well as the direct oversight in leading, training, coaching and mentoring of the business unit's engineering team through every phase, from concept to prototype to production and completion of the program.

The ideal candidate will be a competent, self-starting individual, who has superior interpersonal, communication and time management skills. Success in this position requires a strategic thinker with strong organizational skills and attention to detail. The Program Chief Engineer will keep abreast of cutting-edge advancements in the field, be dedicated to excellence, be able to make decisions in the moment and clearly communicate a vision and program goals to various audiences. Most importantly, AV values those who are demonstrated team players, who conduct themselves ethically, and who exude a serious commitment to our company projects and mission.

The SpaceTech Program Chief Engineer duties will include:

• Oversees and guides daily technical execution of a complete product lifecycle including requirement analysis, design and development, integration and test, deployment, and sustainment to assure quality, safety and engineering due diligence while remaining cognizant of programmatic cost and schedule constraints, and requirement goals outlined in the contract.
• Responsible for leading, training, coaching and mentoring of the program's engineering team through every phase, from design to production and completion of various projects.
• Coordinates with group leads on program staffing and scheduling SME support from Technology Directors and Fellows within the Business Unit and across AV
• Establishes a regular, informal, agile technical peer review and design verification test process (short term, prioritized task lists and sprint schedules) across the engineering team to check and validate design changes as well as design elements that trace to critical performance requirements to avoid future risk or schedule delays; and takes lead responsibility for ensuring technical staff are accountable to deliver a high quality engineering product.
• Conducts weekly/bi-weekly feedback/pulse checks from technical staff to collect opportunities or issues and report them to the PM team and SpaceTech Leadership.
• Creates favorable culture to increase productivity, sound engineering, and innovation
• Develops plans and approaches with the engineering team to manage all formal, recognized risk and opportunity items, as well as unplanned "surprises" that occur during development.
• Communicates technical performance metrics, risk status, mitigation plans, and status to PM and customer.
• Participates in and guides the System Engineering, Integration and Test teams to fully understand key program requirements, technical performance measures, and system verification plans.
• Schedules in concert with the System Engineering, Integration and Test teams, test event data reviews to review results, capture non-conformance, and document resolutions as well as; schedules, as appropriate, non-advocate reviews to ensure quality and appropriate scrutiny is applied to key design elements.
• Verifies and documents that action items from peer reviews are addressed.
• Establishes technical readiness reviews for major program milestones and signature/approval is required for consent to proceed with any key program event.
• Provides inputs to PM team to support schedule updates and milestone schedule progress.
• In concert with PM, organizes agendas and layout for key design and customer technical reviews
• Reviews and approves customer presentations for sound technical messaging, coherence, and storyline.
• Reviews and must approve any program schedule or plan as well as key changes (a) at the time of proposal or (b) during program execution.
• Supports preparing CDRL / program technical status reports to customer, presents technical status to customer, and participates in all routine customer status and coordination meetings.
• Looks for program opportunities to grow technical capabilities.
• Ensures key program technical data and knowledge points are captured, documented, and organized to assist future programs.
• Significant Optics Lab experience

Required Education and Experience

• Master's degree in electrical engineering
• 15+ years engineering experience
• Engineering experience on space-qualified hardware
• Experience providing technical leadership throughout the entire product life cycle, responsible for overseeing the technical, schedule, and cost performance of all engineering activities
• Knowledge of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR/DFAR) and non-FAR/DFAR based mandatory flow down clauses and various types of agreements
• Experience in business analytics and metrics reporting
• Current/Active DoD top secret security clearance, or equivalent

Preferred Education and Experience

• PhD in physics, optical, mechanical, or electrical engineering
• Prior experience working with space qualified optical flight hardware
• Ability to read and interpret technical specifications and requirements
• Integrated Product Team Lead, Systems Engineering lead, or line engineering management experience
• Experience in assigning and delegating tasks to engineering teams, setting both long and short-term project goals as well as working alongside other engineers and technicians, approving designs and budgets, calculating costs, material, labor, and time required for each project, negotiating contracts with vendors and clients, executing plans safely and efficiently, ensuring that projects stay within time and budgetary restraints, and compiling reports and presenting information to customers and corporate
• Strong technical writing skills applicable to engineering documentation (analysis reports, specifications, requirements documents, etc.).
• Experience with developing and presenting technical briefings to the customer and company leadership
• Ability to effectively lead teams of technical experts to resolve challenging technical problems
• Ability to effectively handle variety of situations and problems that may arise - sometimes several at once - and solve them, work with those involved to come to cooperative solutions, while understanding time and budget constraints

Salary Range: $200,00 to $250,000

AV pay range for this job level is a general guideline only and not a guarantee of compensation or salary. Determination of official compensation or salary relies on several factors including, but not limited to, level of position, job responsibilities, geographic location, scope of relevant work experience, educational background, certifications, contract-specific affordability, organizational requirements, alignment with local internal equity as well as alignment with market data.

Our compensation package also includes components designed to support employees' total well-being, which should be considered when evaluating our competitive benefits package. These benefits include health insurance, life insurance, disability, company holiday and paid time off, parental leave, 401(k) company match and contributions, professional development/training reimbursements, and other work/life programs.

Full job description available upon request.