Business Unit Chief Engineer

AeroVironment • Sunrise, FL

1d

About The Position

The Business Unit Chief Engineer (BUCE) is the overall technical execution authority for the Electronic Warfare product line. The BUCE is accountable for all technical aspects of the BU’s products and leads a team of engineers to develop, launch, and sustain products throughout the total product lifecycle. The BUCE works with Product Line Managers, Senior Engineers, Customers, and Leadership to help develop concepts of operations which feed into product roadmaps to meet business objectives. The BUCE chairs technical reviews and drives technical excellence with the EW engineering groups.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical, Electrical, or Systems Engineering discipline (or equivalent) required and 15 years of demonstrated experience in product design and sustainment required. OR a Masters Degree or PhD in Mechanical, Electrical, or Systems Engineering discipline (or equivalent) and 10 years of demonstrated experience in product design and sustainment.
• Experience with leading technical teams through the product lifecycle.
• Experience with drawings and BOMs; Engineering Change systems; Quality systems for non-conforming parts and corrective action.
• Experience in an Agile and Waterfall development environment.
• Excellent verbal, presentation, and written communication skills.
• Experience project planning in terms of schedule, budget, and resource estimations.
• Exceptional leadership and management skills, with the ability to develop and communicate a vision that inspires and motivates staff and aligns with the business strategy.
• Ability to build strong relationships within all disciplines within organization.
• Effective influence and negotiation skills in an environment in which resources may not be under your direct control.
• Experience with product manufacturing and product configuration processes.
• Experience leading a multi-disciplinary team in an engineering environment.
• Project Management Experience.
• Experienced and proficient with MS Office applications and other office productivity tools.
• U.S. Citizenship required.
• Must be willing to work on government contracts and have the ability to obtain a security clearance.

Nice To Haves

• Education / experience in R&D environment is preferred, especially in RF or DSP fields.
• Follows standard practices and procedures when analyzing situations or data from which answers can be readily obtained.
• Completes assigned tasks within schedule and budget.
• Shares ideas and experiences with others, solicits feedback and asks relevant questions.
• Able to excel in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment, where small teams share a broad variety of duties.
• Displays strong initiative and drive to accomplish goals and meet company objectives.
• Takes ownership and responsibility for current and past work products.
• Is committed to learning from mistakes and driven to improve and enhance performance of oneself, others, and the company.
• Has effective problem-solving, analytical, interpersonal and communication skills.
• Team Player - Focuses on teamwork, collaboration and puts the success of the team above one's own interests.
• Inspires, motivates, and empowers people to deliver organizational goals, while also delivering value back to employees.
• Direct technical expertise in as many of the following areas as possible: Direct technical expertise in any of the following areas: RF and SDRs PCB design Digital signal processing Software development Linux Platform and embedded Radio frequency spectrum and modern communication systems Robust mechanical design for military/defense sectors
• Existing DoD Secret security clearance preferred.
• Occasionally may be required to travel within the Continental U.S.

Responsibilities

• As the EW Engineering Authority, oversee all development and product sustainment activities within the EW product line.
• Help drive technical response for business proposals in collaboration with Product Line Managers.
• Leads the technical team that will fulfill program technical, schedule and cost requirements and drives process improvements.
• Supports the creation of product technical roadmaps by collaborating with Product Line Managers, Senior Engineering Managers, Customers, and Division Leadership.
• Chairs technical reviews and supervises product documentation and engineering change requests/orders.
• Collaborates with Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Quality to ensure technical specifications, as designed, are managed/controlled and flow through the entire value chain.
• Supports the development of plans for product IRAD and sustaining projects through proper work decomposition and skills assignment to project work tasks.
• Manages development and approval of engineering estimates and drives to a consistent approach for bases of estimates.
• Develops and mentors high-performing engineering teams.
• Own engineering budgets, forecast, and IRAD execution.
• Leads multi-discipline engineering activities and mentors engineers to improve technical and leadership skills.
• Partners with functional leaders to drive process improvements throughout the engineering development processes.
• Responsible for engineering leadership and direct performance management of a group of Senior Engineering Managers.
• Leads root cause investigations and rolls out corrective actions (RCCA).
• Time allowing, is a technical contributor to engineering efforts without their core expertise/disciplines.
• Other duties as assigned.

Benefits

• AV offers an excellent benefits package including medical, dental vision, 401K with company matching, a 9/80 work schedule and a paid holiday shutdown.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 501-1,000 employees