Director of Prototyping & Product Development

Cahaba Federal Solutions•Huntsville, AL

About The Position

The Director of Prototyping and Product Development will act as the strategic and technical lead for Cahabas prototyping, engineering development, and advanced evaluation initiatives supporting customers within the U.S. Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community. This role will define and execute the companys roadmap for prototype development, advanced engineering solutions, and technology maturation efforts. The Director will build and lead a multidisciplinary engineering team and help establish Cahaba as a trusted partner for rapid prototyping, system integration, and advanced technology development.

Requirements

Bachelors or Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering or related field.
20+ years of experience supporting defense or national security programs.
Experience managing full lifecycle product development and advanced prototypes.
Demonstrated leadership experience building and managing engineering teams.
Strong understanding of DoD acquisition, rapid prototyping, and advanced technology development environments.
Ability to translate customer mission needs into executable technical solutions.
Active or ability to obtain SECRET clearance required.
This position will require travel (approximately 25% of time).

Responsibilities

Develop and implement our overall prototyping and development strategy.
Lead opportunity identification and capture: Collaborate with business development, capture teams, and customers to shape requirements, identify prototyping/engineering needs on existing and emerging contracts (IDIQs, BPAs, etc.), and position us as a go-to provider for prototyping solutions.
Build, mentor, and lead a growing team of engineers, systems integrators, and subject matter experts to establish full-spectrum capabilities in hardware/software prototyping, systems engineering, integration, embedded firmware, signal processing, Modeling & Simulation (M&S), threat modeling, and advanced T&E.
Oversee execution and delivery: Manage the full lifecycle of new prototyping projects, from requirements definition, design, and fabrication through qualification testing, HWIL/SIL integration, and field/flight/live-fire support.
Serve as a key technical interface with government customers, primes, and partners: Represent Cahaba in technical reviews, working groups, and wargaming events to build trust, gather feedback, and influence requirements or teaming.
Ensure compliance and quality: Serve as company quality lead. Will lead company initiative to acquire and maintain ISO9001 certification. This will include creation, implementation, and enforcement of corporate quality system (policies, procedures, work instructions, etc.).
Support business growth: Contribute to proposal development, past performance narratives, and strategic planning to expand Cahaba's footprint in strategic locations (NCR, Huntsville, Dayton, Eglin, Colorado Springs) and balance prime/subcontract opportunities.