Scientist – Systems Engineer - Chief Engineer, Airborne Imaging Sign on bonuses starting at $15K

Job Title: Chief Engineer, Airborne Imaging *Sign on bonuses starting at $15K* 
Job Code: 47723
Job Location: Rochester, NY
Job Schedule: 9/80: Employees work 9 out of every 14 days – totaling 80 hours worked – and have every other Friday off 

Job Description:

Chief Engineer for the Airborne Imaging business area within the Advanced Mission Technologies Division.  Technical leader within the business to ensure programs are meeting defined scope of the customer, adhering to L3Harris command media and best practices, aligned with business strategic objectives, and appropriately staffed to sustain execution.  Serves as the technical partner to the Airborne Imaging Portfolio Director.

Essential Functions:

• Serve as the senior technical leader for the Airborne Imaging business area and technical partner to the Portfolio Director.
• Provide technical leadership and recommendations to ensure programs meet customer requirements and align with business strategic objectives.
• Ensure adherence to L3Harris command media, engineering processes, and best practices across the portfolio.
• Serve as the business area’s senior technical authority, guiding architecture decisions, resolving cross-program technical issues, and approving technical tradeoffs within delegated authority.
• Develop and maintain technical strategy and technology roadmaps aligned with customer mission needs and business objectives.
• Partner with program leadership to assess technical performance, cost, schedule, engineering maturity, and staffing adequacy; drive corrective actions when execution is at risk.
• Lead identification, assessment, and mitigation of technical risks and opportunities, including technology readiness, integration complexity, supplier dependencies, and obsolescence.
• Provide technical oversight of special projects, internal research and development (IR&D) efforts, and programs of record; guide transition of technology investments into program capabilities.
• Engage customers and mission stakeholders to clarify operational needs, align technical approaches, and resolve requirements and performance issues.
• Provide technical leadership for pursuits and proposals, including solution development, feasibility assessments, engineering estimates, and execution risk assessments.
• Oversee requirements development, system architecture, interface definition, integration, verification, and validation to ensure delivered capabilities meet customer requirements and intended mission outcomes.
• Drive accountability for technical issue resolution, including root-cause analysis, corrective action implementation, and verification of effectiveness.
• Chair critical technical gate reviews across the program lifecycle and assess readiness to proceed against established criteria.
• Collaborate with engineering and program leadership to identify critical skills, address resource gaps, and develop succession and mentoring plans.
• Mentor and develop junior and senior engineers to support individual growth, technical excellence, and business objectives.
• Drive continuous improvement through design reuse, lessons learned, technical metrics, and adoption of effective engineering methods.
• Provide technical oversight of producibility, supplier performance, and lifecycle sustainment considerations.
• Ensure applicable system safety, cybersecurity, airworthiness, and environmental qualification requirements are addressed throughout the engineering lifecycle.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree and a minimum of 12 years of prior relevant experience. Graduate Degree and a minimum of 10 years of prior related experience. In lieu of a degree, minimum of 16 years of prior related experience.
• Active Secret Clearance 

Preferred Additional Skills:

• Experience serving as a Chief Engineer or comparable senior technical authority across complex aerospace development and production programs.
• Experience with airborne electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) imaging payloads and missions, including optical performance, detectors, image processing, calibration, and line-of-sight stabilization.
• Experience translating customer operational needs into measurable system requirements and mission performance objectives.
• Experience leading systems engineering for complex avionics, electronics, or integrated mission systems.
• System-level architecture and design experience involving complex hardware/software systems, interface definition, integration, verification, and validation.
• Broad technical knowledge spanning optics, mechanical design, electronics, systems, software, and firmware.
• Experience integrating airborne payloads, including size, weight, power, cooling, platform interfaces, environmental qualification, and electromagnetic compatibility.
• Experience with requirements management, traceability, configuration management, and associated engineering tools.
• Experience applying model-based systems engineering (MBSE) and digital engineering methods.
• Experience developing integration and test strategies, verification plans, and requirements-based acceptance criteria.
• Experience assessing technology readiness and transitioning prototypes or IR&D investments into development and production programs.
• Experience developing technology roadmaps and prioritizing technical investments against customer needs and business objectives.
• Experience supporting competitive pursuits and proposals, including technical solution development, engineering estimates, and technical risk assessments.
• Experience managing technical risks, conducting root-cause analysis, and leading corrective actions or recovery efforts for challenged programs.
• Experience with manufacturing, producibility, supplier technical oversight, obsolescence management, and lifecycle sustainment.
• Experience addressing system safety, cybersecurity, and airworthiness requirements applicable to airborne mission systems.
• Experience in Control Account Management within an Earned Value Management System (EVMS).
• Experience as an Integrated Product Team (IPT) Lead or in a comparable multidisciplinary engineering leadership role.

In compliance with pay transparency requirements, the salary range for this role in New York is $133,000 - $247,000. This is not a guarantee of compensation or salary, as final offer amount may vary based on factors including but not limited to experience and geographic location. L3Harris also offers a variety of benefits, including health and disability insurance, 401(k) match, flexible spending accounts, EAP, education assistance, parental leave, paid time off, and company-paid holidays. The specific programs and options available to an employee may vary depending on date of hire, schedule type, and the applicability of collective bargaining agreements. 

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