Lead Project Engineer

Responsibilities:

• Ownership and accountability
• Own project outcomes end to end: scope, schedule, cost, technical performance and quality.
• Set clear, written commitments for every team member, with named owners and due dates for each deliverable and action item.
• Run disciplined project cadence: weekly status reviews, action item tracking, and follow-up until each item is closed.
• Address missed commitments directly and promptly; work with the owner on root cause and a recovery plan rather than absorbing the gap silently.
• Escalate early and with data when risks threaten cost, schedule or compliance; never let leadership or customers be surprised.
• Own mistakes openly, lead corrective action, and capture lessons learned so they are not repeated.
• Recognize and reinforce accountable behavior on the team; give candid feedback to functional managers on team member performance.


• Technical leadership
• Serve as the technical authority for the project, driving requirements definition, design reviews (SRR, PDR, CDR, TRR) and design trade decisions.
• Ensure designs meet applicable standards and regulations (e.g., FAA, EASA, DO-160, DO-178C/DO-254, AS9100).
• Lead root cause and corrective action (8D, 5-Why, fishbone) on test failures, nonconformances and field issues.
• Review and approve engineering drawings, specifications, test plans and reports.


• Program execution
• Build and maintain integrated master schedules, budgets and resource plans; report earned value or equivalent metrics.
• Maintain the project risk and opportunity register with owners, mitigations and trigger dates.
• Manage engineering change, configuration control and certification deliverables.
• Act as primary technical point of contact for customers, suppliers and regulators.
• Mentor junior engineers and model a culture of ownership across the team.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical or Systems Engineering, or a related field.
• 9+ years of engineering experience in aerospace or defense, including 4+ years leading cross-functional project teams.
• Proven record of delivering projects to commitment, with specific examples of schedule, cost or quality outcomes you owned.
• Demonstrated ability to hold peers and team members accountable without direct authority, including handling missed commitments and difficult conversations.
• Working knowledge of the aerospace product lifecycle: requirements, design reviews, qualification testing and certification.
• Experience with aerospace standards such as AS9100, DO-160, DO-178C or DO-254, and FAA/EASA certification processes.
• Strong skills in scheduling, risk management and structured problem solving (8D, root cause analysis).
• Clear, direct written and verbal communication with engineers, executives, customers and suppliers.
• Ability to work with export-controlled data; U.S. person status may be required under ITAR/EAR.

Additional Qualifications:

• Master's degree in engineering or an MBA.
• PMP, PgMP or equivalent project management certification.
• Experience with avionics, flight safety, or air traffic systems.
• Background in Lean, Six Sigma (Green or Black Belt) or other continuous improvement methods.
• Experience with earned value management (EVM) and tools such as MS Project, Jira or a PLM system.
• Prior experience as a customer-facing technical lead on commercial or government programs.