Chief Engineer, Production & Sustainment - Aerospace

InvestedintheMission; Petaluma (CA); On-site; USD 170,000 - 272,000; Full time

Job summary

AeroVironment is seeking a Chief Engineer – Production to provide senior technical leadership for MUAS production and sustainment, ensuring safe, reliable, and producible products. The role oversees technical direction, changes, and lifecycle support across engineering, operations, quality, supply chain, and program management.

The successful candidate will lead root-cause investigations, drive corrective actions, and coordinate cross-functional teams to improve producibility, yield, and product

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering from an accredited institution.
• 15+ years of progressive engineering experience in aerospace/defense/unmanned systems.
• Experience leading cross-functional technical teams and resolving complex production or field-performance issues.
• Ability to obtain and maintain U.S. government security clearance, if required.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the senior technical authority for MUAS production and sustainment programs.
• Maintain technical ownership of product baseline including architecture, requirements, interfaces, and configuration.
• Lead engineering support for products in production and deployed in the field.
• Drive resolution of complex technical issues involving design, manufacturing, testing, reliability, and suppliers.
• Coordinate with design, manufacturing, operations, quality, and program management to resolve issues.

Skills

Technical leadership

Systems engineering

Cross-functional collaboration

Root-cause analysis

Program management liaison

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering

Job description

AeroVironment is seeking a Chief Engineer – Production to provide senior technical leadership for MUAS production and sustainment, ensuring safe, reliable, and producible products. The role oversees technical direction, changes, and lifecycle support across engineering, operations, quality, supply chain, and program management.

The successful candidate will lead root-cause investigations, drive corrective actions, and coordinate cross-functional teams to improve producibility, yield, and product