Chief Engineer - Space, Cyber & Defense Systems

AV; Germantown (MD); On-site; USD 246,000 - 393,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision

401K with company matching

9/80 work schedule

Holiday shutdown

Job summary

AV in Germantown, MD seeks the Segment Vice President of Engineering to set the technical vision and engineering discipline for a rapidly scaling defense portfolio. The role balances services governance with rigorous product development, systems engineering, risk management, and transition to production.

The leader will collaborate with the CTO, program management, manufacturing, and growth teams to ensure affordability, rapid deployment, and engineering excellence across programs.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering or related technical field.
• 15+ years of progressive engineering leadership experience in defense, aerospace, space, directed energy, RF systems, autonomous systems, or related national security sectors.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex engineering organizations supporting both development and production environments.
• Strong background in systems engineering, product development, and transition to manufacturing.
• Experience operating within high-growth, fast-paced technology organizations.
• Ability to balance technical rigor with speed and execution urgency.
• Experience collaborating across enterprise engineering and business leadership organizations.
• Top Secret/SCI Clearance or the ability to obtain a clearance

Responsibilities

• Serve as the senior engineering authority across the segment portfolio.
• Establish engineering standards, technical review processes, and development rigor appropriate for both services and product organizations.
• Ensure technical execution aligns with customer mission requirements, affordability targets, schedule commitments, and long-term product strategy.
• Drive engineering best practices across systems engineering, software, hardware, integration, test, cybersecurity, reliability, and manufacturing readiness.
• Lead independent technical assessments and support executive decision-making related to technical risk, investment priorities, and program execution.
• Support the transition from bespoke engineering efforts to scalable, repeatable product solutions.
• Partner with manufacturing and operations teams to improve producibility, reliability, and lifecycle affordability.

Skills

Leadership

Systems engineering

Product development

Technical governance

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering or related technical field

Job description

AV in Germantown, MD seeks the Segment Vice President of Engineering to set the technical vision and engineering discipline for a rapidly scaling defense portfolio. The role balances services governance with rigorous product development, systems engineering, risk management, and transition to production.

The leader will collaborate with the CTO, program management, manufacturing, and growth teams to ensure affordability, rapid deployment, and engineering excellence across programs.