Design Engineering Manager

Karman Space & Defense; Mukilteo (WA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical Insurance

401(k)

Paid Time Off

Health Savings Account

Flexible Spending Accounts

Life/AD&D Insurance

Disability Insurance

Tuition Reimbursement

Job summary

Karman Space & Defense is seeking a Design Engineering Manager to lead a large design engineering group in the United States. The role focuses on consolidating labor demand, allocating resources, and driving career development across concurrent programs.

The candidate will manage staffing, coordinate engineering standards, and partner with program leads to set realistic schedules while ensuring timely design sign-offs and qualifications. DoD security clearance is required or obtainable.

Qualifications

• 7+ years in design-engineering environments.
• 5+ years of engineering leadership experience, incl. aerospace.
• Experience in resource planning, scheduling, and managing technical staff.
• Ability to run data-driven scheduling across many programs.
• Experience supporting career growth and balancing program needs with development.

Responsibilities

• Consolidate labor demand across programs into a single functional view.
• Serve as traffic control for functional resource requests.
• Drive proactive hiring by identifying staffing gaps.
• Allocate functional resources across programs to balance workload.
• Track assignments and monitor utilization.
• Coordinate logistics for engineering standards and training delivery.
• Maintain qualification ladders and time-to-independently-qualify new hires.
• Support programs in scoping tasks into staffable work packages.
• Collaborate with program leads to set realistic schedule and effort expectations.
• Identify skill sets for requests and route contested items to experts.

Skills

Resource planning

Scheduling

People management

Data-driven scheduling

Cross-functional collaboration

Engineering leadership

Education

B.S. in Engineering

Job description

Karman Space & Defense is a leader in the rapid design, development, and production of critical, next-generation system solutions that align with the U.S. Department of War and its allies’ core mission priorities, and meet the accelerating demand for access to space. Building on nearly 50 years of success, we deliver Payload & Protection Systems, Aero/Hydrodynamic Interstage Systems, and Propulsion & Launch Systems to more than 80 prime contractors supporting over 130 space and defense programs.

We design and deliver dependable hypersonic/strategic missile defense systems: integrating multiple technologies into unified, mission-ready hardware supporting demanding environments.

The Design Engineering Manager leads the operational and people-management backbone of a design engineering group. This role centralizes labor demand, manages day-to-day functional resource allocation, supports structured career development, connects programs with the right technical expertise, and ensures engineering standards and training are delivered effectively across a large number of concurrent programs.

Responsibilities

• Consolidate labor demand across programs into a single functional-group view, integrating schedule and staffing needs.
• Serve as traffic control for functional resource requests by staging, sequencing, and identifying conflicts early.
• Drive proactive hiring by identifying staffing gaps from consolidated demand data.
• Allocate functional resources across programs to balance workload and support individual career growth goals.
• Track assignments against work orders and identify over- or under-utilization.
• Coordinate logistics for engineering standards and training delivery, including scheduling and completion tracking.
• Maintain qualification ladders and monitor time-to-independent-qualification for new hires and transfers.
• Support programs in scoping engineering tasks into clear, staffable work packages.
• Collaborate with program leads to establish realistic schedule and effort expectations.
• Identify required skill sets for engineering requests and route ambiguous or contested items to appropriate technical experts.

Required Qualifications

• Minimum 7+ years working directly in design-engineering specific environments.
• B.S. in Engineering.
• 5+ years of engineering leadership experience, including a minimum of 2 years in aerospace and/or engineering.
• Demonstrated experience in resource planning, scheduling, and direct people management of technical staff.
• Ability to manage data-driven scheduling and operational cadence across numerous concurrent programs.
• Experience supporting career growth and balancing program needs with individual development.
• Capability to partner with technical experts and route design sign-offs, waivers, and contested technical calls appropriately.
• Experience helping programs translate ambiguous engineering requests into scoped, staffable work packages.
• A current U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Secret security clearance or the ability to obtain and maintain one.

Preferred Qualifications

• Discipline-specific technical depth in the relevant engineering domain.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) with company match
• Paid time off
• Health Savings Account (HSA) with company contribution
• Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
• Company-paid life and AD&D insurance
• Short- and long-term disability coverage
• Tuition reimbursement

Karman Space and Defense is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable law.