Director of Engineering

BlueSteps Connect; United States; On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

BlueSteps Connect seeks a Director of Engineering (Hardware & Photonics) to lead a multidisciplinary engineering organization from concept through delivery. The role drives product quality, team performance, and business growth with visible impact across the lifecycle.

Responsibilities include balancing customer deliverables with product development, partnering with operations to improve flow and build quality, and strengthening handoffs into production.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in engineering or a technical field is required.
• 8+ years of professional engineering experience.
• 5+ years leading engineering teams or technical functions.

Responsibilities

• Lead day-to-day hardware, optics, RF, mechanical, test and related engineering disciplines.
• Balance customer deliverables with product development and manufacturing support.
• Drive engineering process improvements and provide resource planning and staffing.

Skills

Leadership

Team management

Project management

Communication

Education

Master’s degree in engineering or technical field

PhD in photonics/RF/lasers/optics or related

Job description

The client is seeking a Director of Engineering (Hardware & Photonics) to provide structured, urgent, and high-standards leadership for a multidisciplinary engineering team. The role will shape how engineering executes, with visible impact on product quality, team performance, and business growth across the product lifecycle from concept through delivery.

The Director of Engineering will lead day-to-day engineering operations spanning hardware, optics, RF, mechanical, test, and related disciplines. Responsibilities include balancing customer deliverables with product development and manufacturing support, partnering with operations and manufacturing to improve product flow and build quality, and strengthening handoffs from development into repeatable production. The role will also build management cadence and accountability through prioritization, staffing alignment, performance development, and hiring, coaching, and mentoring engineering talent, while supporting proposal activity, technical planning, budgeting input, and resource forecasting for customer programs and product deliveries.

The position will further drive engineering process improvements across design reviews, change control, risk management, documentation practices, and schedule visibility, while collaborating with executive leadership and cross-functional stakeholders to increase execution consistency. Candidates are expected to have proven experience leading multidisciplinary engineering teams in a product-focused technical environment, including experience balancing new product development with production or manufacturing support. A Master’s degree in a relevant engineering or technical field is required, along with at least eight years of professional engineering experience and at least five years leading engineering teams or technical functions, strong communication and project management skills, and authorization to work in a role subject to U.S. export control regulations; a PhD and experience with photonics/RF/lasers/optics or custom-engineered solutions are preferred.