Engineering Director - Platform, Production, and Sustainment IPT Chief Engineer

Collins Aerospace; Richardson (TX); On-site; USD 186,000 - 354,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

Three weeks of vacation for newly hire

Generous 401(k) with matching funds

Tuition reimbursement

Job summary

Collins Aerospace in Richardson, TX is seeking an Engineering Director to lead the Platform, Production and Sustainment IPT for the Survivable Airborne Operations Center program. This director-level role drives technical execution across flight deck, interior, and power/controls, ensuring design maturity and production readiness.

The ideal candidate has a DoD Secret clearance, 14+ years of engineering leadership in aerospace, and experience with MBSE, EVMS, and cross-functional teams.

Qualifications

• Active DoD Secret security clearance and U.S. citizenship.
• Bachelor’s degree in STEM; 14+ years engineering experience (12+ with advanced degree).
• Experience in systems engineering, development, integration, verification, or test on major defense or aerospace programs.
• Experience leading engineering teams and cross‑functional subsystem development groups.
• Experience with EVMS, technical baseline management, and risk & opportunity management.
• Strong communication and customer-facing skills.

Responsibilities

• Provide executive-level technical leadership for PPS subsystem development, integration, and testing.
• Lead Project Engineers, ensuring alignment, staffing, and performance oversight.
• Direct engineering across flight deck, interior, power & controls to ensure maturity and readiness.
• Ensure requirements development, allocation, traceability, and verification planning align with SEIT baselines.
• Oversee production transition planning and documentation for manufacturing readiness.
• Identify early indicators of technical issues and drive resolution with cross-functional teams.
• Lead technical reviews and integration readiness events with SEIT and other IPTs.
• Collaborate with Program Management on EVMS, cost accounts, and schedule integration.
• Represent the PPS technical organization to customer and government counterparts.

Skills

DoD security clearance

Engineering leadership

Systems engineering

Cross-functional leadership

EVMS experience

Communication skills

Education

Bachelor’s degree in STEM

Advanced degree (MS/PhD) preferred

Tools

MBSE

EVMS

Job description

Location: US-TX-RICHARDSON-C17 ~ 1717 Cityline Dr ~ CITYLINE C17

Date Posted: 2026-09-01

Country: United States of America

Position Role Type: Onsite

U.S. Citizen, U.S. Person, or Immigration Status Requirements: The ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government issued security clearance is required. U.S. citizenship is required, as only U.S. citizens are eligible for a security clearance

Security Clearance Type: Secret - Current

Security Clearance Status: Active and existing security clearance required on day 1

Engineering Director - Platform, Production, and Sustainment IPT Chief Engineer

At RTX, the world largest aerospace and defense company, 185,000 great minds are united by purpose and inspired to make a difference solving the world’s most complex problems. With our three market leading businesses, world-class operations and investments in research and development, we offer capabilities and opportunity no one else can. Together, we push the boundaries of known science and find new ways to connect and protect our world.

Collins Aerospace, an RTX company, is a leader in technologically advanced and intelligent solutions for the global aerospace and defense industry. Collins Aerospace has the capabilities, comprehensive portfolio, and expertise to solve customers’ toughest challenges and to meet the demands of a rapidly evolving global market.

This position requires: US Government Department of Defense Active Secret Security Clearance required prior to Day 1, Top Secret preferred.

Onsite

This is an onsite role supporting our Richardson, Texas location.

Collins Aerospace is seeking an experienced technical and functional leader to serve as the Chief Engineer for the Platform, Production, and Sustainment (PPS) Integrated Product Team (IPT) on the Survivable Airborne Operations Center (SAOC) program. This Director level leader is responsible for technical execution across the flight deck efforts, interior monuments, interior seating systems, power and controls activities, as well as engineering planning and preparation for production transition. This role ensures subsystem engineering rigor, integration readiness, and production-aligned technical maturity across multiple engineering domains.

Sign-on Bonus Eligible

What You Will Do

• Provide executive-level technical leadership for all Platform, Production, and Sustainment subsystem development, integration, and subsystem-level test execution activities.
• Serve as the functional leader for all Project Engineers assigned to the PPS IPT, ensuring organizational alignment, mentoring, staffing, and performance oversight.
• Lead technical execution across flight deck systems, interior monuments, seating, and power & controls disciplines to ensure requirements, design maturity, and integration readiness.
• Ensure subsystem requirements development, allocation, traceability, and verification planning align with Systems Engineering, Integration, and Test (SEIT)-owned technical baselines and program architecture.
• Oversee production transition planning, ensuring engineering outputs, documentation, and configuration baselines are ready for manufacturing and sustainment environments.
• Identify early indicators of subsystem-level technical issues, integration risks, or production blockers and drive resolution with cross-functional teams.
• Lead technical reviews, integration readiness events, production-preparation milestones, and collaborative exchanges with SEIT and other IPTs.
• Collaborate with Program Management in support of EVMS, cost account performance, schedule integration, and structured risk & opportunity management.
• Represent the Platform, Production, and Sustainment technical organization to customer engineering and government counterparts.
• Promote engineering discipline, configuration control, and adherence to Collins and RTX development and production processes.

Qualifications You Must Have

• Active and transferable DoD Secret security clearance. U.S. citizenship is required, as only U.S. citizens are eligible for a security clearance.
• Ideally a Bachelor’s degree in STEM and at least 14 years engineering experience, or advanced degree with 12+ years relevant experience.
• Demonstrated experience in systems engineering, subsystem development, integration, verification, validation, or test on major defense or aerospace programs.
• Experience leading engineering teams, project engineers, or cross‑functional subsystem development groups.
• Experience with EVMS, technical baseline management, and structured risk and opportunity management.
• Strong technical judgment with the ability to identify issues early and lead cross‑functional investigation and resolution.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, including customer‑facing interactions.

Qualifications We Prefer

• Leadership experience on complex, multi‑year aerospace or defense development programs.
• Experience developing aircraft interiors, flight deck systems, power distribution/control systems, or supporting production transition activities.
• Experience preparing subsystems for higher‑level system integration, verification, and validation environments.
• Experience with Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) and model-based verification planning.
• Experience leading engineering teams across multiple U.S. locations.
• Advanced technical degree (M.S. or Ph.D.).
• Active and transferable DoD Top Secret security clearance.

What we offer

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Three weeks of vacation for newly hired employees
• Generous 401(k) plan that includes employer matching funds and separate employer retirement contribution, including a Lifetime Income Strategy option
• Tuition reimbursement program
• Student Loan Repayment Program
• Life insurance and disability coverage
• Optional coverage: you can purchase pet insurance, home and auto insurance, additional life and accident insurance,critical illnessinsurance, group legal, ID theft protection
• Birth, adoption, parental leave benefits
• Ovia Health, fertility, and family planning
• Adoption Assistance
• Autism Benefit
• Employee Assistance Plan, including up to 10 free counseling sessions
• Healthy You Incentives, wellness rewards program
• Doctor on Demand, Virtual doctor visits
• Bright Horizons, child and elder care services
• Teladoc Medical Experts, second opinion program
• And more!

Employee Referral Eligible

At Collins, the paths we pave together lead to limitless possibility. And the bonds we form – with our customers and with each other -- propel us all higher, again and again.

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The salary range for this role is 186,200 USD - 353,800 USD. The salary range provided is a good faith estimate representative of all experience levels. RTX considers several factors when extending an offer, including but not limited to, the role, function and associated responsibilities, a candidate’s work experience, location, education/training, and key skills.

Hired applicants may be eligible for benefits, including but not limited to, medical, dental, vision, life insurance, short-term disability, long-term disability, 401(k) match, flexible spending accounts, flexible work schedules, employee assistance program, Employee Scholar Program, parental leave, paid time off, and holidays. Specific benefits are dependent upon the specific business unit as well as whether or not the position is covered by a collective-bargaining agreement.

Hired applicants may be eligible for annual short-term and/or long-term incentive compensation programs depending on the level of the position and whether or not it is covered by a collective-bargaining agreement. Payments under these annual programs are not guaranteed and are dependent upon a variety of factors including, but not limited to, individual performance, business unit performance, and/or the company’s performance.

This role is a U.S.-based role. If the successful candidate resides in a U.S. territory, the appropriate pay structure and benefits will apply.

RTX anticipates the application window closing approximately 40 days from the date the notice was posted. However, factors such as candidate flow and business necessity may require RTX to shorten or extend the application window.

RTX is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability or veteran status, or any other applicable state or federal protected class. RTX provides affirmative action in employment for qualified Individuals with a Disability and Protected Veterans in compliance with Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act.