Engineering Vice President, Business Group Chief Engineer

avav; Simi Valley (CA); On-site; USD 224,500 - 359,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

401(k) with company matching

9/80 work schedule

Paid holiday shutdown

Job summary

AeroVironment, Inc. seeks a Vice-President level Uncrewed Systems (UxS) BGCE to serve as the technical authority for the UxS business group.

This leader chairs technical reviews, directs multi‑discipline engineering, and guides product roadmaps to meet business objectives across the lifecycle. The role requires 15+ years in aerospace design and 10+ years leading large technical teams, with strong communication and collaboration across Manufacturing, Supply Chain and Quality to ensure flawless

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Aerospace, Electrical, or Systems Engineering (or equivalent).
• 15+ years in aerospace product design/sustainment.
• 10+ years leading large technical teams through product lifecycle.
• Experience with drawings, BOMs, engineering change systems, and quality systems.
• Experience in Agile and Waterfall environments.
• Excellent verbal, presentation, and written communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Personifies the AV pillar of Innovation.
• Oversees all development and product sustainment activities within the business group.
• Represents and communicates the technical interests of the business group to internal and external stakeholders.
• Drives the technical response for business proposals.
• Leads the technical team to fulfill program requirements and drive process improvements.
• Collaborates on product roadmaps with customers, CTO and Product Line Management.
• Chairs the technical review board and approves product documentation and engineering change requests.

Skills

People leadership

Aerospace engineering

Defense industry experience

Communication

Project planning

Agile/Waterfall

Engineering changes/BOMs

MS Office

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical/Aerospace/Electrical/Systems Engineering

Tools

CAD tools

PDM/PLM

Job description

Summary

The Vice-President level Uncrewed Systems (UxS) Business Group Chief Engineer (BGCE) is the overall technical authority for the UxS business group. The BGCE is accountable for all technical aspects of the products and leads a team of engineers to ideate, conceptualize, develop, launch, and sustain products throughout the total product lifecycle. The BGCE works with customers and product line managers to develop concepts of operations that feed into product roadmaps to meet business objectives. The BGCE chairs technical review boards and drives technical requirements for any failure analysis and root‑cause corrective action activities. The BGCE also serves as functional leader to a small and distinguished group of Product Line Chief Engineers (PLCE).

Position Responsibilities

• Personifies the AV pillar of "Innovation".
• Oversees all development and product sustainment activities within the business group.
• Represents and communicates the technical interests of the business group to internal and external stakeholders.
• Drives the technical response for business proposals.
• Leads the technical team that will efficiently and effectively fulfill program technical, schedule and cost requirements and drives process improvements within the business group, consistent with the Segment Engineering vision.
• Supports the creation of product technical roadmaps by collaborating with Product Line Management, customers, CTO and additional internal stakeholders.
• Chairs the technical review board and is the final authority for product documentation and engineering change requests/orders.
• Collaborates with Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Quality to ensure technical specifications, as designed, are managed/controlled and flow through the entire value chain.
• Responsible for all technical aspects of the product success.
• Develops and supports the development of plans for product IRAD and sustaining projects through proper work decomposition and skills assignment to project work tasks.
• Presents technical concepts to customers in support of business group initiatives; identifies and assigns program/project technical tasks.
• Manages development and approval of engineering estimates and drives a consistent approach for bases of estimates.
• Leads multi‑discipline engineering activities and mentors engineers to improve technical and leadership skills.
• Drives process improvements throughout the engineering development processes.
• Part of business group leadership team requiring strong collaboration with peers, the ability to provide tactical and strategic insights, and a passion for technologies that enable UAS solutions to expand.
• Responsible for functional leadership and direct performance management of a small and distinguished group of Program Line Chief Engineers (PLCE).
• Works with other engineering functional leaders to staff and prioritize engineering tasking across programs to ensure flawless execution.
• Leads root‑cause investigations and rolls out corrective actions (RCCA).
• Other duties as assigned.

Basic Qualifications (Required Skills & Experience)

• Bachelor’s Degree in a Mechanical, Aerospace, Electrical, or Systems Engineering discipline (or equivalent).
• Experience with Defense products and customers.
• Minimum of 15 years of demonstrated experience in aerospace product design and sustainment.
• Minimum of 10 years of experience leading large technical teams through the product lifecycle.
• Experience with drawings and BOMs; engineering change systems; quality systems for non‑conforming parts and corrective action.
• Experience in an Agile and Waterfall development environment.
• Excellent verbal, presentation, and written communication skills.
• Experience with integrating new capabilities onto platforms, requiring flow‑down of requirements to lower‑level systems.
• Experience with project planning in terms of schedule, budget, and resource estimations.
• Exceptional leadership and management skills, with the ability to develop and communicate a vision that inspires and motivates staff and aligns with the business strategy.
• Ability to build strong relationships within all disciplines within organization.
• Effective influencing and negotiation skills in an environment where resources may not be under your direct control.
• Experience with product manufacturing and product configuration processes.
• Experience leading a multi‑disciplinary team in an engineering environment.
• Project Management Experience.
• Experienced and proficient with MS Office applications and other office productivity tools.

Other Qualifications & Desired Competencies

• Education or experience or aircraft subsystems in R&D environment is preferred.
• Follows standard practices and procedures when analyzing situations or data from which answers can be readily obtained; completes assigned tasks within schedule and budget.
• Shares ideas and experiences with others, solicits feedback and asks relevant questions.
• Is able to excel in a fast‑paced, deadline‑driven environment where small teams share a broad variety of duties.
• Displays strong initiative and drive to accomplish goals and meet company objectives.
• Takes ownership and responsibility for current and past work products.
• Is committed to learning from mistakes and driven to improve and enhance performance of oneself, others, and the company.
• Has effective problem‑solving, analytical, interpersonal and communication skills.
• Team player focusing on teamwork, collaboration and putting the success of the team above one's own interests.
• Inspires, motivates, and empowers people to deliver organizational goals, while also delivering value back to employees.
• Direct experience with design or development in the Aerospace or Defense industries (UAVs or Military aviation preferred).
• Direct technical expertise in any of the following areas:
  • Group 1, 2 or 3 UAS
  • Avionics, sensors, and RF‑based data links
  • Radio frequency spectrum and modern communication systems
  • SIGINT technologies and sensors, including EO/IR optics
  • GPS navigation systems including DGPS, SAASM and M‑Code
  • Aviation propulsion systems, including internal combustion and electric motors
  • OCONUS military operations

Physical Demands

• Ability to work in an office and manufacturing environment.
• Required to sit and stand for long periods (frequent).
• Required to talk, hear, and use hands and fingers to operate a computer and telephone keyboard (frequent).
• Travel required to domestic US sites – up to 50%.

Environmental Conditions

• Work is in an office environment, climate controlled through central air‑conditioning/heating.

Special Requirements

• U.S. Citizenship required.
• Must be capable of obtaining and maintaining a DoD Secret security clearance.
• Occasionally may be required to travel outside the Continental U.S.

Clearance Level

Secret

Salary Range

$224,500 – $359,000

ITAR Requirement

This position requires access to information that is subject to compliance with the International Traffic Arms Regulations (ITAR) and/or the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). Applicants must qualify as a U.S. person under ITAR and the EAR, or be approved for an export license by the governing agency whose technology is under its jurisdiction. Positions requiring U.S. citizenship or a clearable are conditional on AeroVironment’s determination of the ability to obtain a license within a timeframe consistent with business requirements.

Benefits

AeroVironment offers an excellent benefits package including medical, dental, vision, 401(k) with company matching, a 9/80 work schedule, and a paid holiday shutdown.

EEO Statement

AeroVironment, Inc. is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) employer and welcomes all qualified applicants. Qualified applicants will receive fair and impartial consideration without regard to race, sex, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, genetic data, sexual orientation, gender identity or other legally protected status.