Executive Director, Engineering & Technology

Candidates With a Future; Huntsville (AL); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Candidates With a Future seeks an Executive Director, Engineering & Technology to lead the engineering vision and operating rhythm for a complex hardware organization serving defense, aerospace, and regulated markets.

You will translate business priorities into product and technology plans, and oversee architecture, lifecycle decisions, and cross-functional execution to deliver producible solutions from concept to field support.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in electrical, mechanical, computer, systems, or another relevant engineering discipline.
• At least 15 years of progressively responsible engineering experience, including significant leadership of complex hardware or integrated-system development.
• Background in defense, aerospace, advanced electronics, or another highly regulated product environment.
• Experience with engineering planning, technical estimates, product lifecycle management, configuration control, and manufacturing readiness.
• Working knowledge of quality, export, cybersecurity, and government-contract requirements (e.g., AS9100/ISO 9001, military standards, ITAR, DFARS, NIST controls).
• Experience using ERP and/or PLM systems to control BOMs, drawings, revisions, and engineering changes.
• Eligibility to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance.

Responsibilities

• Own the engineering vision and operating rhythm for the organization.
• Connect business priorities to product and technology plans; strengthen engineering discipline.
• Ensure teams deliver practical, producible solutions from early concept through field support.
• Define a multi-year engineering and technology plan aligned with growth and customer priorities.
• Establish roadmaps for advanced computing, embedded electronics, and related technologies.
• Provide executive guidance on technical opportunities, risks, and investments.
• Develop chief engineers and senior technical leaders and promote knowledge sharing.
• Lead design reviews, verification, validation, and lifecycle decisions.
• Ensure production readiness, manufacturability, and cost-effective execution.

Skills

Leadership

Executive-level strategy

Cross-functional collaboration

Problem solving

Education

Bachelor's degree in electrical, mechanical, computer, systems, or related engineering

Master's degree in engineering, systems engineering, technology management, or related field

Tools

ERP systems

PLM systems

Job description

• Manufacturing

Executive Director, Engineering & Technology

Lead engineering strategy, technical execution, and product innovation in a complex hardware environment.

This role is designed for an accomplished engineering leader who can set direction at the executive level while remaining close to products, programs, customers, and manufacturing. The successful candidate will guide a multidisciplinary organization responsible for advanced electronic hardware and integrated systems used in demanding defense, aerospace, and other regulated applications.

Position Overview

The Executive Director will own the engineering vision and operating rhythm for the organization. This leader will connect business priorities to product and technology plans, strengthen engineering discipline, and ensure teams deliver practical, producible solutions from early concept through field support.

Key Responsibilities

Engineering Strategy and Technology Direction

• Define a multi-year engineering and technology plan that supports growth objectives, customer priorities, and evolving market requirements.
• Establish product and capability roadmaps for advanced computing, embedded electronics, communications, displays, and related integrated technologies.
• Assess emerging architectures, components, materials, tools, and external partnerships; recommend where the organization should invest, partner, or standardize.
• Provide the executive team with clear guidance on technical opportunity, development risk, resource needs, and investment tradeoffs.

Technical Leadership and Engineering Governance

• Act as the senior technical authority for architecture, design integrity, system performance, manufacturability, reliability, and lifecycle decisions.
• Strengthen systems engineering, design-review, verification, validation, configuration-management, and technical-assurance practices.
• Lead or sponsor critical trade studies, design recoveries, failure investigations, and high-consequence technical decisions.
• Develop chief engineers, functional leaders, and other senior technical talent while improving knowledge sharing across disciplines.

Product Development and Lifecycle Execution

• Direct engineering delivery from requirements definition and prototype development through qualification, production ramp, sustainment, and retirement planning.
• Align technical baselines, staffing, milestones, and deliverables with program schedules, budgets, and contractual commitments.
• Oversee sustaining-engineering priorities such as component obsolescence, redesign, cost improvement, corrective action, and field-performance issues.
• Ensure drawings, bills of material, specifications, software or firmware records, and other controlled technical data are accurate and released on time.

Manufacturing and Cross-Functional Partnership

• Build a strong working relationship between Engineering and Operations so new designs transition into stable, repeatable production.
• Embed design-for-manufacture, assembly, test, reliability, maintainability, and service considerations early in development.
• Evaluate production readiness, tooling, test equipment, work instructions, and supplier technical capability before major release decisions.
• Support improvements in yield, throughput, quality, supply continuity, and total product cost.

Customers, Programs, and Growth Support

• Engage customers and partners to clarify operational needs, shape solution concepts, resolve technical concerns, and communicate complex decisions clearly.
• Guide technical content and estimating for proposals, statements of work, compliance responses, demonstrations, and customer reviews.
• Confirm proposed solutions are achievable, supportable, affordable, and aligned with internal engineering and manufacturing capacity.
• Represent the organization in senior-level technical discussions and selected industry or partner engagements.

Organization and Culture

• Lead a multidisciplinary team that may include electrical, mechanical, systems, software or firmware, manufacturing, and test engineering.
• Set clear priorities, decision rights, performance expectations, and accountability across the engineering function.
• Recruit and retain strong technical talent, establish succession plans, and build a durable leadership pipeline.
• Promote a culture grounded in integrity, sound engineering judgment, disciplined execution, collaboration, and customer focus.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in electrical, mechanical, computer, systems, or another relevant engineering discipline.
• At least 15 years of progressively responsible engineering experience, including significant leadership of complex hardware or integrated-system development.
• Background in defense, aerospace, advanced electronics, or another highly regulated product environment.
• Demonstrated ability to move between executive-level strategy and detailed technical problem solving, design reviews, and customer discussions.
• Experience with engineering planning, technical estimates, product lifecycle management, configuration control, and manufacturing readiness.
• Working knowledge of quality, export, cybersecurity, and government-contract requirements relevant to regulated manufacturing; examples may include AS9100 or ISO 9001, military standards, ITAR, DFARS, and NIST-based controls.
• Experience using ERP and/or PLM systems to control bills of material, drawings, revisions, and engineering changes.
• Eligibility to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance, if required by assigned programs.

Preferred Background

• Master's degree in engineering, systems engineering, technology management, or a related field.
• Prior service as an Engineering Director, Chief Engineer, technology executive, or comparable senior technical leader.
• Experience with embedded electronics, ruggedized hardware, communications, advanced computing, displays, autonomy, robotics, or adjacent technologies.
• Participation in capture, proposal development, customer demonstrations, strategic partnerships, or technology-investment planning.
• A record of improving engineering maturity, manufacturability, technical talent, and cross-functional execution.

Employment Requirements

Employment is contingent upon successful completion of applicable background and drug-screening requirements. This position may also be subject to U.S. person, export-control, customer, and security requirements based on program assignments.

Equal Employment Opportunity

The employer provides equal employment opportunities to qualified applicants and employees without regard to any status protected by applicable law. Reasonable accommodations are available for qualified individuals with disabilities throughout the hiring process.