Group Supervisor I/II - Mechanical Structures & Articulation (352C)

citjpl; United States; On-site; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

JPL in Pasadena, California, invites applications for Technical Group Supervisor of Mechanical Structures & Articulation (352C) within Division 35. You will recruit, hire, mentor, coach, and develop a 10–15 person group, interact with customers and engineers, and ensure objectives are met.

You must work independently and in teams, collaborating across disciplines, with strong oral and written communication skills; focus on workforce planning, training, scheduling, costing, and delivering flight

Qualifications

• Bachelor-level required with extensive, related mechanical engineering experience.
• Experience with payload and/or small spacecraft development and hardware for flight projects.
• Ability to manage multiple projects in parallel and work across organizations.

Responsibilities

• Recruit, hire, and develop a group of 10–15 engineers; mentor and coach staff.
• Interface with project customers and engineers to ensure objectives are met and risks are managed.

Skills

Project management

Cross-functional collaboration

Leadership & mentoring

Communication skills

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or related discipline

Master’s degree in similar disciplines with minimum 7 years experience

PhD in similar disciplines with minimum 5 years experience

Job description

Job Details

New ideas are all around us, but only a few will change the world. That's our focus at JPL. We ask the biggest questions, then search the universe for answers-literally. We build upon ideas that have guided generations, then share our discoveries to inspire generations to come. Your mission-your opportunity-is to seek out the answers that bring us one step closer. If you're driven to discover, create, and inspire something that lasts a lifetime and beyond, you're ready for JPL.

Located in Pasadena, California, JPL has a campus-like environment situated on 177 acres in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and offers a work environment unlike any other: we inspire passion, foster innovation, build collaboration, and reward excellence.

This unique opportunity is part of the Mechanical and Control Systems Division (Division 35) , which creates advanced mechanical, robotics, thermal, propulsion, onboard GNC, and electronic packaging systems. Division 35 develops hardware and systems from early architecture through design, fabrication, subsystem, and system-level integration and test.

Mechanical Engineering, Integration, and Test Section (Section 352) creates innovative, technically excellent products in an inclusive team environment that offer creative and novel solutions for JPL's boldest missions. As the Technical Group Supervisor of Mechanical Structures & Articulation (352C) within Section 352, your primary responsibility will be recruiting, hiring, managing, mentoring, coaching, and developing your group members. The estimated group size is 10-15 individuals. You will also interact with project customers and engineers and be responsible for assuring project objectives are met. You must be able to work independently and within a team environment, collaborate on tasks performed across a spectrum of disciplines, and have excellent oral and written presentation skills.

Some challenges you will tackle:

• Fulfill the duties and responsibilities of a Group Supervisor, including workforce planning, recruiting, hiring, training, assigning work, performance assessment, ensuring quality work products, and proper time charging.
• Lead in fostering a diverse, respectful, inclusive, and equitable workplace - ensuring fair and equitable treatment of all employees, maintaining a safe working environment, enforcing JPL and section rules and guidelines, and ensuring that group members have taken the required training.
• Facilitate employee development, growth, and performance - providing continuous coaching and mentoring activities to hone members; providing frank and honest feedback regarding their performance and areas for improvement; providing education in flight engineering processes and in executing best section practices; providing appropriate recognition for their achievements and productivity.
• Interface and collaborate with project and other line managers to resolve technical and staffing needs.
• Support group members with scheduling, costing, and product deliveries; ensure the group adheres to JPL Flight Project Practices and Design Principles for flight hardware design, development, assembly, test, and delivery.
• Provide end-to-end systems and hardware development leadership from concept to launch using multi-disciplinary engineering approaches; manage all Mechanical Structures & Articulation activities regarding staffing and technical approach for flight projects, study tasks, and proposals.

Key areas of expertise for the 352C group include design, implementation, and delivery of moving mechanical assemblies that synergistically interface with electronics for deployable, mobility, sampling, and other robotic functions and systems.

Required Skills:

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or related discipline with a minimum of 9 years of related experience; Master's degree in similar disciplines with a minimum of 7 years of related experience; or PhD in similar disciplines with a minimum of 5 years related experience.
• Experience and advanced knowledge in payload and/or small spacecraft development; expertise in the practice of mechanical engineering for structures, mechanisms, and/or hardware development test beds for flight projects and technology tasks.
• Ability to work/manage multiple projects in parallel.
• Proven ability to work effectively with all levels of engineers and managers, across organizations and disciplines; demonstrated commitment and experience to customer satisfaction; demonstrated ability to team effectively across organizational boundaries; ability and willingness to team with JPL institutional management to creatively solve complex institutional issues; demonstrated ability in resolving complex technical and managerial problems.
• Strong record of success in task planning and prioritization, resource assessment, costing, managing schedules and deliverables, and meeting project commitments.
• Demonstrated experience and aptitude in leading teams and mentoring engineers with genui