Senior Staff Project Engineer

Twenty-Six Defense; Merrimack (NH); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Twenty-Six Defense in Merrimack, NH is seeking a Senior Staff Project Engineer to lead complex engineering programs with integrity and collaboration. The role emphasizes ethical leadership, customer collaboration, and delivering robust technical reviews while fostering an inclusive team environment.

Responsibilities include guiding project execution, cost and schedule control using earned value management, bidding activities, and cross-functional planning with Systems Engineers and CAMs to meet

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical/Mechanical/CS/Physics or relevant technical field; advanced degree preferred.
• 20 years of relevant product development experience, with military products preferred.
• CAM experience preferred.
• Earned Value Management experience strongly preferred.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Demonstrated leadership skills.

Responsibilities

• Primary technical POC with the customer and lead the engineering team in the development of the technical review packages and lead customer technical reviews.
• Mediate and adjudicate conflicts that arise within the engineering team and between engineering and the program manager; support risk, issues, and opportunities management.
• Lead engineering project execution to include cost, schedule and technical baselines for all engineering activities.
• Partner with PMs, Engineering Functional Managers, and CAMs to ensure the project is staffed and executed to plan.
• Manage project scope ensuring budget/schedule changes are made with corresponding scope changes.

Skills

Demonstrated leadership skills

Strong written and verbal comunicación

Agile mindset

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, Physics or relevant technical discipline

PMP certification preferred

Job description

Job Summary

We are currently recruiting for a Senior Staff Project Engineer-- but we are looking for more than an impressive skill set. We are looking for the type of person who respects others for their knowledge, skills, and experience as individuals and as team members. We want someone who is highly ethical, honest, fair…because that’s who we are. If you are the type of person who has high integrity and would thrive in an inclusive environment of camaraderie with your fellow teammates, we’re pretty confident you’ll love it here.

Responsibilities and Tasks

Project Execution

• Primary technical POC with the customer, lead engineering team in the development of the technical review packages and lead customer technical reviews
• Mediate and Adjudicate conflicts that arise within the engineering team and between engineering and the program manager Support the business unit in identification, mitigation, and management of risks, issues, and opportunities, specifically focused on the technical and engineering aspects
• Lead engineering project execution to include the cost, schedule and technical baselines for all engineering activities
• Partner with PM’s, Engineering Functional Managers, and Functional CAMs to ensure the project is being staffed and executed to plan
• Manage project scope ensuring budget/schedule changes are made with corresponding scope changes

Cost and Schedule Management

• Utilize EVMS (scaled as appropriate) to monitor and control engineering cost and schedule performance
• Ensure IMS is kept up to date with support from appropriate PP&C personnel or schedulers
• Work with team to develop both technical and process improvement work arounds to mitigate potential cost and schedule variances
• Coordinate/document variance reporting with the CAMs, or leads, as appropriate
• Update WBS as required
• Conduct project reviews as required, reporting program status to senior management
• Continuously work with the team to identify ways to improve efficiency of the technical team’s performance
• Mentor/coach project team members to help achieve efficient and effective project execution.

Bids and Proposals

• Develop/coordinate engineering program bid and execution baselines (technical, scope, cost, schedule, risk, opportunities…) IAW defined scope and objectives
• Partner with Systems Engineers and Director(s) to provide innovative technical solutions to fit within budget and schedule constraints
• Develop/Lead the development of bids and BOE’s IAW company policy, using historical data wherever possible
• Develop engineering WBS, IAW company standards tailored as appropriate to meet specific project requirements
• Develop/support the development of the IMS, developing work packages and staffing requirements
• Coordinate and document process tailoring activities for specific project requirements
• Document risks and opportunities associated with the Engineering Bid
• Develop bid package and obtain approval from relevant stakeholders

Project Planning

• Develop/refine engineering WBS, IAW company standards tailored as appropriate to meet specific project requirements
• Clearly define and document project scope and deliverables
• Coordinate and integrate the different functional inputs into a coherent executable project plan.
• Establish, negotiate and allocate budgets to the CAMs
• Coordinate the development of the engineering portion of the resource loaded IMS
• Coordinate the development of the initial risk and opportunity register
• Communicate staffing requirements to functional management in support of the engineering resource planning process

Resource Management

• Develop and maintain staffing requirements (by skill and time phased) – ideally through a resource loaded schedule.
• Negotiate staffing requirements with Engineering Functional leadership
• Enter and maintain staffing requirements into workforce planning tool.
• Support functional staffing analysis for future work
• Partner with functional management in employee performance assessment, development, and corrective action
• Identify and report variances between staffing levels vs plan

Process

• Execute role IAW project management process and other relevant procedures
• Support company level process initiatives and audits
• Continually seek ways to improve efficiency and performance
• Partner with functional management to establish process tailoring. Identify risks associated with tailored tasks.

People/Relationships

• Establish and maintain business unit partnerships
• Establish and maintain key Elbit, customer, and engineering functional management relationships
• Establish and maintain relationships with Applications Engineering

Expected Leadership Characteristics

• Encourages and builds mutual trust, respect, and cooperation among team members
• Fosters an environment where employees are valued and cost effectiveness and efficiency is rewarded
• Clearly explains project assignments, expectations, priorities, and follows up to ensure they are met
• Practices the philosophy of communicate, negotiate, elevate when dealing with others
• Delegates tasks as appropriate
• Agile and open to change, embracing it to deal with unpredictable or unexpected events
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Assumes responsibility for their project’s performance
• Practices self-improvement
• Looks for outside opinions and advice
• Exemplifies the company core values (Ethics, Customer Focus, Respect, and Excellence
• Coaches/develops others and is open to coaching and feedback

Knowledge (Education/License/Certification, Prior Experience)

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, Physics or relevant technical discipline with advanced technical degree(s) preferred.
• 20 years relevant product development experience (Military products preferred)
• CAM experience preferred
• PMP certification preferred
• Earned Value Management experience strongly preferred

Skills and Abilities

• Demonstrated leadership skills
• Strong written and verbal communication skills

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