Senior VP of Engineering - Space, Defense & Systems

AeroVironment, Inc.; Texas; Hybrid; USD 260,000 - 360,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision

401K with company matching

9/80 work schedule

Paid holiday shutdown

Job summary

AeroVironment, Inc. seeks a Space, Cyber and Directed Energy Segment Vice President of Engineering to set the technical vision, engineering rigor, and development discipline for a rapidly expanding portfolio of defense and national security programs.

The role leads a mix of engineering services and product-driven businesses, balancing governance for mature services with rigorous systems engineering, risk management, and timely product transitions to scalable production.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering or related technical field required; advanced degree preferred.
• 15+ years of progressive engineering leadership experience within defense, aerospace, space, directed energy, RF systems, autonomous systems, or related national security sectors.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex engineering organizations supporting both development and production environments.
• Strong background in systems engineering, product development, and transition to manufacturing.
• Experience operating within high-growth, fast-paced technology organizations.
• Ability to balance technical rigor with speed and execution urgency.
• Experience collaborating across enterprise engineering and business leadership organizations.
• Strong communication skills with executives, customers, and technical teams.
• Top Secret/SCI Clearance or the ability to obtain a clearance

Responsibilities

• Serve as the senior engineering authority across the segment portfolio.
• Establish engineering standards and development rigor for services and product organizations.
• Ensure alignment with customer mission requirements, affordability targets, and schedules.
• Drive engineering best practices across systems, software, hardware, integration, test, cybersecurity, and manufacturing readiness.
• Lead independent technical assessments and support executive decision-making on risk and priorities.
• Support transition from bespoke engineering to scalable, repeatable product solutions.
• Structure organizations to move rapidly while maintaining discipline and mission assurance.
• Promote modular architectures and reuse across programs.
• Partner with manufacturing to improve producibility and lifecycle affordability.
• Drive alignment with enterprise initiatives for speed and commercialization.
• Partner with the CTO to flow enterprise engineering strategies and roadmaps into the segment.
• Support MBSE and model-based approaches and enterprise product development standards.
• Ensure adoption of enterprise technology roadmaps where appropriate.
• Shape engineering workforce planning and capability development across the segment.
• Monitor staffing against growth objectives and future organizational structures.
• Foster a culture of accountability, innovation, and mission focus.
• Collaborate with BU leaders, program management, manufacturing, quality, and finance.
• Engage in executive reviews, investment reviews, and annual operating planning

Skills

Engineering leadership

Systems engineering

Product development

Cross-functional collaboration

Technical risk management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering

Advanced degree preferred

Tools

MBSE

Engineering governance

Job description

AeroVironment, Inc. seeks a Space, Cyber and Directed Energy Segment Vice President of Engineering to set the technical vision, engineering rigor, and development discipline for a rapidly expanding portfolio of defense and national security programs.

The role leads a mix of engineering services and product-driven businesses, balancing governance for mature services with rigorous systems engineering, risk management, and timely product transitions to scalable production.