Technical Principal Project Engineer – Defense Programs

Arete Associates; Healdsburg (CA); On-site; USD 170,000 - 215,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flextime scheduling

Bereavement

PTO

401(k) retirement plan (company-funded

Employee Stock Ownership Plan

Continuing Education Assistance

Medical Insurance

Life Insurance

Vision Reimbursement

Job summary

Arete Associates seeks a dynamic Sr. Project Engineer to bridge design engineering, production, and Program management, based in Healdsburg, CA. This technical leadership role supports maritime airborne systems, overseeing schedule, risk, and cost across defense programs.

The role requires coordinating with design teams, managing IMS and ETC, and delivering program reviews and customer briefings. Secret/Top Secret clearance is preferred; U.S. citizenship is required.

Qualifications

• Experience leading an engineering technical team.
• Ability to provide technical direction to engineering teams.
• Experience guiding design reviews with internal and external customers.
• Schedule creation and maintenance.
• Work with team to create an estimate to complete.
• Risk creation and updates.
• New production Introduction or production build experience.
• Documentation of the product and process.
• Ability to get secret clearance.

Responsibilities

• Drive planning, execution, and delivery of engineering programs across design, development, and production teams.
• Collaborate with technical leads to define scope, requirements, deliverables, and success criteria.
• Lead cross-functional execution to meet cost, schedule, and technical performance objectives.
• Support New Product Introduction (NPI) and production build activities.

Skills

Engineering leadership

Technical direction

Design reviews

Schedule creation

Estimate to complete

Risk management

New production introduction

Documentation

Security clearance

Education

Engineering degree (Bachelor’s or Master’s)

10 years project engineering experience

Tools

Microsoft Project

Microsoft Excel

Outlook

Jira

CostPoint MES

Job description

Arete Associates seeks a dynamic Sr. Project Engineer to bridge design engineering, production, and Program management, based in Healdsburg, CA. This technical leadership role supports maritime airborne systems, overseeing schedule, risk, and cost across defense programs.

The role requires coordinating with design teams, managing IMS and ETC, and delivering program reviews and customer briefings. Secret/Top Secret clearance is preferred; U.S. citizenship is required.