Associate Project Engineer

Leonardo DRS, Inc.•Dallas, TX

17d•Onsite

About The Position

The Electro Optical Infrared Systems (EOIS) line of business within DRS has locations in Dallas and Austin, TX, Melbourne, FL, and Cypress, CA. EOIS develops, manufactures, and supports infrared and electro-optical solutions for soldiers, ground vehicles and airborne platforms. We offer an exciting and challenging work environment, a competitive salary and benefits package, and a business culture that rewards performance. Employing the world’s brightest. Supporting the world’s bravest. Project Engineers serve as the technical lead and program-facing engineering point of contact for assigned hardware/electronics programs within EOIS, coordinating initial designs, redesigns, and respin efforts across cross-functional teams (electrical, mechanical, software, systems, manufacturing, and supply chain). This role owns the technical scope, schedule, and cost basis for assigned work packages — translating customer and program requirements into actionable engineering plans, estimates, and deliverables.

Requirements

U.S. Citizenship is required
Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, systems engineering, mechanical engineering, or related discipline (or equivalent experience).
0 to 2 years of engineering experience in related technical field; experience with leading technical programs / projects is preferred.
Ability to develop and maintain Basis of Estimate (BOE) packages, Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) estimates, and Statements of Work (SOW) to support proposals, Engineering Change Proposals (ECPs), and program planning activities.
Build and manage integrated master schedules for engineering tasks; track progress, identify risks, and drive corrective actions to keep programs on schedule and within budget.
Coordinate with hardware, software, systems, product and test engineering disciplines to resolve design issues (e.g., component obsolescence, part replacements such as PSRAM/memory substitutions, DMSMS mitigation).
Support proposal development by gathering technical inputs, historical program data, and prior BOE/ROM artifacts to reconstruct or validate cost basis for new or follow-on efforts.
Interface directly with program management, customers, and suppliers on technical status, schedule commitments, and engineering change activity.
Prepare and present technical reviews (PDR/CDR, design reviews, program status reviews) to internal stakeholders and customers to drive new / existing products through the Product Life Cycle.
U.S. Citizenship required. This position requires an active DOD security clearance or the ability to obtain such clearance within a reasonable time after commencement of employment.

Nice To Haves

Experience with night vision, EO/IR for Commercial or Military applications (e.g., SBMC applications).
Strong schedule management skills (MS Project or equivalent) and ability to manage multiple concurrent work packages.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills; ability to synthesize technical information from email threads, prior program documentation, and design history into clear estimates and reports.
Prepare and present technical content at design reviews, program status reviews, and customer reviews (e.g., PDR/CDR, RCA/CAPA boards).
Root cause analysis (RCA) - structured methodologies (5-Whys, Fishbone/Ishikawa, Fault Tree Analysis) to isolate hardware/design defects and drive corrective action.
Root-cause-to-corrective-action (CAPA) documentation - writing clear, auditable RCA/CA reports for internal quality systems and customer delivery (common on defense contracts with formal corrective action requirements).
Configuration management - understanding of ECO/ECN processes, drawing control, and change impact assessment across hardware baselines.
Technical decision-making under ambiguity - synthesizing incomplete data (partial test results, prior program history, email/design threads) into a defensible engineering position.
Cross-functional facilitation - running root-cause or failure review boards with quality, manufacturing, test, and supply chain stakeholders.
Familiarity with electronic hardware design and CCA-level engineering (schematics, layout review, design-for-manufacturability).
Experience supporting Basis of Estimate development for engineering change proposals (ECPs) and redesign/re-spin efforts.
Familiarity with component obsolescence management and part substitution engineering (memory, PSRAM, connectors, etc.).
Working knowledge of Earned Value Management (EVM) and DRS program control tools.
Perform failure analysis on non-conforming hardware, coordinating with test, quality, and failure analysis labs to isolate issues to the component, design, or process level.
Failure analysis - ability to interpret test failures, field returns, and qualification anomalies down to component or process level; coordinate with failure analysis labs (electrical, thermal, mechanical stress).
Debugging / troubleshooting - hands-on bench-level debug of CCAs and subsystems (oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, multimeters, JTAG/boundary scan) to isolate design vs. manufacturing vs. component issues.
Design of Experiments (DOE) - for characterizing marginal designs or validating fixes across environmental/electrical corners.
Design for manufacturability/testability (DFM/DFT) - reviewing layouts and BOMs for producibility and testability up front, reducing downstream failure/debug cycles.
Test data analysis - statistical review of test results (yield trends, pass/fail patterns) to detect systemic vs. one-off issues.
Requirements verification & traceability - mapping test/verification activities back to customer requirements; supporting verification cross-reference matrices (VCRM).

Responsibilities

Responsible for the execution of schedule, cost, and technical performance for a specific set of projects or new business pursuits.
Reconstruction of program technical history (as needed) synthesizing prior BOEs, ROMs, SOWs, and design artifacts from email threads and documentation to support new estimates or follow-on proposals.
Work closely with Program Management to oversee the daily activities of the development team, responsible for driving engineering action plans.
For larger programs, Cost Account Managers (CAM) could be assigned, and Project Engineers would manage CAMs.
Work to fully understand the scope of work for assigned projects, including all contractual requirements.
Projects need to be analyzed, well understood and disseminated to the engineering team(s) and agreed to with Program Management.
Responsible for technical designs, leading design reviews, and holding engineering disciplines accountable.
Serve as the primary technical interface for both our internal and external customers
Drive the appropriate development and production phase requirements, as defined within DRS’ internal processes, within the Product Life Cycle.
Manage configuration control activities for assigned hardware baselines, including ECO/ECN development, review, and change impact assessment
Coordinate budget estimate reviews, obtained from each engineering discipline, with Program Management, as well as completing Estimate at Complete (EAC) metrics for monthly or weekly reports.
Coordinate with Program Scheduler for the creation of schedules and managing schedules throughout the respective development and production phases. This includes schedule baselines, resource loading and monthly schedule performance metrics.
Lead meetings that drive daily execution and tracking of projects and programs, while holding team members accountable for the following: Schedule (weekly cadence), Cost (weekly to monthly cadence), Technical (as needed by discipline and design), CCB (as needed by discipline and design/process), Risk (identifying/mitigating technical risks for program management), Customer (as needed), Peer Reviews (as needed), Compliance with Engineering Processes (by discipline, design and reliability)
Ensure all engineering activities comply with applicable DRS quality processes, engineering standards, and regulatory requirements (ITAR, DFARS, etc.).
Perform other duties as assigned in support of program engineering objectives. This could include mentoring associate-level engineers and reviewing their technical work products.