Chief Engineer, Production

AeroVironment•Petaluma, CA

23d•Onsite

About The Position

AeroVironment is seeking a Chief Engineer – Production to provide senior technical leadership for the production, sustainment, and lifecycle support of products within the MUAS business unit. The Chief Engineer will serve as the primary technical authority for assigned production programs and fielded products, ensuring that systems remain safe, reliable, manufacturable, supportable, and compliant with customer and business requirements. This position will lead the resolution of complex technical issues, guide engineering changes and product improvements, and coordinate cross-functional execution across engineering, operations, quality, supply chain, program management, and customer-support organizations. The ideal candidate will have significant experience supporting aerospace, defense, unmanned, or other complex electromechanical products throughout production and sustainment.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in engineering from an accredited institution.
Typically, 15 or more years of progressive engineering experience in aerospace, defense, unmanned systems, or a related technical industry.
Demonstrated experience supporting complex products through production and sustainment.
Experience serving as a technical lead, chief engineer, systems engineer, or equivalent engineering authority.
Experience with engineering change management, configuration management, requirements management, and product-baseline control.
Demonstrated experience leading cross-functional technical teams and resolving complex production or field-performance issues.
Experience with root-cause analysis, corrective action, reliability improvement, and failure investigation.
Working knowledge of systems engineering, integration, verification, validation, and test processes.
Ability to make sound technical decisions while balancing performance, cost, schedule, quality, and risk.
Strong written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills.
Ability to communicate effectively with engineers, manufacturing personnel, program managers, executives, suppliers, customers, and government representatives.
Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government security clearance, if required.
Must be willing to work on government contracts and have the ability to obtain a security clearance.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in engineering, systems engineering, or a related technical discipline.
Experience with unmanned aircraft systems, autonomous systems, mission systems, avionics, payloads, ground-control systems, or other complex electromechanical products.
Experience with production ramp-up, rate production, product transition, and manufacturing-process improvement.
Experience with flight testing, environmental qualification, acceptance testing, and fielded-system support.
Experience with aircraft systems, airworthiness, safety, reliability, maintainability, and supportability analysis.
Experience with supplier technical management and supplier corrective-action processes.
Knowledge of AS9100, ISO 9001, or comparable aerospace quality systems.
Experience applying Lean, Six Sigma, or other continuous-improvement methods.
Experience with obsolescence management, parts management, and lifecycle planning.
Active U.S. government security clearance.
Professional Engineer license or relevant technical certification.
Experience in one or more of the following areas is desirable: Group 3 UAS development. Avionics, sensors, and RF-based data links. Radio-frequency spectrum and modern communication systems. SIGINT technologies and sensors, including EO/IR optics. GPS navigation systems, including DGPS, SAASM, and M-Code. Aviation propulsion systems, including internal-combustion engines and electric motors. OCONUS military operations.

Responsibilities

Serve as the senior technical authority for assigned MUAS production and sustainment programs.
Maintain technical ownership of the product baseline, including system architecture, requirements, interfaces, configuration, and performance.
Lead engineering support for products in production and deployed in the field.
Drive resolution of complex technical issues involving design, integration, manufacturing, testing, reliability, quality, suppliers, and field performance.
Lead multidisciplinary root-cause investigations and ensure effective corrective and preventive actions.
Provide technical direction for engineering changes, deviations, waivers, nonconformances, and configuration-management activities.
Evaluate and approve proposed product, process, material, and supplier changes.
Partner with manufacturing and operations teams to improve producibility, yield, throughput, cost, and product quality.
Support production readiness, rate increases, first-article activities, qualification efforts, acceptance testing, and recurring production reviews.
Lead technical assessments of product reliability, maintainability, supportability, and lifecycle risk.
Establish priorities for sustaining-engineering activities based on mission impact, customer needs, safety, reliability, cost, and schedule.
Coordinate with design engineering to incorporate field and production feedback into product enhancements and future configurations.
Support product upgrades, modifications, obsolescence mitigation, technology insertions, and end-of-life planning.
Partner with quality, supplier management, operations, and program management to resolve recurring production and supplier issues.
Provide technical input to program plans, estimates, schedules, risk registers, proposals, make-or-buy decisions, and investment strategies.
Lead or participate in design reviews, production reviews, failure-review boards, material-review boards, customer reviews, and executive-level program reviews.
Ensure that technical data, work instructions, test procedures, drawings, specifications, and other production documentation are accurate and properly controlled.
Monitor and communicate technical, production, reliability, supply-chain, and field-performance risks.
Support customer and field-service organizations with technical guidance and timely resolution of product issues.
Mentor engineers and promote a culture of technical rigor, ownership, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
Perform other duties as assigned.