Lead Project Engineer

Acron Aviation•Grand Rapids, MI

About The Position

Acron Aviation designs, engineers, and manufactures certified avionics systems that support safety-critical flight operations across commercial and military aviation. Within Avionics, the Surveillance product line develops and sustains systems that enable aircraft awareness, collision avoidance, and airspace interoperability. Our portfolio includes TCAS, Mode S transponders, ADS-B, and integrated surveillance solutions deployed across commercial, military, and rotorcraft platforms. This work is performed in highly regulated environments and demands deep expertise across systems, hardware, software, and RF throughout the full product lifecycle. The Lead Project Engineer owns the technical and execution outcome of aerospace projects from kickoff through certification and delivery. This person sets clear commitments, holds the cross-functional team to them, and takes personal responsibility for results, including when things go wrong. You will lead engineers, designers, test, quality, supply chain and manufacturing partners without necessarily managing them directly. Success in this role is measured by delivered hardware and software, met milestones, and a team that knows exactly what it owes and when.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical or Systems Engineering, or a related field.
9+ years of engineering experience in aerospace or defense, including 4+ years leading cross-functional project teams.
Proven record of delivering projects to commitment, with specific examples of schedule, cost or quality outcomes you owned.
Demonstrated ability to hold peers and team members accountable without direct authority, including handling missed commitments and difficult conversations.
Working knowledge of the aerospace product lifecycle: requirements, design reviews, qualification testing and certification.
Experience with aerospace standards such as AS9100, DO-160, DO-178C or DO-254, and FAA/EASA certification processes.
Strong skills in scheduling, risk management and structured problem solving (8D, root cause analysis).
Clear, direct written and verbal communication with engineers, executives, customers and suppliers.
Ability to work with export-controlled data; U.S. person status may be required under ITAR/EAR.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree in engineering or an MBA.
PMP, PgMP or equivalent project management certification.
Experience with avionics, flight safety, or air traffic systems.
Background in Lean, Six Sigma (Green or Black Belt) or other continuous improvement methods.
Experience with earned value management (EVM) and tools such as MS Project, Jira or a PLM system.
Prior experience as a customer-facing technical lead on commercial or government programs.

Responsibilities

Own project outcomes end to end: scope, schedule, cost, technical performance and quality.
Set clear, written commitments for every team member, with named owners and due dates for each deliverable and action item.
Run disciplined project cadence: weekly status reviews, action item tracking, and follow-up until each item is closed.
Address missed commitments directly and promptly; work with the owner on root cause and a recovery plan rather than absorbing the gap silently.
Escalate early and with data when risks threaten cost, schedule or compliance; never let leadership or customers be surprised.
Own mistakes openly, lead corrective action, and capture lessons learned so they are not repeated.
Recognize and reinforce accountable behavior on the team; give candid feedback to functional managers on team member performance.
Serve as the technical authority for the project, driving requirements definition, design reviews (SRR, PDR, CDR, TRR) and design trade decisions.
Ensure designs meet applicable standards and regulations (e.g., FAA, EASA, DO-160, DO-178C/DO-254, AS9100).
Lead root cause and corrective action (8D, 5-Why, fishbone) on test failures, nonconformances and field issues.
Review and approve engineering drawings, specifications, test plans and reports.
Build and maintain integrated master schedules, budgets and resource plans; report earned value or equivalent metrics.
Maintain the project risk and opportunity register with owners, mitigations and trigger dates.
Manage engineering change, configuration control and certification deliverables.
Act as primary technical point of contact for customers, suppliers and regulators.
Mentor junior engineers and model a culture of ownership across the team.