Lead Project Engineer

Acron Aviation•Grand Rapids, MI

About The Position

Acron Aviation’s Avionics Surveillance product line develops and sustains avionics systems supporting aircraft awareness, collision avoidance, and airspace interoperability. Its portfolio includes TCAS, Mode S transponders, ADS-B, and integrated surveillance solutions for commercial, military, and rotorcraft platforms. The work spans systems, hardware, software, and RF in highly regulated environments throughout the product lifecycle. The Lead Project Engineer owns aerospace project technical performance and execution from kickoff through certification and delivery. The role leads cross-functional engineers, designers, test, quality, supply chain, and manufacturing partners, and is accountable for project scope, schedule, cost, technical performance, and quality. Success is measured by delivery of hardware and software, achievement of milestones, and clear ownership of team commitments. The position sets written commitments, runs disciplined project reviews and action tracking, addresses missed commitments, escalates risks with data, and leads corrective action and lessons learned. It serves as the project’s technical authority, guides requirements and design reviews, manages schedules, budgets, resources, risks, changes, configuration control, and certification deliverables, and acts as the primary technical contact for customers, suppliers, and regulators. The role also mentors junior engineers and promotes accountability across the team.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical, or Systems Engineering, or a related field.
At least 9 years of engineering experience in aerospace or defense, including at least 4 years leading cross-functional project teams.
Proven record of delivering projects to commitment, with specific examples of owned schedule, cost, or quality outcomes.
Demonstrated ability to hold peers and team members accountable without direct authority, including addressing missed commitments and difficult conversations.
Working knowledge of the aerospace product lifecycle, including 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 scheduling, risk management, and structured problem-solving skills, including 8D and root-cause analysis.
Clear, direct written and verbal communication skills 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, including scope, schedule, cost, technical performance, and quality.
Set clear written commitments for team members, assigning named owners and due dates for deliverables and action items.
Run weekly status reviews, track action items, and follow up until items are closed.
Address missed commitments promptly, determine root causes with owners, and establish recovery plans.
Escalate risks early with supporting data when cost, schedule, or compliance may be affected; avoid surprising leadership or customers.
Own mistakes, lead corrective action, and capture lessons learned.
Recognize accountable behavior and provide functional managers with candid feedback on team member performance.
Serve as the project technical authority, drive requirements definition and design reviews (SRR, PDR, CDR, TRR), and make design trade decisions.
Ensure designs meet applicable standards and regulations, including FAA, EASA, DO-160, DO-178C/DO-254, and AS9100.
Lead root-cause and corrective-action investigations for test failures, nonconformances, and field issues using methods such as 8D, 5-Why, and fishbone analysis.
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 project risk and opportunity registers with owners, mitigations, and trigger dates.
Manage engineering change, configuration control, and certification deliverables.
Act as the primary technical point of contact for customers, suppliers, and regulators.
Mentor junior engineers and model a culture of ownership across the team.