Lead Project Engineer

Wabtec•West Melbourne, FL

About The Position

The Lead Project Engineer serves as the technical execution leader for customer-facing Train Handling software projects. The role translates customer requirements into executable plans and leads multidisciplinary teams across Engineering, Program Management, Product Management, Quality, and Customer teams to deliver high-quality software solutions on time and within budget. It combines engineering judgment with project leadership, including responsibility for technical execution, project scope and risk management, and alignment of software deliverables with customer and business objectives. The engineer leads project planning, coordinates cross-functional activities, and provides technical leadership throughout the product development lifecycle. The work spans Train Handling software projects from concept through customer deployment, including planning, development, verification, validation, release, and deployment. The role also engages with customers and internal stakeholders, tracks project performance, supports continuous improvement, and uses AI tools where appropriate to improve productivity, software quality, decision-making, and execution effectiveness.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Systems Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
Minimum of 4 years of experience leading complex engineering or software development projects.
Strong understanding of software development lifecycles, including Agile and Waterfall, and systems engineering processes.
Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional teams and influence technical decision-making.

Nice To Haves

Strong analytical, problem-solving, and organizational skills.
Excellent written, verbal, and presentation communication skills.
Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
Experience with project planning and execution tools such as ELM, Jira, Microsoft Project, Azure DevOps, or similar platforms.
Experience leveraging AI-enabled tools to improve engineering productivity and project outcomes.
Experience in railroad, transportation, industrial automation, safety-critical, or embedded software environments.
Experience leading customer-facing software programs and deployments.
Experience with systems integration, software validation, and product release activities.
PMP, Agile, Scrum Master, or equivalent project management certification.
Experience working with global and geographically distributed engineering teams.
Master's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Systems Engineering, Business Administration, or a related field.

Responsibilities

Lead planning, execution, and delivery of Train Handling software projects from concept through customer deployment.
Own technical execution, schedule performance, quality, and engineering deliverables throughout the project lifecycle.
Collaborate with program managers, product managers, software engineers, systems engineers, test engineers, and stakeholders to establish project objectives and execution strategies.
Translate customer, product, and business requirements into detailed project plans and actionable engineering tasks.
Lead cross-functional engineering teams to achieve milestones and customer commitments; provide technical guidance and mentoring.
Facilitate technical decision-making and resolve project execution challenges.
Develop and maintain project plans, software release plans, schedules, resource forecasts, and execution strategies.
Identify milestones, dependencies, critical-path activities, and related risks; monitor performance and drive corrective actions to meet schedule, quality, and cost objectives.
Establish and maintain project metrics, dashboards, and status reporting for leadership and stakeholders.
Coordinate software development, verification, validation, release, and deployment activities; lead project reviews and ensure readiness for key milestones.
Identify technical, schedule, resource, and program risks; develop mitigation plans, resolve issues, and escalate critical concerns with recommended recovery actions.
Capture lessons learned and incorporate them into future projects and processes.
Serve as the engineering point of contact for customer technical discussions, status reviews, and issue resolution.
Align expectations and priorities with internal and external stakeholders and communicate status, accomplishments, risks, and recovery plans.
Support customer demonstrations, deployments, and product acceptance activities as required.
Own project planning, execution tracking, and reporting in Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) and other project management tools.
Support continuous improvement and promote best practices in software development, systems engineering, and project execution.
Use AI tools where appropriate to improve engineering productivity, software quality, decision-making, and project execution effectiveness.
Perform other duties outside the function or trade as assigned, with adequate training provided if necessary.