Production Chief Engineer

Boeing•Smithfield, PA

4d•Onsite

About The Position

The Boeing Company is currently seeking a motivated Production Chief Engineer to support our AvionX team located in Smithfield, PA. This position will focus on supporting the Enterprise Test & Technology (ET&T). In this role, you will lead production readiness, testability, and manufacturability for avionics and electronics at our new Smithfield Production & Test facility. You will support AvionX across BDS, BCA, and BGS, influence design and supply chain decisions, and accelerate time-to-market for next-generation avionics. Our team develops and produces avionics and electronics systems designed for use on aircraft and other platforms for purposes such as navigation, flight controls, information systems, and other core avionics functions. We have set our sights high to design, develop, and manufacture the most technically advanced and reliable avionic components in the world. We are innovating and developing new products to address the future of urban air mobility as well as our next generation of commercial, tactical, and trainer aircraft markets, weapons, and others. This role will be highly visible across AvionX and the broader Boeing enterprise, offering opportunities to influence architecture decisions, supply chain strategies, and next-generation manufacturing automation to accelerate time-to-market for critical avionics systems.

Requirements

Bachelor of Science degree from an accredited course of study in engineering, engineering technology (includes manufacturing engineering technology), chemistry, physics, mathematics, data science, or computer science.
To meet U.S. export control compliance requirements, a “U.S. Person” as defined by 22 C.F.R. §120.62 is required. “U.S. Person” includes U.S. Citizen, U.S. National, lawful permanent resident, refugee, or asylee.
15+ years of experience with Electronics Product Design.
10+ years of experience with electrical schematics to design and troubleshoot test architectures consisting of FPGAs, custom PCBs, benchtop equipment, and the microelectronics unit-under-test.
10+ years of experience working directly with manufacturing engineering, design engineering, and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) tools.

Nice To Haves

Ability to travel quarterly or more if needed.
Extensive experience (preferably in avionics) as a technical lead or chief engineer overseeing tooling, calibration, and manufacturing engineering activities.
Demonstrated track record leading complex cross-functional engineering projects, resolving technical risks, and delivering solutions on schedule.
Strong mentorship and people leadership skills, including developing technical talent, providing engineering guidance, and aligning teams to program requirements.
The ability to maintain and manage significant authority to autonomously represent Manufacturing & Quality to make technical decisions for integrated product teams across multiple programs.
Experience driving supplier readiness and partner closely with procurement and supplier engineering to ensure supplier process capability, supplier test standards, and mitigation plans are in place prior to production release.

Responsibilities

Review work products and provide Manufacturing and Quality input to design and test artifacts, including schematics, PCB/CCA drawings, parts lists, test plans/procedures, process templates, and coordination/decision memos.
Ensure documentation aligns with producibility, testability, and program requirements.
Drive New Product Introductions (NPI) readiness and DFM/DFT (Design for Manufacturing & Test), resolve product and process issues through root cause and corrective actions, and mentor teams while embedding Safety, Quality, and Lean improvements across programs.
Apply knowledge of Boeing design principles for manufacturing capabilities and constraints to assess and resolve product or process issues throughout the product lifecycle.
Provide technical leadership and mentoring to all levels of the AvionX organization.
Create mitigation plans for identified risks to Safety, Quality, Manufacturing Processes, Test, and program schedule and drive cross-functional closure for the full product lifecycle.
Develop, deliver, and maintain technical training, Site Level Instructions (SLIs), and equipment demos.
Mentor engineers, interns, co‑ops, and rotational participants to raise team capability in PCB/CCA manufacturability, test techniques, and troubleshooting best practices.
Lead and participate in cross-functional scrums, ad hoc technical meetings, governance and decision boards, and Lean innovation activities.
Facilitate timely decisions, continuous improvement, and alignment between Design, Manufacturing, Test, Quality, and Supply Chain.
Create and maintain AvionX level technical artifacts such as site drawings, assembly/process flows, test fixture specifications, and process templates that enable consistent, repeatable builds across sites and suppliers.
Establish production readiness gates and go/no-go criteria, define key production KPIs, and deliver measurable outcomes for ramp rate, yield, and first-pass test success.
Influence supplier design-for-manufacturing strategies and ensure downstream testability and maintainability are engineered into products from day one.
Drive cost reduction and throughput improvement initiatives through participation in readiness reviews, continuous improvement events, and implementation of automation or tooling where it provides measurable value to quality, safety, or program schedule.
Travel to suppliers and other Boeing sites as required to support ramp and sustainment activities, supplier audits, and cross-site knowledge transfer.