Project Engineer

Kearfott Corporation•Black Mountain, NC

28d•Onsite

About The Position

The Project Engineer bridges the gap between sales, design engineering, and volume production. This role drives the successful execution of New Product Introduction (NPI) programs from concept and bid phases through production readiness. Acting as the technical project coordinator, this position leads technical proposal development (scoping, costing, scheduling) and transitions won programs through design release to production implementation.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Aerospace, Industrial Engineering or related technical discipline required.
3+ years experience in a highly regulated industry (Aerospace, Defense, Space, or Automotive).
2+ years of direct experience contributing to technical proposals, BOE generation, and formal RFQ responses.
Experience using enterprise PLM (Teamcenter, Windchill) and ERP/MES software.
Advanced proficiency with scheduling software (MS Project).
Strong familiarity with configuration management standards (MIL-STD/AS9100).
Must be a U.S. Citizen

Nice To Haves

Possesses advanced problem solving and troubleshooting skills.
Ability to dissect vague RFPs and build accurate, defensible cost and scope architectures.
Strong communication skills to translate highly complex aerospace engineering concepts into plain language for customer evaluation teams.
Strong working knowledge of manufacturing processes for complex mechanical or electromechanical assemblies.
Proactive mindset to anticipate critical-path delays and execute mitigation strategies before milestones are missed (schedule ownership).

Responsibilities

Analyze complex technical specifications, statements of work (SOW), and military/aerospace standards within Requests for Proposals (RFPs).
Draft comprehensive technical proposal narratives, executive summaries, compliance matrices, and engineering execution strategies.
Establish Engineering Cost Estimates (ECEs) and Basis of Estimates (BOEs) for engineering labor hours, non-recurring engineering (NRE), and hardware development.
Define the project Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and author preliminary integrated master schedules (IMS) using Microsoft Project or Smartsheet to map resource constraints.
Conduct pre-bid risk assessments to identify technical roadblocks, manufacturing challenges, or long-lead material constraints, pricing these risks into the proposal contingency.
Translate proposal concepts into actionable engineering development plans upon program award.
Maintain detailed technical action item lists, tracking engineering tasks to prevent schedule drift.
Facilitate technical alignment across Design Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain, and Operations.
Lead and support critical program gateway reviews, including PDR (Preliminary Design Review), CDR (Critical Design Review), and MRR (Manufacturing Readiness Review).