Senior Director or Engineering

ND DEFENSE LLC•Madison Heights, MI

18h•Onsite

About The Position

The Senior Director of Engineering is a hands-on engineering leader who will plan, direct, coordinate, and oversee all activities within the Engineering and Product Development function at ND Defense. This role owns engineering execution across a growing, multi-domain portfolio—including tactical wheeled vehicles, drones/UAS, maritime systems, aerospace platforms, automated vehicles, and defense electronics—ensuring programs are delivered on schedule, within budget, and in full compliance with customer technical requirements and government contract obligations. A critical dimension of this role is building and scaling the engineering organization through a combination of internal hiring and strategic engagement of external engineering resources (contract engineers, consultants, and engineering services firms) to fill specialty gaps in new product lines and emerging domains. This leader will serve as the senior technical voice in business development, new bid efforts, and customer engagements, establishing ND Defense’s credibility in markets where the company is expanding. This position reports directly to the CEO and is structured with a clear growth path to Vice President of Engineering as the organization scales.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Engineering Technology, or a closely related technical discipline
Minimum 15 years of progressive experience in product design, development, and engineering in a defense or government contracting environment
Minimum 5 years of experience managing and leading multi-disciplinary engineering teams, including direct supervisory responsibility for technical professionals
Demonstrated experience with U.S. government/DoD contracts, including familiarity with FAR/DFARS, ITAR, CMMC, and MIL-SPEC/MIL-STD requirements
Proficiency in tactical wheeled vehicle development and/or multiple engineering disciplines relevant to military vehicle and product design
Experience managing external engineering resources (contract engineers, engineering services firms, consultants) as part of an integrated workforce strategy
Experience contributing to or leading proposal efforts (technical volumes, BOEs, and cost estimates) for government contract bids
Must be a U.S. Person as defined by ITAR (22 CFR §120.62)

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in Engineering, Systems Engineering, or Engineering Management
Experience with electronics development, embedded systems, or commercial/defense electronics programs
Familiarity with drone/UAS, maritime, aerospace, or autonomous vehicle platforms and their associated regulatory frameworks
Experience working with TACOM, GVSC (formerly TARDEC), PEO GCS, NAVSEA, or similar DoD acquisition organizations
Professional Engineering (PE) license or relevant technical certifications (PMP, INCOSE CSEP, etc.)
Active or recently held DoD security clearance (Secret or above)

Responsibilities

Own engineering execution across the full portfolio: on schedule, within budget, and meeting customer technical requirements across tactical wheeled vehicle, drone/UAS, maritime, aerospace, automated vehicle, and defense electronics programs
Establish and enforce rigor in systems engineering, design reviews (PDR/CDR), verification and validation, and configuration management processes
Identify, recommend, and implement new technologies, tools, and processes to improve engineering productivity, product quality, and organizational decision-making
Ensure compliance with all applicable regulatory and contractual requirements, including ITAR, export control, FAR/DFARS, MIL-SPEC/MIL-STD, CMMC/cybersecurity, and program-specific CDRLs
Establish and administer the engineering department budget, managing cost performance and making resource allocation tradeoffs across concurrent programs
Build and lead a high-performing, multi-disciplinary engineering organization spanning mechanical, electrical, systems, software, and test engineering disciplines
Develop and execute a workforce strategy that blends internal hires with external engineering resources, including contract engineers, engineering services firms, and specialty consultants to address capability gaps in emerging product lines (drones/UAS, maritime, aerospace, automated vehicles, defense electronics)
Identify, evaluate, and manage relationships with external engineering partners and staffing firms, negotiating SOWs, managing deliverables, and ensuring quality and IP protection
Create career development pathways and technical ladder opportunities to attract and retain top engineering talent in a competitive Michigan defense market
Ensure departmental decisions on staffing, organizational design, hardware acquisitions, and facilities align with the company’s business plan, growth strategy, and HR policies
Serve as the senior technical voice in business development, customer engagements, and proposal efforts—particularly for programs in new domains where ND Defense must establish credibility
Provide engineering leadership for bid/no-bid decisions, technical volume development, basis of estimates (BOEs), and cost proposal support on government contract opportunities
Collaborate with the CEO and business development team to identify and pursue new opportunities across DoD, naval, aerospace, and commercial defense markets
Represent ND Defense at customer technical interchange meetings (TIMs), industry days, design reviews, and government stakeholder engagements
Translate engineering capability into competitive differentiation in proposals and customer-facing communications
Collaborate with executive leadership to develop and execute organizational goals, supplying engineering expertise and guidance on company-wide operations and strategic initiatives
Establish, communicate, and enforce engineering policies, practices, standards, and security measures to ensure effective and consistent operations across all sites
Partner with Supply Chain, Quality, Manufacturing, Contracts, and Finance functions to ensure integrated program execution
Drive continuous improvement in engineering processes, incorporating lessons learned across programs
Perform other duties as assigned by the CEO