Senior Manager, Software Engineering

AeroVironment•San Diego, CA

3d•$141,000 - $215,000•Onsite

About The Position

AV is seeking an experienced Senior Manager, Software Engineering to lead a multidisciplinary software organization responsible for backend architecture, UI/UX, quality assurance, and software integration for the Titan, AV’s RF CUAS product. The Senior Manager will establish the software processes, management practices, and engineering discipline required to support a fast-paced, growing organization. The ideal candidate is a strong people leader and experienced software engineering manager with a background integrating software into a hardware end product. This individual will work closely with the Chief Engineer to execute software IRAD projects and will partner with cross-functional hardware and software teams to deliver reliable, production-ready systems.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field.
12+ years of software engineering experience, including 5+ years managing software engineering teams.
Experience managing teams with a range of experience levels, including entry-level through principal engineers.
Demonstrated experience establishing Agile processes and using Jira for engineering execution.
Experience integrating software into hardware-based products.
Experience working cross-functionally with mechanical, electrical, manufacturing, systems, quality, and software teams.
Experience executing IRAD, prototype, or new product development projects.
Strong communication, leadership, organizational, and problem-solving skills.
U.S. Citizen required.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree in a related technical field.
Background delivering software for UAS, drones, robotics, autonomous systems, or other defense or aerospace platforms is a strong plus.
Experience transitioning software from IRAD or prototype development into production and fielded systems.
Experience implementing unit testing, automated testing, CI/CD pipelines, and software release management.
Embraces AI-assisted development tooling and encourages its adoption to improve team efficiency and quality.
Demonstrates strong interpersonal, written and oral communication skills.
Exercises independent judgment in methods, techniques and evaluation criteria for obtaining results.
Uses vision to think beyond the immediate situation, explore multiple potential paths, and adapt decision-making style based on the situational circumstances.
Inspires, motivates, and empowers people to deliver organizational goals, while also delivering value back to employees.
Champions the process of change and promotes a culture of quick adaptation while helping others deal with the effects of change.
Demonstrates the ability to develop and maintain internal and external trusting, professional relationships.
Assesses the degree of risk and opportunity in plans or actions and takes appropriate action to mitigate them or makes plans to build on the opportunity.

Responsibilities

Manages a multi-disciplinary group of software engineers, including staffing, training, performance evaluation and career development. Attracts and retains high caliber staff and provides mentorship.
Establish and improve Agile development processes using Jira, including scope, scheduling, resourcing, prioritizing, sprint execution, reporting, and retrospectives.
Define and implement software development standards, coding practices, documentation, and engineering metrics.
Establish unit testing, automated testing, CI/CD pipelines, code reviews, and quality gates.
Lead software release management, including configuration management, versioning, release readiness, deployment, and rollback processes.
Champions software quality through design reviews, requirements-based testing, code coverage, and disciplined branching and release practices.
Oversee backend architecture, UI/UX development, QA, and system-level software integration.
Partner with the Chief Engineer to shape SW road-map, plan and execute software IRAD projects from concept through prototype, integration, verification, and production transition.
Drive resolution of software integration issues, technical risks, dependencies, and defects.
Communicate project status, risks, resource needs, and technical decisions to senior leadership.