Technical Project Engineer - Airborne Optical Systems

PVLabs•Burlington, ON

3d•Onsite

About The Position

At PVLabs, Project Engineers don't just manage schedules—they turn technical ambition into delivered reality. You will operate at the center of a highly multidisciplinary organization, aligning Engineering Labs (Electrical, Mechanical, Software, Gateware, Systems), Operations, Leadership, and Customers around a shared execution plan. Your primary job is not task tracking—it is outcome ownership: clarifying priorities, managing risk, sequencing interdependencies, and driving decisions in complex, fast-moving environments. This is a senior role for someone who thrives in ambiguity, brings technical credibility, and leads through influence rather than authority. You'll guide programs from early uncertainty through execution, balancing long-term system milestones with short-term tradeoffs in design, supply chain, and resourcing. As PVLabs evolves from a custom-engineering model to a product-centric innovation company, you'll help shape how programs are planned, governed, and scaled across a growing portfolio of airborne ISR systems. You will work closely with the PVLabs Engineering Council—a small group of Staff and Principal Engineers spanning all engineering disciplines. Rather than micromanaging tasks, you'll rely on this group as a force multiplier: translating program priorities into executable engineering work, surfacing technical risk early, and sequencing interdependent deliverables. Your success depends on strong relationships between Engineering, Operations, Finance, Production and Supply Chain, shared context, and mutual trust—combining your program-level ownership with their deep technical leadership.

Requirements

At least 5 consecutive years in engineering project management, NPI project engineering, or technical program management within aerospace, defense, ISR, robotics, advanced mechatronics, precision optics, avionics, or similarly complex physical systems
Direct experience delivering multi-disciplinary products involving combinations of software, electronics, FPGA/gateware, precision mechanics, optics, and production ramp-up
Exposure to environments where prototypes fly, move, or operate in real-world conditions
Exposure to environments where design decisions are constrained by physics, certification, supply chain, and manufacturability
Exposure to environments where rework is costly, schedules are unforgiving, and just iterate later is not an option
Comfortable operating where documentation, plans, and designs evolve together
Comfortable operating where technical teams are small, highly specialized, and deeply opinionated
Comfortable operating where program risk is driven as much by integration and sequencing as by task completion
Must be eligible to meet the requirements of the Canadian Controlled-Goods Program of the Defense Production Act, and be able to hold and maintain a Canadian Security Clearance.

Nice To Haves

You've spent a meaningful portion of your career working inside complex, hardware-driven engineering environments—where systems are physical, failure is expensive, and integration risk is real.
You understand that managing a program like this requires more than process fluency; it requires technical intuition, judgment under uncertainty, and credibility with engineers.
You don't need to have worked on airborne gimbals specifically—but you do need to have lived inside complex engineered systems where software and hardware co-evolve.
You don't need to have worked on airborne gimbals specifically—but you do need to have lived inside complex engineered systems where engineering trade-offs directly affect cost, schedule, and performance.
You don't need to have worked on airborne gimbals specifically—but you do need to have lived inside complex engineered systems where programs succeed or fail based on sequencing, realism, and technical judgment—not reporting cadence.
If you've helped shepherd a difficult system from concept through integration and delivery—and you know why it was hard—you're likely in the right territory.

Responsibilities

Own schedule, risk, and delivery performance across complex technical programs from kickoff through delivery
Anticipate downstream impacts and resolve issues before they escalate
Translate complex technical data into decision-ready insight for leadership and customers
Develop and maintain integrated master schedules, technical baselines, risk frameworks and mechanisms that provide project visibility.
Balance engineering ambition with production and contractual realities, supply chain constraints, and resourcing limits
Align Electrical, Mechanical, Software, Optics, and Gateware workstreams against milestones, business priorities and revenue targets
Manage stakeholder communication with clarity, urgency, and sound judgment - ensuring we can answer the "So What".
Sequence and deconflict interdependent deliverables across disciplines
Drive tradeoff decisions grounded in realism and system-level thinking
Help shape PVLabs ERP-integrated project management approach, including resource modeling, material planning, and NRE forecasting
Contribute to how we plan, track, and communicate work as the organization scales