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Chief Engineer

Our client is a major global defense firm with over $25B in revenues. They are a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, homeland security and other government markets throughout the world. With a history of innovation, our client provides state-of-the-art electronics, cyber capabilities, mission systems integration and other capabilities in the areas of sensing; effects; and command, control, communications and intelligence systems, as well as a broad range of mission support services.

Position Description

Chief Engineer – Norfolk, VA – Hampton Roads, VA Region

Our client is seeking a Chief Engineer for a large Modernization and Sustainment Program effort. The successful candidate will serve as the Chief Engineer, with oversight of all engineering and program technical execution for all operations, maintenance, sustainment, and technology refresh efforts, including software fixes, and information assurance projects. In this role, he/she will be responsible for the overall technical integrity of the system. The Chief Engineer is responsible for sustaining the currently fielded baseline, standardization of site configurations, and modernization of a mission critical system as a node in a net centric enterprise.

Domestic and international travel is required. Expected travel is 10%

The successful candidate will be responsible for day to day technical execution including:

Partnering with customer and internal stakeholders to determine program technical priorities
Continually assess system performance and supportability, and recommend improvements to manage risk and increase operational efficiency
Communicating technical status to internal and external stakeholders
Planning for the entire life cycle of modernization through sustainment of the program
Supporting the Sustainment IPT Lead in directing engineering activities and providing technical oversight of the engineering team
Working closely with Operations Teams to ensure continuous support to the operational system
Serving as Chair of the Engineering Review Board to ensure proper technical review of Engineering Change Requests
Reviewing and approving changes to the technical baselines via CCB actions
– Leading technical reviews and resolving systems engineering and integration issues
– Leading and participating in technical interchange meetings
– Contributing to and reviewing program plans and cost estimates
– Participating in program Engineering Change Proposal development
– Applying technical standards, principles, theories, concepts, and techniques to solve complex problems
– Contributing to risk and opportunity management
– Mentoring and developing team members

Clearance Requirements: Existing Top Secret, eligible for SCI.

Location: Hampton, Virginia

Required Skills:

12 years of applicable engineering experience as a Lead Systems or Software Engineer in roles of increasing technical leadership responsibility, with recent experience in systems engineering and integration supporting large fielded, operational mission critical software intensive system of systems
Technical Leadership experience on Sustainment/Technology Refresh programs between $20M – $40M/year and/or 100+ FTEs
Experience providing technical oversight covering multiple sites (CONUS and OCONUS), multiple applications, and delivering and developing software, systems and architectures using agile development techniques and methodologies
Domain expertise in Air Force command and control programs, capabilities, etc
Delivering sustainment and maintenance support using ITIL-based processes
Solid understanding of software development programs including Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) trends and approaches, networks, communications, distributed computing, integration and test
Experience establishing and maintaining working relationship with all levels of the organization, including customers, users, and other peer groups
Experience facilitating cross organizational solutions in response to diverse objectives
In-depth knowledge of related disciplines – software/ hardware sustainment, test engineering, mission assurance, hardware and software configuration/data management, space ground system operations
Experience with systems engineering at all development levels of a complex system
Experience developing and reviewing systems engineering artifacts for critical mission systems, including system modeling techniques
Experience in sustaining engineering of complex systems of systems with large numbers of COTS software products and custom software configuration items, including familiarity with industry standard management tools
Experience in deliverable and proposal development, particularly Engineering Change Proposal and Basis of Estimate development
Project management skills including cost, schedule, risk, and opportunity assessment
Experience in preparing management level briefings and summary explanations
Excellent written and oral communication skills, including presentation skills and negotiation skills
Experience working in a multi discipline environment
Familiarity with Air Force system development processes, guidelines and procedures

Desired Skills:

Recognized within the USAF community as a profession authority and technical visionary
Agile development certification (ie. Scrum master
ITIL certifications (foundations, etc)·
Experience with large software intensive systems of systems for command and control (C2)
Previous experience with software and hardware maintenance
Understanding of iterative custom software development lifecycle models
Experience in development and maintenance of engineering documentation
Experience with risk and opportunity management processes
Experience in using tools and metrics in managing activities
Experience with conducting trade studies
Competence with Microsoft Office tools
Team building and motivational skills
Qualified Six Sigma Specialist

Required Education:

Bachelors of Science degree in Engineering or related field

NOTE: Our client will pay a strong compensation for the right candidate for this position.