Program Chief Engineer

Job Title: Program Chief Engineer

Job Code: 46771

Job Location: Herndon, VA

Job Schedule: 9/80: Employees work 9 out of every 14 days- totaling 80 hours worked- and have every other Friday off  

Job Description:

We are seeking an experienced and dynamic Program Chief Engineer (PCE) to join our Integrate Sonars & Software (ISS) Business Unit, where you will have the unique opportunity to shape and lead a high-performing engineering team delivering cutting-edge defense technologies for Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) systems. In this highly visible role, you will serve as the primary engineering representative for your assigned program portfolio, working directly with senior business and customer leadership to drive technical excellence, cost efficiency, and schedule performance. If you are a strategic thinker with a passion for innovation and a proven ability to lead across organizational boundaries, this is your opportunity to make a lasting impact on mission-critical programs that matter.

Essential Functions:

• Serve as the single point of accountability for all engineering performance -technical, cost, and schedule -for an assigned program and/or portfolio of programs, ensuring alignment with customer commitments and organizational objectives


• Lead and develop a high-performing team of Integrated Product Team (IPT) Leads, overseeing workforce planning and staffing strategies to ensure the right skill sets are available to meet programmatic milestones across near-term and long-term horizons


• Lead, mentor, and develop a diverse engineering team of 20 to 40 engineers across multiple disciplines, fostering a culture of accountability, technical excellence, and continuous professional growth while ensuring effective resource allocation and team performance in support of program objectives


• Establish, maintain, and manage the program technical baseline, driving milestones, deliverables, and customer commitments while identifying, assessing, and managing technical risks and opportunities throughout the program lifecycle


• Serve as the primary engineering liaison between the Program Manager, functional engineering leadership, senior business leaders, and external customers or vendors, frequently conducting briefings and working to influence acceptance of new concepts, practices, and approaches


• Lead and conduct regular engineering program performance reviews, including metrics, challenges, mitigation strategies, risks, and opportunities, while recommending and implementing operational plans, processes, policies, and standards to drive program execution excellence


• Champion innovation by developing or advocating for continuous improvement, new technologies, and best practices, applying broad-based analytical thinking to solve complex problems that span multiple functions


• Develop and maintain accurate program engineering staffing demand forecasts to support effective workforce planning and ensure continuity of execution across all program phases


• This position requires travel of up to 25% to support customer engagements, program reviews, and cross-site collaboration


• Ability to obtain a US Secret Clearance

Qualifications:

• Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering or a related technical field with a minimum of 12 years of prior related experience, OR a Graduate Degree in Engineering or a related technical field with a minimum of 10 years of prior related experience


• Prior experience operating within an Integrated Product Team (IPT) environment as a Program Chief Engineer or IPT Lead/Control Account Manager (CAM) on a program or control account with greater than $10 million per year of engineering content, excluding material


• Demonstrated experience with Earned Value (EV) management, including working knowledge of Control Account Management (CAM), risk and opportunity management, and the ability to use engineering metrics, earned value metrics, and technical inputs to drive positive program execution decisions


• Demonstrated experience presenting high-stakes technical briefings to internal senior leadership and external customer stakeholders


• Broad management and leadership knowledge with a proven ability to lead and develop cross-functional teams across multiple disciplines and organizational boundaries


• Previous experience guiding and reviewing Root Cause and Corrective Action (RCCA) efforts to drive resolution of complex technical challenges


• Mastery level knowledge within a specific technical area or broad expertise across multiple related engineering disciplines


• Familiarity with Jira or similar agile project management and engineering metrics tracking tools to monitor and communicate program health and team performance

Preferred Additional Skills:

• Background in undersea or subsea systems engineering, with direct experience in undersea acoustics, sonar systems, or related sensor technologies


• Experience leading and executing complex embedded software-intensive sensor development programs, including managing the unique technical, integration, and verification challenges associated with hardware/software co-development environments


• Experience leading cross-functional engineering teams through full program lifecycles, from proposal development through production and sustainment phases


• Experience leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) tools and technologies to accelerate engineering execution velocity, improve deliverable quality, and enhance program performance visibility across complex, multi-disciplinary programs


• Bid and proposal development experience, including technical volume writing and Basis of Estimate (BOE) review and approval


• Experience transitioning development programs through qualification and into production, including managing the technical and organizational challenges associated with each phase of the transition


• Experience with United States Department of Defense (DoD) and international fixed-price development and qualification program execution, including navigating the unique contractual and technical demands of each environment

In compliance with pay transparency requirements, the salary range for this role in Virginia (Greater D.C. area) is $153,000 - $284,000. This is not a guarantee of compensation or salary, as final offer amount may vary based on factors including but not limited to experience and geographic location. L3Harris also offers a variety of benefits, including health and disability insurance, 401(k) match, flexible spending accounts, EAP, education assistance, parental leave, paid time off, and company-paid holidays. The specific programs and options available to an employee may vary depending on date of hire, schedule type, and the applicability of collective bargaining agreements. 

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