Join a long-established defense engineering and manufacturing company in Central Florida supporting mission-critical government programs. This is an opportunity to lead a team working on complex, high-reliability products in a regulated environment where systems thinking, engineering discipline, and execution all matter.
The organization is known for its deep engineering capabilities, strong manufacturing foundation, and long-standing support of important government programs. For the right person, this role offers the chance to lead a talented engineering group, influence technical execution across multiple efforts, and help strengthen how requirements, systems engineering discipline, and model-based engineering practices are applied in a real-world product environment.
This is a direct hire opportunity based in Central Florida.
The Role You’ll Play
This Engineering Manager will lead an engineering team of approximately 8 to 10 professionals and serve as a key people leader and technical driver across engineering programs. The role is responsible for helping the team execute against project goals, resource needs, technical requirements, and process expectations, while also bringing structure and accountability to requirements development, requirements management, and model-based systems engineering practices.
This person will need to balance leadership and coaching with operational discipline. It is a strong fit for someone who can guide engineers, monitor execution, establish metrics, identify issues early, and communicate clearly with leadership and, at times, customers.
Responsibilities include:
Lead, mentor, and provide day-to-day direction to an engineering team of approximately 8 to 10 employees
Manage team staffing, performance, and development needs
Oversee requirements development and requirements management activities across engineering efforts
Support and reinforce model-based systems engineering practices across programs
Establish and monitor KPIs, technical performance measures, and departmental metrics
Present project and group status in program reviews and monthly updates
Assign work across engineers and teams, and monitor progress against objectives
Identify training needs to strengthen technical capability and process consistency within the group
Help drive adherence to engineering processes, policies, procedures, and quality expectations
Develop evaluation criteria, identify emerging technical issues, and help resolve execution risks
Interface with customers when needed through meetings, presentations, and technical discussions
Coordinate materials, tooling, equipment, and related engineering support needs for projects
Support a collaborative engineering environment that emphasizes accountability, technical rigor, and continuous improvement
Background Profile:
The ideal candidate is an engineering leader who brings a strong systems mindset, prior experience managing technical teams, and credibility in a defense, aerospace, manufacturing, or similarly regulated product environment. This person should be comfortable leading both people and process... someone who can bring order, structure, and accountability to engineering execution while still being respected by strong technical contributors.
They should understand how to manage engineering work in a program-driven setting, especially where requirements traceability, systems engineering discipline, and cross-functional coordination are essential.
Required Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree in Engineering required
Master’s degree in Engineering preferred
8+ years of relevant engineering experience
Prior experience leading or managing engineers in a structured technical environment
Experience with requirements development and requirements management
Exposure to or working knowledge of model-based systems engineering
Ability to establish and monitor KPIs, technical performance measures, and team performance metrics
Strong communication skills, including the ability to present status to leadership and customers
Proficiency with software applications relevant to the role
U.S. Citizenship required
Must be eligible to obtain and maintain a government security clearance
Preferred Background
Experience in defense, aerospace, advanced manufacturing, electronics, sensor-based systems, or other highly regulated engineering environments
Experience leading multidisciplinary engineering teams
Familiarity with structured systems engineering processes in a product development setting
Experience with root cause analysis, corrective action, and engineering quality metrics
Ability to work effectively in both office and manufacturing environments