Senior Director of Engineering

Job Description

Job Description

The Senior Director of Engineering is a hands-on engineering leader who will plan, direct, coordinate, and oversee all activities within the Engineering and Product Development function at ND Defense. This role owns engineering execution across a growing, multi-domain portfolio—including tactical wheeled vehicles, drones/UAS, maritime systems, aerospace platforms, automated vehicles, and defense electronics—ensuring programs are delivered on schedule, within budget, and in full compliance with customer technical requirements and government contract obligations.

A critical dimension of this role is building and scaling the engineering organization through a combination of internal hiring and strategic engagement of external engineering resources (contract engineers, consultants, and engineering services firms) to fill specialty gaps in new product lines and emerging domains. This leader will serve as the senior technical voice in business development, new bid efforts, and customer engagements, establishing ND Defense’s credibility in markets where the company is expanding.

This position reports directly to the CEO and is structured with a clear growth path to Vice President of Engineering as the organization scales.

Essential ResponsibilitiesEngineering Execution & Program Delivery

• Own engineering execution across the full portfolio: on schedule, within budget, and meeting customer technical requirements across tactical wheeled vehicle, drone/UAS, maritime, aerospace, automated vehicle, and defense electronics programs
• Establish and enforce rigor in systems engineering, design reviews (PDR/CDR), verification and validation, and configuration management processes
• Identify, recommend, and implement new technologies, tools, and processes to improve engineering productivity, product quality, and organizational decision-making
• Ensure compliance with all applicable regulatory and contractual requirements, including ITAR, export control, FAR/DFARS, MIL-SPEC/MIL-STD, CMMC/cybersecurity, and program-specific CDRLs
• Establish and administer the engineering department budget, managing cost performance and making resource allocation tradeoffs across concurrent programs

Organization Building & Resource Strategy

• Build and lead a high-performing, multi-disciplinary engineering organization spanning mechanical, electrical, systems, software, and test engineering disciplines
• Develop and execute a workforce strategy that blends internal hires with external engineering resources, including contract engineers, engineering services firms, and specialty consultants to address capability gaps in emerging product lines (drones/UAS, maritime, aerospace, automated vehicles, defense electronics)
• Identify, evaluate, and manage relationships with external engineering partners and staffing firms, negotiating SOWs, managing deliverables, and ensuring quality and IP protection
• Create career development pathways and technical ladder opportunities to attract and retain top engineering talent in a competitive Michigan defense market
• Ensure departmental decisions on staffing, organizational design, hardware acquisitions, and facilities align with the company’s business plan, growth strategy, and HR policies

Business Development & New Bids

• Serve as the senior technical voice in business development, customer engagements, and proposal efforts—particularly for programs in new domains where ND Defense must establish credibility
• Provide engineering leadership for bid/no-bid decisions, technical volume development, basis of estimates (BOEs), and cost proposal support on government contract opportunities
• Collaborate with the CEO and business development team to identify and pursue new opportunities across DoD, naval, aerospace, and commercial defense markets
• Represent ND Defense at customer technical interchange meetings (TIMs), industry days, design reviews, and government stakeholder engagements
• Translate engineering capability into competitive differentiation in proposals and customer-facing communications

Strategic Leadership & Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Collaborate with executive leadership to develop and execute organizational goals, supplying engineering expertise and guidance on company-wide operations and strategic initiatives
• Establish, communicate, and enforce engineering policies, practices, standards, and security measures to ensure effective and consistent operations across all sites
• Partner with Supply Chain, Quality, Manufacturing, Contracts, and Finance functions to ensure integrated program execution
• Drive continuous improvement in engineering processes, incorporating lessons learned across programs
• Perform other duties as assigned by the CEO

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Engineering Technology, or a closely related technical discipline
• Minimum 15 years of progressive experience in product design, development, and engineering in a defense or government contracting environment
• Minimum 5 years of experience managing and leading multi-disciplinary engineering teams, including direct supervisory responsibility for technical professionals
• Demonstrated experience with U.S. government/DoD contracts, including familiarity with FAR/DFARS, ITAR, CMMC, and MIL-SPEC/MIL-STD requirements
• Proficiency in tactical wheeled vehicle development and/or multiple engineering disciplines relevant to military vehicle and product design
• Experience managing external engineering resources (contract engineers, engineering services firms, consultants) as part of an integrated workforce strategy
• Experience contributing to or leading proposal efforts (technical volumes, BOEs, and cost estimates) for government contract bids
• Must be a U.S. Person as defined by ITAR (22 CFR §120.62)

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Engineering, Systems Engineering, or Engineering Management
• Experience with electronics development, embedded systems, or commercial/defense electronics programs
• Familiarity with drone/UAS, maritime, aerospace, or autonomous vehicle platforms and their associated regulatory frameworks
• Experience working with TACOM, GVSC (formerly TARDEC), PEO GCS, NAVSEA, or similar DoD acquisition organizations
• Professional Engineering (PE) license or relevant technical certifications (PMP, INCOSE CSEP, etc.)
• Active or recently held DoD security clearance (Secret or above)

Leadership Capabilities

• Able to operate at the strategic level and credibly engage at the technical level—engineers need to respect you, not just report to you
• Strong proposal and business development instincts; understands how engineering capability translates to competitive wins
• Effective communicator with customers, program managers, senior government stakeholders, and cross-functional internal teams
• Financially literate; comfortable owning engineering budgets, managing cost performance on government contracts, and making resource tradeoffs across competing priorities
• Skilled at evaluating make-vs-buy decisions for engineering capability and managing a blended internal/external engineering workforce
• Proven ability to build teams and organizational structure in a growing, resource-constrained environment

Work Environment & Physical Requirements

• Full-time, on-site position at ND Defense’s Madison Heights, MI facility with periodic travel to the West Point, MS plant and customer/government sites
• Combination of office and manufacturing/lab environment; may require access to production floor, test areas, and secure facilities
• Travel expected at approximately 15–25% depending on program requirements and business development activity

Equal Opportunity Employer including veteran and disability

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