Staff Project Engineering Manager

Scope: The Project Engineering Manager (PEM) will provide direct project and technical leadership to a cross-functional Integrated Product Team (IPT) tasked with new product development, research, or product improvement. The PEM is responsible for the planning, execution, monitoring and control, and overall cost, schedule and technical performance of the project’s engineering effort. New product development includes projects that are solely designed in-house as well as those that are co-developed using other Elbit Systems companies or external suppliers and contractors. The PEM is not only the engineering project leader but he/she is also the liaison between business units and the engineering team. The PEM is expected to demonstrate effective leadership and robust critical thinking, drive execution and timely decision making, and communicate effectively with team members at all levels and across the full IPT.

As IPT Leadership is by nature a cross-discipline activity, this position requires a highly collaborative and engaged leader. The PEM is required to build a strong project team as well as develop and maintain robust relationships with the business unit product line managers, program managers, engineering functional managers, supplier/partner team members, and customer team members. Strong communications and interpersonal skills coupled with an appreciation and interest in growing the Warfighter Systems market is required. The PEM’s responsibility includes cross-functional collaborative work with Quality, Product Transition, Manufacturing Engineering, Supply Chain, Program Management, and Finance to qualify new products and transition them into production.

PROJECT PLANNING AND LEADERSHIP RESPONSIBILITIES

Bids and Proposals

Support PLM and BD in the development of bids and proposals to include:

• Partner with Product Line Managers (PLMs), Engineering, and Business Development (BD) to provide innovative technical solutions to fit within budget and schedule constraints while meeting customer needs
• Execution baselines (technical, scope, cost, schedule, risk, opportunities)
• Project WBS, IMS, work packages, staffing estimates, risk analysis/mitigation – all IAW company standards

Project Planning

• Develop/refine project WBS, IAW company standards tailored as appropriate to meet specific project requirements
• Clearly define and document project scope and deliverables
• Coordinate and integrate the different functional inputs into a coherent executable project plan
• Establish, negotiate and allocate budgets to the CAMs (PEM may act as CAM for smaller projects)
• Coordinate the development of the engineering portion of the resource loaded IMS
• Coordinate the development of the initial risk and opportunity register
• Communicate staffing requirements to functional management in support of the engineering resource planning process
• Continually seek ways to improve efficiency and performance
• Partner with functional management to establish process tailoring
• Identify risks associated with tailored tasks.

Project Execution

• Lead engineering project execution to include the cost, schedule and technical baselines for all engineering activities
• Mediate and adjudicate conflicts that arise within the engineering team and between engineering and the program manager
• Partner with PMs, Engineering Functional Managers, and Functional CAMs (or Finance as appropriate) to ensure the project is being staffed and executed to plan
• Manage project scope ensuring budget/schedule changes are made with corresponding scope changes
• Establish relationships with technical and project manager peers, customers, and key suppliers to provide a direct line of communication for opportunity identification and problem resolution
• Utilize EVMS (scaled as appropriate) to monitor and control engineering cost and schedule performance
• Ensure IMS is kept up to date
• Work with team to develop work arounds to incurred cost and schedule variances
• Coordinate/document variance reporting
• Update WBS as required
• Update risk and opportunities – applying strong critical thinking, elevate new risks immediately and work to mitigate
• Conduct project reviews as required, reporting project status to senior management
• Mentor/coach project team members to help achieve efficient and effective project execution

Resource Management

• Develop and maintain staffing requirements (by skill and time phased) through a resource loaded schedule
• Negotiate staffing requirements with Engineering Functional leadership
• Enter and maintain staffing requirements into workforce planning tool
• Support functional staffing analysis for future work
• Partner with functional management in employee performance assessment, development, and corrective action
• Identify and report variances between staffing levels vs plan

Requirements

• BSME, BSEE, BSCS, or equivalent discipline
• 15+ years relevant product development experience (Military products preferred)
• Demonstrated successful experience in leading an engineering team or large IPT
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Able to obtain Security clearance
• Ability to handle multiple high priorities; comfortable with ambiguity

Preferred:

• Experience with electro-optic programs
• Experience with Agile methods, Scrum specifically
• CAM experience
• PMP certification