Manager, Specialty Engineering - Space Technologies

Worker Type

Regular

Job Description

Summary

The Specialty Engineering Manager will lead a team of specialty engineers supporting space electronics programs across EEE parts engineering, radiation effects, and reliability. This role combines technical leadership with direct people management.

Approximately 50% of the manager's time will be spent applying their technical expertise to support the division and its programs. The remaining 50% will focus on leading the team, including coaching, performance management, workload allocation, 1:1 meetings, and monitoring the quality and timeliness of work outputs. The ideal candidate is a technically credible engineer who can contribute directly to engineering work while creating clarity, accountability, and effective execution across the team.

Position Responsibilities

Technical Leadership and Program Support

• Provide technical support in one or more relevant disciplines, such as EEE parts selection and control, radiation effects analysis, reliability engineering, or related space electronics specialties.
• Support program teams with technical assessments, risk identification, problem resolution, and design or qualification decisions.
• Review and approve technical analyses, reports, processes, plans, and engineering recommendations.
• Serve as a subject matter expert and escalation point for complex technical issues.
• Help establish and improve engineering methods, standards, tools, and lessons-learned practices.
• Participate in design reviews, risk reviews, failure investigations, anomaly resolution, and customer or supplier technical discussions.
• Maintain awareness of applicable industry standards, customer requirements, mission assurance practices, and space hardware development processes.
• Identify technical capability gaps and help develop the team's technical depth.

People and Team Management

• Directly manage, coach, and develop a team of specialty engineers.
• Conduct regular 1:1 meetings focused on priorities, performance, development, support needs, and career growth.
• Set clear expectations for quality, timeliness, technical rigor, communication, and professional conduct.
• Allocate team members' time across programs, projects, operational activities, and improvement initiatives based on business priorities and available capacity.
• Monitor work progress and outputs to ensure commitments are understood, risks are visible, and deliverables meet expectations.
• Balance workload across the team and address conflicts among competing priorities.
• Provide timely feedback, recognize strong performance, and manage performance concerns using objective, fact-based expectations and follow-up.
• Establish development plans, mentoring opportunities, and training priorities for each team member.
• Recruit, onboard, and retain high-performing engineering talent.
• Represent the team in organizational planning, staffing discussions, and resource reviews.
• Promote collaboration across systems engineering, design, manufacturing, quality, program management, supply chain, and mission assurance.

Basic Qualifications (Required Skills & Competencies)

• Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, physics, materials science, reliability engineering, or a related technical field.
• Significant professional experience supporting space electronics, aerospace hardware, defense systems, or another highly regulated technical environment.
• Demonstrated technical experience in at least one of the following areas:
  • EEE parts engineering and parts control
  • Radiation effects, radiation hardness assurance, or radiation testing
  • Reliability engineering, reliability prediction, qualification, or failure analysis
• Experience leading technical work across multiple programs or functional organizations.
• Ability to prioritize work, allocate resources, and manage competing program commitments.
• Ability to make sound technical and personnel decisions using objective information and clear judgment.

Other Qualifications & Desired Competencies

• Graduate level degree in a relevant engineering or scientific discipline.
• Experience with spaceflight electronics, avionics, payloads, spacecraft, launch vehicles, or radiation environments.
• Familiarity with applicable EEE parts, reliability, radiation effects, quality, and mission assurance standards.
• Experience with supplier technical oversight, parts obsolescence, counterfeit parts prevention, or component qualification.
• Experience supporting customer reviews, audits, nonconformances, failure investigations, and corrective actions.
• Experience supervising, mentoring, or managing engineers.
• Experience managing a team with multiple technical specialties.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Experience improving engineering processes, metrics, or organizational operating models.
• Ability to obtain and maintain any required security clearance.

Success in This Role

Success will be demonstrated by:

· Technical work that is accurate, timely, and aligned with program commitments.

· Clear visibility into team capacity, priorities, risks, and deliverable status.

· Effective allocation of engineering resources across programs.

· Consistent follow-through on commitments and corrective actions.

· Engineers who receive regular coaching, feedback, and development support.

· Improved coordination between specialty engineering and program teams.

· Strong technical decisions that reduce mission, schedule, cost, and product risks.

· A team culture characterized by accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

Physical Demands & Work Environment

· Ability to work in an office environment and manufacturing environment (Constant)

· Required to sit and stand for long periods of time; talk, hear, and use hands & fingers to operate a computer and telephone keyboard (Frequent)

Clearance Level

No Clearance

The salary range for this role is:

$106,500 - $162,500

AeroVironment considers several factors when extending an offer, including but not limited to, the location, the role and associated responsibilities, a candidate’s work experience, education/training, and key skills.

ITAR Requirement:

This position requires access to information that is subject to compliance with the International Traffic Arms Regulations (“ITAR”) and/or the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”). In order to comply with the requirements of the ITAR and/or the EAR, applicants must qualify as a U.S. person under the ITAR and the EAR, or a person to be approved for an export license by the governing agency whose technology comes under its jurisdiction. Please understand that any job offer that requires approval of an export license will be conditional on AeroVironment’s determination that it will be able to obtain an export license in a time frame consistent with AeroVironment’s business requirements. A “U.S. person” according to the ITAR definition is a U.S. citizen, U.S. lawful permanent resident (green card holder), or protected individual such as a refugee or asylee. See 22 CFR § 120.15. Some positions will require current U.S. Citizenship due to contract requirements.

Benefits: AV offers an excellent benefits package including medical, dental vision, 401K with company matching, a 9/80 work schedule and a paid holiday shutdown. For more information about our company benefit offerings please visit: http://www.avinc.com/myavbenefits.

We also encourage you to review our company website at http://www.avinc.com to learn more about us.

Principals only need apply. NO agencies please.

About AV:

AV isn’t for everyone. We hire the curious, the relentless, the mission-obsessed. The best of the best.

We don’t just build defense technology—we redefine what’s possible. As the premier autonomous systems company in the U.S., AV delivers breakthrough capabilities across air, land, sea, space, and cyber. From AI-powered drones and loitering munitions to integrated autonomy and space resilience, our technologies shape the future of warfare and protect those who serve.

Founded by legendary innovator Dr. Paul MacCready, AV has spent over 50 years pushing the boundaries of what unmanned systems can do. Our heritage includes seven platforms in the Smithsonian—but we’re not building history, we’re building what’s next.

If you're ready to build technology that matters—with speed, scale, and purpose—there’s no better place to do it than AV.

We are proud to be an EEO/AA Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability/veterans. AeroVironment, Inc. is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) employer and welcomes all qualified applicants. Qualified applicants will receive fair and impartial consideration without regard to race, sex, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, genetic data, sexual orientation, gender identity or other legally protected status.

ITAR

U.S. Citizenship required. Must be willing to work on government contracts and have the ability to obtain a security clearance.