The Design Engineering Manager leads the operational and people-management backbone of a design engineering group. This role centralizes labor demand, manages day-to-day functional resource allocation, supports structured career development, connects programs with the right technical expertise, and ensures engineering standards and training are delivered effectively across a large number of concurrent programs.
Responsibilities
• Consolidate labor demand across programs into a single functional-group view, integrating schedule and staffing needs.
• Serve as traffic control for functional resource requests by staging, sequencing, and identifying conflicts early.
• Drive proactive hiring by identifying staffing gaps from consolidated demand data.
• Allocate functional resources across programs to balance workload and support individual career growth goals.
• Track assignments against work orders and identify over- or under-utilization.
• Coordinate logistics for engineering standards and training delivery, including scheduling and completion tracking.
• Maintain qualification ladders and monitor time-to-independent-qualification for new hires and transfers.
• Support programs in scoping engineering tasks into clear, staffable work packages.
• Collaborate with program leads to establish realistic schedule and effort expectations.
• Identify required skill sets for engineering requests and route ambiguous or contested items to appropriate technical experts.
Required Qualifications
• Minimum 7+ years working directly in design-engineering specific environments.
• B.S. in Engineering.
• 5+ years of engineering leadership experience, including a minimum of 2 years in aerospace and/or engineering.
• Demonstrated experience in resource planning, scheduling, and direct people management of technical staff.
• Ability to manage data-driven scheduling and operational cadence across numerous concurrent programs.
• Experience supporting career growth and balancing program needs with individual development.
• Capability to partner with technical experts and route design sign-offs, waivers, and contested technical calls appropriately.
• Experience helping programs translate ambiguous engineering requests into scoped, staffable work packages.
• A current U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Secret security clearance or the ability to obtain and maintain one.
Preferred Qualifications
• Discipline-specific technical depth in the relevant engineering domain.
Benefits
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) with company match
• Paid time off
• Health Savings Account (HSA) with company contribution
• Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
• Company-paid life and AD&D insurance
• Short- and long-term disability coverage
• Tuition reimbursement
