Director of Engineering

Location: Knoxville, TN

Salary: Highly Competitive Plus Benefits

Contract: Permanent, full time

Reporting to: Senior VP of Engineering

Your role in the mission:

The Director of Engineering is responsible for building, developing, and sustaining a high-performing multidisciplinary engineering organization consisting of more than 100 engineers across Mechanical, Electrical, Software, Systems, CAD/Design, Test, and other technical disciplines.

Reporting directly to the SVP of Engineering, this role serves as the senior leader responsible for organizational effectiveness, workforce planning, leadership development, succession readiness, employee engagement, and engineering capability growth. The Director works closely with engineering functional leaders, technical authorities, and program leadership to ensure the engineering organization is staffed, developed, and structured to meet both current and future business needs.

This position is intentionally focused on organizational leadership rather than technical direction or program execution. Technical priorities, engineering decisions, and project execution are owned by the matrixed engineering functional leadership and program management organizations.

The successful candidate is a strategic organizational leader who combines business acumen, workforce planning expertise, and a passion for developing people. They are comfortable operating in ambiguity, skilled at building alignment across diverse stakeholders, and committed to fostering an inclusive, high-performing engineering culture where individuals can thrive and grow.

Organizational Leadership

• Partner with the SVP of Engineering to develop and implement the long-term organizational strategy for Engineering.
• Design and continuously improve the organizational structure to support company growth and evolving business needs.
• Drive organizational effectiveness initiatives that improve collaboration, communication, and employee engagement.
• Establish and promote a positive, inclusive, and high-performance engineering culture.
• Lead organizational change initiatives and promote adoption of new business and workforce strategies.
• Serve as a key member of the Engineering Leadership Team.
• Anticipate future workforce and organizational needs in response to changing business priorities and technologies
• Influence outcomes across multiple stakeholders without direct authority through strong relationships, credibility, and communication.

Workforce Planning & Talent Acquisition

• Develop long-range engineering workforce strategies aligned with business growth objectives.
• Partner with Human Resources and engineering leadership to forecast staffing requirements.
• Support headcount planning and organizational capacity assessments.
• Partner with recruiting teams and engineering leaders to support the attraction and retention of highly qualified engineering talent.
• Evaluate workforce demographics, skills gaps, and future capability needs.
• Develop strategies to support organizational scalability.

Leadership Development

• Develop and coach engineering managers and emerging leaders.
• Partner with Learning & Development on the implementation of leadership development programs for current and future engineering leaders.
• Support the development of high-potential employees and future engineering leaders.
• Partner with engineering leadership on talent reviews and succession planning activities.
• Ensure continuity planning exists for key leadership and technical positions.
• Promote management excellence and consistency across engineering organizations.

Organizational Effectiveness

• Promote accountability, coaching, and development across engineering organizations.
• Support leaders in conducting effective performance and development discussions.
• Monitor organizational performance trends and leadership effectiveness.
• Partner with leaders to address organizational and team performance challenges.
• Drive initiatives that strengthen employee growth, engagement, and overall organizational effectiveness.

Employee Engagement & Retention

• Support initiatives that enhance engagement, morale, and retention.
• Partner with HR on the analysis of employee feedback and implement improvement actions.
• Foster an environment that encourages innovation, collaboration, and professional growth.
• Promote employee recognition and career development opportunities.
• Promote diversity of thought and inclusive leadership practices.

Career Development & Engineering Capability Growth

• Partner and support engineering career frameworks and progression models.
• Partner and support the development of technical and leadership development pathways.
• Identify organizational competency gaps and partner with appropriate teams to target development initiatives.
• Ensure engineering capabilities evolve to support future technology and business objectives.

Organizational Metrics & Analytics

• Develop and monitor workforce and organizational metrics to support strategic decision-making and organizational effectiveness.
• Utilize workforce data to support strategic decision-making and continuous improvement.

Budget & Resource Stewardship

• Support engineering labor planning and workforce budgeting activities.
• Manage budgets associated with recruiting, training, leadership development, and employee engagement programs.
• Ensure investments are aligned with organizational priorities and workforce strategies.

What you'll need:

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering or a related technical discipline.
• 15+ years of progressive engineering experience.
• 10+ years of leadership experience managing engineering organizations.
• Experience leading managers and senior leaders within multidisciplinary engineering environments.
• Demonstrated success leading organizations of 100+ engineers and technical professionals.
• Experience supporting multiple engineering disciplines including Mechanical, Electrical, Software, Systems, CAD/Design, or related fields.
• Strong leadership, coaching, and organizational development skills.
• Experience with workforce planning, organizational development, succession planning, and leadership development within engineering organizations.
• Excellent communication and executive leadership skills.
• Proven ability to operate effectively in ambiguous environments and establish clarity, priorities, and direction.
• Strong relationship-building and influencing skills with the ability to drive results across matrixed organizations.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in Engineering, Engineering Management, Organizational Leadership, or Business Administration.
• Experience in aerospace, defense, automotive, energy, industrial systems, robotics, or similarly complex product development environments.
• Experience supporting engineering organizations during periods of significant growth.
• Formal training or certification in organizational development, leadership coaching, change management, or talent management.

We offer:

In addition to a basic salary and yearly bonus, you will also get...

• A hybrid work policy
• Stock options
• Relocation allowance
• Insurance plans
• Retirement options
• And many more great voluntary benefits