The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory

Group Leader – Mission Software Architectures & Applications II

Aerospace & Defense
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • BS/MS in Engineering or related field with 10+ years experience in advanced technologies and effective leadership.
  • Technical expertise in new embedded systems technologies for first-of-a-kind systems.
  • Experience leading medium and large teams through full development lifecycle of mission-critical software.
  • Strong critical thinking skills for analyzing complex problems.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills for diverse audiences.
  • Ability to adapt to changing priorities and multi-task effectively.
  • Demonstrated leadership, innovation, collaboration, and mentoring skills.

Responsibilities

  • Manage administrative details and support career development for group members.
  • Communicate management information effectively to team members.
  • Lead, mentor, and evaluate performance of engineering staff.
  • Recruit and build a skilled workforce through hiring and staffing management.
  • Act as Subject Matter Expert in specialized technical area.
  • Shape technology offerings to align with strategic program goals.
  • Analyze and develop Draper’s capabilities to meet customer priorities.

Benefits

  • Workplace flexibility and programs to improve work-life balance.
  • Access to employee clubs and activities such as photography and yoga.
  • Workshops on health and finance.
  • Social events and discounts to local cultural activities.
Full Job Description

Job Description Summary:

As part of the Software Engineering Division, the primary focus of the Mission Software Architectures & Applications Group is to provide cutting-edge solutions to mission-critical software applications. Robust, highly reliable software architectures must be designed and implemented to give the highest probability of success for the most demanding missions, and the harshest environments. The group must provide architectures for new system capabilities and enabling avionics technologies that ensure success for our sponsors’ most challenging missions. These systems include space systems, hypersonic weapon systems, autonomous and collaborative systems, integrated air & missile defense systems, global strike and power projection in contested environments, and other systems critical for our nation’s security and defense.
The Group Leader is responsible for leading and managing a group of approximately 10 - 20 engineers who have technical and domain expertise related to the group’s focus areas and can provide the highest level of support to our customers. The continual development and advancement of Draper’s expertise for specific mission domains and system software technology is a key focus of the Group Leader. To that end, the Group Leader is expected to:
• Ensure the long-term success of the group, and its contributions to Draper, by shaping the group’s talented workforce, while maintaining and developing key, differentiating capabilities that align with customer and business needs.
• Collaborate regularly with internal group members, Draper Program Offices, Customers/Sponsors, other Draper engineering groups, and the external technical community.
• Partner with Customers/Sponsors, Draper Program Managers and subject matter experts within Draper to develop and implement strategic plans and technology roadmaps.
• Promote and direct internal and external R&D activities, including development and alignment of research proposals with technology roadmaps, collaborations with universities and direction of scholar, coop, and internships cohorts.
• Support and enable the technical and career growth of individual staff members by performing check-in reviews and annual performance reviews, as well as advocating for leadership, mentorship, and training opportunities.

Job Description:

Duties/Responsibilities
• Manage administrative details and career development for group members.
• Convey relevant information from management to group members.
• Lead, mentor, build depth their area of expertise. and conduct performance evaluations of group members.
• Maintain awareness of staffing requirements, write job requisitions (responsibilities and required qualifications) for hiring as required, review and disposition incoming resumes, conduct interviews.
• Serve as Lead Subject Matter Expert for Area of specialty.
• Shape Draper’s technology offerings and open new business areas based on program and technical experience.
• Analyze Draper strategy and work with management to build capability in key areas that align Draper's capabilities with customer's strategic priorities.

Skills/Abilities
• Excellent communication and written skills.

• Excellent ability with presenting technical material to various levels of the engineering organization and customers.

• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Applications.
• Strong ability to supervise a team of 10-20.

Education
Requires a degree in Engineering or related discipline.

Experience
5-7 years of experience in the engineering; design, development, and management of complex systems.

Additional Job Description:

Required Qualifications:

  • BS / MS or equivalent degree(s) in a technically relevant engineering field with 10+ years of both direct “hands-on” work in advanced technologies and effective leadership, in both formal and informal roles.
  • Technical domain expertise in maturing new embedded systems technologies and implementing them in the design for advanced first-of-a-kind systems.
  • Prior experience in leading medium and large teams through the full lifecycle development of software in the embedded systems space, preferably mission critical or safety critical systems
  • Critical thinking skills for framing, analyzing, and synthesizing complex problems, both qualitatively and quantitatively.
  • Ability to communicate technical concepts effectively with customers, engineers, managers, and other stakeholders of all relevant disciplines, both written and verbally.
  • Flexibility to multi-task and adapt to evolving priorities and emergent circumstances within a program.
  • Demonstrated skills in leadership, innovation, creativity, collaboration, and team building.
  • Experience with conflict resolution, employee development, and mentoring.

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Foundational experience in software and system technologies used in guidance, navigation, and control hardware of complex systems
  • Technical leadership experience, serving as a Technical Director, Task Leader, or Principal Investigator in the development of new technologies and applications.
  • Experience with Earned Value Management (EVM), with direct experience in cost and schedule management of tasks.
  • Experience leading or contributing to technical and cost proposals.
  • Experience as a line manager of a technical organization
  • Interest and/or experience in new technology and market trends.
  • Existing US Government Security Clearance

Security Requirement:

  • Applicants selected for this position will be required to obtain and maintain a US Government Security Clearance.

Job Location - City:

Cambridge

Job Location - State:

Massachusetts

Job Location - Postal Code:

The US base salary range for this full-time position is

$82,300.00 - $220,000.00

Our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target salaries for the position across all US locations. Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Union ranges will be in compliance with the collective bargaining agreement's approved rates by location and role. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process.  Please note that the compensation details listed in US role postings reflect the base salary only, and does not include bonuses or benefits.

Our work is very important to us, but so is our life outside of work. Draper supports many programs to improve work-life balance including workplace flexibility, employee clubs ranging from photography to yoga, health and finance workshops, off site social events and discounts to local museums and cultural activities. If this specific job opportunity and the chance to work at a nationally renowned R&D innovation company appeals to you, apply now www.draper.com/careers.

About The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory

Draper Laboratory is an American non-profit research and development organization, headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts; its official name is The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc. The laboratory specializes in the design, development, and deployment of advanced technology solutions to problems in national security, space exploration, health care and energy. The laboratory was founded in 1932 by Charles Stark Draper at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to develop aeronautical instrumentation, and came to be called the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory. During this period the laboratory is best known for developing the Apollo Guidance Computer, the first silicon integrated circuit based computer. It was renamed for its founder in 1970, and separated from MIT in 1973 to become an independent, non-profit organization. The expertise of the laboratory staff includes the areas of guidance, navigation, and control technologies and systems; fault-tolerant computing; advanced algorithms and software systems; modeling and simulation; and microelectromechanical systems and multichip module technology.
Learn more about The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory

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