CompanyAVT Simulation
Reports ToCOO
IndustryTraining Simulation, Aerospace & Defense / Advanced Manufacturing
LocationOrlando, Florida
Position OverviewThe Vice President of Engineering leads AVT Simulation's enterprise engineering organization and is accountable for disciplined, predictable technical execution across hardware, software, systems engineering, integration, configuration, and related technical disciplines. The role establishes common standards across programs and ensures engineering outputs are complete, controlled, manufacturable, testable, and delivered in time to support customer and program commitments.
This leader will strengthen horizontal engineering management, improve visibility to capacity and technical risk, and help AVT scale from complex systems integration into a greater level of repeatable manufacturing.
Key Responsibilities/Duties/Functions/TasksEnterprise Engineering Leadership
- Lead the technical transformation of AVT from a program-based systems integrator to a mid-market OEM, focused on establishing product lines supported by centralized Engineering.
- Lead the centralized multidisciplinary engineering organization, establishing common standards, operating cadence, technical governance, decision rights, and technical performance expectations across programs.
- Directly manage and mentor the Engineering Directors (Enterprise Solutions Architect, Integrated Systems Engineering, and Software Engineering) to ensure functional depth and enterprise-wide technical governance.
- Implement and oversee the Centralized Design Authority with Product Line Alignment model, providing horizontal leadership to resolve technical risk, architecture decisions, resource conflicts, and cross-functional barriers through dotted-line Chief Engineer assignments.
- Partner with the Enterprise Solutions Architect / Technical Authority to govern technical decisions across all product families, protecting design authority and product qualification discipline.
- Build a culture of technical rigor, accountability, collaboration, and early escalation, with strong synchronization with Program Management, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Quality, and Test.
- Lead the development and maintenance of engineering processes, policies, and standards ensuring compliance with ISO and CMMI objectives, and driving achievement and ongoing management of Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) Level 2.
Engineering Execution & Program Health- Own engineering performance against program schedules, drawing and software releases, design reviews, integration needs, and customer milestones.
- Maintain one trusted source of engineering status and provide clear program health KPIs, including technical risk assessments, with cause, impact, owner, recovery action, and date for at-risk conditions.
- Use leading indicators and a disciplined review cadence to identify and recover technical blockers before they affect schedule, cost, quality, margin, or customer delivery.
Product Development, Requirements & Configuration- Own and continuously improve AVT's engineering portions of the product-development lifecycle, simplifying unnecessary complexity while preserving critical controls.
- Ensure practical gate and review criteria for requirements, PDR/CDR, design readiness, production readiness, test readiness, technical release, product support including technical refresh cycles.
- Maintain requirements traceability, configuration integrity, and disciplined control of ECRs, ECNs, software defects, redlines, and major technical decisions.
- Strengthen the transition from engineering development into procurement, manufacturing, integration, test, and repeatable production.
- Serve as the enterprise Technology Control Officer (TCO), providing executive oversight of the Technology Control Plan (TCP) to ensure rigorous compliance with ITAR and Export Control regulations governing the protection and handling of technical data for sensitive technology transfers and "deemed exports".
Resource, Talent & PMO- Maintain an enterprise view of engineering demand, capacity, critical skills, and future needs; resolve cross-program resource conflicts before commitments are affected.
- Partner with HR on critical technical recruiting, succession, onboarding, cross-training, and backup coverage to preserve and grow expertise across systems, mechanical, electrical, software, test, configuration management, and manufacturing engineering - reducing skill gaps, single-person dependencies, and ensuring the functional depth.
- Partner with Program Management and the PMO to integrate engineering commitments, resources, dependencies, and risks into program plans, and engage early in proposals to validate technical feasibility, schedule realism, manufacturability, capacity, cost realism, and program risk.
Proposal & Partnerships- Drive engineering support for new business capture, ensuring technical inputs for RFIs, RFPs, and white papers are accurate, compelling, and aligned with AVT's product-based strategy.
- Direct the engineering Bid & Proposal process to ensure proposed solutions are technically compliant, competitively priced, and backed by realistic resource estimates and schedules.
- Lead the functional and technical management of Internal R&D (IRAD), conceiving and executing projects that deepen the company's understanding of critical requirements and technologies to improve proposal win rates, while overseeing the development and demonstration of AVT's internally-developed product lines.
- Collaborate on Business Development initiatives and engage with prospective teaming partners to evaluate technical synergies and expand AVT's market reach.
Key Engineering Measures- Drawing and software release adherence; critical technical backlog and aging.
- ECR/ECN aging, stalled approvals, unresolved technical decisions, critical defects, and configuration integrity.
- Engineering capacity and skill coverage, technical gate readiness, engineering-driven manufacturing holds, and downstream milestones at risk.
- Engineering contribution to on-time customer delivery, quality, program margin, and customer confidence.
Other Duties
Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for the job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.Qualifications & ExperienceMinimum Requirements
- 15+ years of progressive engineering experience in aerospace, defense, training simulations, advanced manufacturing, complex engineered products, or a comparable technical environment.
- Proven (5+ years) leadership experience managing multidisciplinary engineering organizations across hardware, software, systems, integration, or complex product development.
- Demonstrated success establishing engineering standards, governance, metrics, resource discipline, and accountability across multiple programs.
- Strong understanding of requirements, configuration management, engineering change control, technical reviews, release processes, and manufacturing/test readiness, with a track record of improving schedule and delivery predictability.
- Relevant Experience in OEM environments, particularly in scaling engineering operations for repeatable product manufacturing.
- Experience transitioning products from development into low-volume/high-complexity and/or higher-volume manufacturing; familiarity with AS9100, ISO, CMMI, or structured stage-gate environments.
Preferred- Experience with flight simulation, defense systems, aviation, mission-critical engineered products, or U.S. Government programs.
- Education
- Bachelor of Sciencedegree in Engineering, Computer Science, Systems Engineering, or a related technical discipline required; advanced technical or business degree preferred.
Leadership Attributes- Enterprise-minded and execution-oriented; manages Engineering for AVT's success, not as an isolated function.
- Technically credible, data-driven, transparent, and able to make timely technical, resource, priority, and people decisions.
- Highly collaborative and capable of bridging Program Management, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Quality, Finance, Business Development, and customers.
- Visible developer of talent who builds capability, accountability, succession, and continuous improvement.
Essential Physical RequirementsThe physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools or controls; reach with hands and arms; talk or hear. The employee must occasionally lift or move office products and supplies, up to 20 pounds.Success Metrics - First 12-24 Months
- Consistent engineering standards, management cadence, and program-health visibility implemented across AVT programs.
- Improved engineering schedule predictability and on-time technical deliverables aligned to downstream need dates.
- Reduced aging drawings, ECRs/ECNs, technical decisions, defects, and engineering-driven production holds or rework.
- Improved resource planning, critical-skill coverage, onboarding, cross-training, and succession.
- Stronger technical gate discipline, proposal feasibility validation, and engineering-to-manufacturing readiness, with measurable improvement in customer delivery, quality, margin, and customer confidence.
