Director of Engineering

Director of Engineering

Position Summary

AT3 Staffing is partnering with a well-established aerospace and defense manufacturer in the South Burlington, VT area to identify a Director of Engineering who will provide technical leadership and help shape the future of a growing product portfolio. This is a high-impact leadership opportunity for an experienced engineering professional who thrives at the intersection of technology, customers, product development, and business strategy.

The Director of Engineering will work closely with the Business Unit Managers to translate business strategy, customer needs, and product-growth objectives into clear engineering priorities and executable plans. This individual will provide the technical leadership necessary to deliver innovative, reliable, and cost-effective solutions while ensuring engineering programs are executed with discipline and predictability.

Beyond technical execution, this leader will play a critical role in building and developing a high-performing engineering organization. The ideal candidate will bring strong technical judgment, business acumen, and a passion for developing people while creating an environment centered around accountability, collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement.

This is an opportunity to make a meaningful impact on both products and people, while helping define the engineering capabilities and strategies that will support the organization's continued growth.

Key Responsibilities

• Partner with the Business Unit Manager to provide technical and engineering leadership across the product portfolio.


• Translate business strategy, customer requirements, and growth objectives into engineering priorities, product roadmaps, milestones, and execution plans.


• Maintain strong relationships with customers to understand their technical challenges, operational needs, emerging requirements, and future product expectations.


• Lead the development of robust, reliable, producible, and cost-effective solutions to complex customer and product requirements.


• Ensure engineering programs and customer commitments are delivered predictably while meeting schedule, cost, quality, technical performance, and regulatory requirements.


• Establish clear program objectives, engineering plans, resource requirements, and accountability for execution.


• Identify technical, schedule, cost, and resource risks early and drive effective mitigation strategies before they impact customer or business commitments.


• Provide technical leadership across new product development, product redesign, technology development, product sustainment, obsolescence management, and customer technical support.


• Ensure appropriate technical rigor through disciplined design reviews, analysis, testing, verification, validation, qualification, and configuration management.


• Collaborate closely with Engineering, Sales & Marketing, Operations, Quality, Supply Chain, and Finance to align resources and successfully execute business priorities.


• Drive engineering productivity through design reuse, standardization, design-to-cost, process improvement, and improved execution efficiency.


• Build and maintain the engineering capabilities, tools, processes, and technical expertise necessary to support both current and future products.


• Recruit, develop, coach, and retain high-performing engineering talent.


• Develop employees through meaningful assignments, regular feedback, career-development planning, mentoring, and increasing levels of responsibility.


• Establish succession plans for critical engineering leadership and technical positions while actively developing future leaders and technical experts.


• Foster a high-performance engineering culture built around technical excellence, accountability, collaboration, customer focus, urgency, and a bias for action.


• Provide clear, fact-based communication to business-unit and site leadership regarding engineering performance, resource needs, technical risks, and recovery plans.

Leadership Expectations

The successful candidate will:

• Think and act like an owner, balancing customer needs, technical performance, risk, cost, and long-term business value.


• Maintain strong customer intimacy and use customer insight to influence technical priorities and product-development decisions.


• Set clear expectations and hold the organization accountable for disciplined, predictable execution.


• Build trust through transparency, sound technical judgment, and consistent follow-through.


• Develop people and organizational capability with the same intentionality applied to products and technology.


• Create an environment where risks and problems are surfaced early, decisions are grounded in data and sound engineering judgment, and corrective actions are executed with urgency.


• Inspire engineers to think creatively, solve challenging technical problems, and continuously raise the organization's technical capabilities.


• Serve as a visible and credible technical leader who can effectively engage customers, engineers, cross-functional partners, and executive leadership.

Compensation & Benefits

• Health & Wellness: Medical, dental, and vision coverage, plus HSA/FSA options, an onsite cafeteria and fitness center.


• Financial Security: Build your future with competitive pay, an annual bonus opportunity, a 401(k) plan with up to 4% company match with an additional annual employer contribution starting at 3% toward you retirement, and company-paid life and disability insurance.


• Time to Recharge: Enjoy four (4) weeks of vacation, five (5) additional days of paid time off during our annual holiday shutdown. We also offer paid sick leave, maternity and paternity leave, giving you time to rest, recharge and focus on the time you need.


• Grow Your Career: Generous tuition reimbursement up to $20,000 annually combined with ongoing professional development opportunities to keep learning and moving forward


• Extras That Make Life Easier: Supplemental insurance options, Employee Assistance Program (EAP), legal services, identity theft protection, discounted auto/home insurance, and pet insurance

Compensation Range

$150,000 - $200,000