Associate Director, Electrical Engineering - Department Manager (Onsite)

Collins Aerospace, an RTX company, is a leader in technologically advanced and intelligent solutions for the global aerospace and defense industry. Collins Aerospace has the capabilities, comprehensive portfolio, and expertise to solve customers’ toughest challenges and to meet the demands of a rapidly evolving global market.  

Embark on a journey where your leadership will help shape the future of aerospace and defense technology. At Collins Aerospace, we’re modernizing the Nuclear Command, Control and Communications (NC3) capabilities on our customers’ most crucial platforms. 

As our next Associate Director, Electrical Engineering Department Manager and as a member of the Strategic Defense Solutions (SDS) Hardware organization, you will lead a team of 8+ Electrical Engineering leaders and 120+ engineers, whose charter is to design, develop, test, and deploy mission critical weapon systems components for the United States Military Branches. You will work with leaders that are People Focused, have a One Team mentality and are Mission Driven. Our team takes pride in their contributions to the defense and security of the United States. This position will be located in either Richardson, TX, Sterling, VA or Binghamton, NY. 

This position reports to the Director or Engineering for Strategic Defense Solutions and will be the focal for our Battlefield Management Command & Control (BMC2) and Proprietary Platforms (PP) Portfolio Directors.  In addition, this position will partner with business development, chief engineers, project engineering and operations. 

We are seeking a people-centered, execution-focused leader with a strong electrical engineering foundation and a proven record of growing teams, developing leaders, and aligning organizations to program priorities. This position offers end-to-end leadership responsibility across the development lifecycle, with a unique opportunity to shape the engineering organization, strengthen capability depth, and drive sustained performance in direct support of national defense. 

What You Will Do:

• Build, develop and execute talent pipelines that satisfy the needs of our portfolios and deploy skilled talent to meet our customers’ most challenging commitments.

• Conduct department leadership over the entire life cycle including bids, program management, requirements capture, design and implementation, integration, verification, and certification.

• Connect geographically to distributed teams to engage talent across sites, work to identify best practices and execute as a seamless organization.

• Travel to various sites across the organization to engage with talent and connect with teams.

• Provide technical leadership and accountability for team and performance on programs.

• Rely on past, proven, technical expertise to drive team solutions for: electrical architectures, design and requirement development for systems of varying complexity.

• Remain cognizant of, as well as guide leaders on, the management of scope, schedule, and budget for electrical engineering activities; candidate must be well versed in using Earned Value Management System (EVMS).

• Foster a culture of technical rigor, collaboration, and continuous improvement in support of mission-critical delivery.

• Demonstrate a passion for coaching and mentoring, performing talent reviews, compensation decisions and crucial conversations.

• Build and leverage networks within the department and across Collins Aerospace and broader RTX.

• Communicate well with a wide variety of individuals including Engineering, Program Management, internal leadership, and customers.

• Strives to spend 25% of week engaged in technical tasks and providing leader oversight to program performance.  The remaining time will be coaching, leader development, staffing and identifying and executing department initiatives for continued success.

• Look out to industry for other developing technologies to adopt into our products – Identifying and incorporating AI into our engineering disciplines to achieve execution efficiency.

What You Will Learn:

• Leadership and Management Strategy: Develop and refine leadership and project management strategy skills, including hiring, performance assessment, and personnel management, while managing project scope, schedule, and budget in a high-stakes environment. 

• Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration: Enhance collaboration skills coordinating with Mechanical, Systems, Software, and Manufacturing teams to ensure successful project execution and delivery. 

• Advanced Systems Integration: Gain experience with integrating complex Systems of Systems, enhancing skills in working with multi-enclave network systems, cutting-edge mission processing systems, and communication systems. 

Qualifications You Must Have:

• Experience with electrical engineering lifecycle processes and integration within large complex programs. 

• Must have experience leading engineering teams, including mentoring, task delegation, and cross-functional collaboration in a technical development environment. 

• Minimum of 3+ years experience in program execution, including bidding, project planning, Earned Value Management (EVM), and risk and opportunity management. 

• The ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government issued security clearance is required. U.S. citizenship is required, as only U.S. citizens are eligible for a security clearance. 

• Typically requires a degree in Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (STEM) and minimum 12 years prior relevant experience or an Advanced Degree in a related field and minimum 10 years of experience. 

Qualifications We Prefer:

• Prior experience of leading engineering teams and proven experience working in a cross functional environment interfacing with Systems, Mechanical, Test, and Software Engineering. 

• Practical experience in all phases of Electrical Engineering product design and development (circuit card assemblies, aircraft harnesses, power distribution, electromechanical systems, trainer devices); pursuit, design, new product introduction (NPI), qualification, integration, and production support. 

What We offer:

Some of our competitive benefits package includes:   

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance  

• Three weeks of vacation for newly hired employees  

• Generous 401(k) plan that includes employer matching funds and separate employer retirement contribution, including a Lifetime Income Strategy option  

• Tuition reimbursement program 

• Student Loan Repayment Program  

• Life insurance and disability coverage  

• Optional coverages you can buy pet insurance, home and auto insurance, additional life and accident insurance, critical illness insurance, group legal, ID theft protection 

• Birth, adoption, parental leave benefits 

• Ovia Health, fertility, and family planning  

• Adoption Assistance           

• Autism Benefit  

• Employee Assistance Plan, including up to 10 free counseling sessions  

• Healthy You Incentives, wellness rewards program 

• Doctor on Demand, virtual doctor visits  

• Bright Horizons, child and elder care services 

• Teladoc Medical Experts, second opinion program 

• Eligible for relocation 

•  And more!  

Learn More & Apply Now

Do you want to be a part of something bigger? A team whose impact stretches across the world, and even beyond? At Collins Aerospace, our Mission Systems team helps civilian, military and government customers complete their most complex missions — whatever and wherever they may be. Our customers depend on us for intelligent and secure communications, missionized systems for specialized aircraft and spacecraft and collaborative space solutions. By joining our team, you’ll have your own critical part to play in ensuring our customer succeeds today while anticipating their needs for tomorrow. Are you up for the challenge? Join our mission today. 

Please ensure the role type (defined below) is appropriate for your needs before applying to this role.

Onsite: Employees who are working in Onsite roles will work primarily onsite. This includes all production and maintenance employees, as they are essential to the development of our products. 

At Collins, the paths we pave together lead to limitless possibility. And the bonds we form – with our customers and with each other -- propel us all higher, again and again.  

Apply now and be part of the team that’s redefining aerospace, every day.