Senior Director of Engineering

Akkodis is seeking Senior Director of Engineering in Detroit, MI

Job Title:

Senior Director of Engineering

Location:

Detroit, MI

Salary: $185k - 195k annually (The pay range may be negotiable based on experience, education, geographic location, and other factors)

Duration:
Direct Hire

Job Description

• Own engineering execution across the full portfolio: on schedule, within budget, and meeting customer technical requirements across tactical wheeled vehicle, drone/UAS, maritime, aerospace, automated vehicle, and defense electronics programs
• Establish and enforce rigor in systems engineering, design reviews (PDR/CDR), verification and validation, and configuration management processes
• Identify, recommend, and implement new technologies, tools, and processes to improve engineering productivity, product quality, and organizational decision‑making
• Ensure compliance with all applicable regulatory and contractual requirements, including ITAR, export control, FAR/DFARS, MIL‑SPEC/MIL‑STD, CMMC/cybersecurity, and program‑specific CDRLs
• Establish and administer the engineering department budget, managing cost performance and making resource allocation tradeoffs across concurrent programs
• Build and lead a high‑performing, multi‑disciplinary engineering organization spanning mechanical, electrical, systems, software, and test engineering disciplines
• Develop and execute a workforce strategy that blends internal hires with external engineering resources, including contract engineers, engineering services firms, and specialty consultants to address capability gaps in emerging product lines (drones/UAS, maritime, aerospace, automated vehicles, defense electronics)
• Identify, evaluate, and manage relationships with external engineering partners and staffing firms, negotiating SOWs, managing deliverables, and ensuring quality and IP protection
• Create career development pathways and technical ladder opportunities to attract and retain top engineering talent in a competitive Michigan defense market
• Ensure departmental decisions on staffing, organizational design, hardware acquisitions, and facilities align with the company’s business plan, growth strategy, and HR policies

Business Development & New Bids

• Serve as the senior technical voice in business development, customer engagements, and proposal efforts—particularly for programs in new domains where the company must establish credibility
• Provide engineering leadership for bid/no‑bid decisions, technical volume development, basis of estimates (BOEs), and cost proposal support on government contract opportunities
• Collaborate with the CEO and business development team to identify and pursue new opportunities across DoD, naval, aerospace, and commercial defense markets
• Represent company at customer technical interchange meetings (TIMs), industry days, design reviews, and government stakeholder engagements
• Translate engineering capability into competitive differentiation in proposals and customer‑facing communications

Strategic Leadership & Cross‑Functional Collaboration

• Collaborate with executive leadership to develop and execute organizational goals, supplying engineering expertise and guidance on company‑wide operations and strategic initiatives
• Establish, communicate, and enforce engineering policies, practices, standards, and security measures to ensure effective and consistent operations across all sites
• Partner with Supply Chain, Quality, Manufacturing, Contracts, and Finance functions to ensure integrated program execution
• Drive continuous improvement in engineering processes, incorporating lessons learned across programs
• Perform other duties as assigned by the CEO

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Engineering Technology, or a closely related technical discipline
• Minimum 15 years of progressive experience in product design, development, and engineering in a defense or government contracting environment
• Minimum 5 years of experience managing and leading multi‑disciplinary engineering teams, including direct supervisory responsibility for technical professionals
• Demonstrated experience with U.S. government/DoD contracts, including familiarity with FAR/DFARS, ITAR,…