Director of Engineering
Listed on 2026-06-11
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Engineering
Systems Engineer, Electrical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineer, Product Engineer
Job Description:
Director of Engineering / Chief Engineer
Company: Marine Electric Systems
Location: South Hackensack, NJ
Position Type: Full-Time
Salary Range: $170,000–$210,000, depending on experience
Reports To: Executive Leadership / Ownership
Position Summary
Marine Electric Systems is seeking a hands-on Director of Engineering / Chief Engineer to lead and strengthen our engineering function as we continue expanding our defense manufacturing, repair, sustainment, and legacy product capabilities.
This is a key leadership role for an experienced electrical engineering professional who enjoys solving practical manufacturing problems, supporting legacy defense products, mentoring younger engineers, and helping a growing company move faster. The ideal candidate will bring strong technical judgment, urgency, structure, and a willingness to work directly with engineering, production, sales, business development, procurement, quality, and leadership.
This role is not purely administrative and is not purely R&D. It is a hands-on engineering leadership position focused on sustaining engineering, technical quote evaluation, production support, legacy product knowledge, reverse engineering support, and building a stronger engineering department for the future.
About Marine Electric Systems
Marine Electric Systems is a long-standing defense manufacturer supporting U.S. Navy and defense-related programs. Our work includes electromechanical assemblies, salinity cells, nuclear temperature detection panels, proximity switches, PCB-related work, electrical testing, wire harnesses, machined components, military-grade fasteners, repair work, and other legacy defense products.
Many of our opportunities involve older systems, hard-to-source components, obsolete or discontinued products, legacy drawings, technical data packages, repair requirements, and sustainment needs where larger manufacturers may no longer provide support. We are looking for an engineering leader who can help us turn that opportunity into a faster, more disciplined, and more repeatable process.
Key Responsibilities
Engineering Leadership & Department Development
- Lead the engineering function as a hands-on player-coach.
- Provide technical direction, prioritization, and accountability for engineering work.
- Mentor and develop junior engineers, including creating structured learning, review, and development plans.
- Build a more visible and organized engineering workflow, including task ownership, due dates, priorities, and bottleneck tracking.
- Help reduce dependency on individual tribal knowledge by documenting processes, product history, engineering decisions, and lessons learned.
- Work closely with leadership to identify future engineering staffing, equipment, software, and process needs.
Technical Quote Evaluation & Business Development Support
- Support Sales and Business Development by reviewing new opportunities, solicitations, drawings, specifications, and technical packages.
- Help determine quickly whether Marine Electric Systems can build, repair, reverse engineer, or support a product.
- Provide timely technical feedback to support bid/no-bid decisions, ideally within days rather than weeks wherever practical.
- Identify technical risks, missing information, component concerns, sourcing issues, test requirements, and engineering effort required for new quotes.
- Help establish a faster and more repeatable technical evaluation process for new business opportunities.
- Support the company’s goal of improving quote turnaround speed and increasing the volume of viable quotes submitted.
Sustaining Engineering & Legacy Product Support
- Support existing Navy and defense products, including legacy assemblies, electrical systems, test procedures, and production issues.
- Review and interpret legacy drawings, specifications, test procedures, technical data packages, and customer requirements.
- Troubleshoot PCB, electrical, electromechanical, power supply, and assembly-related issues.
- Support updates to engineering documentation, ECOs/ECNs, drawings, work instructions, and test procedures as needed.
- Provide production engineering support to help resolve issues quickly and keep work moving…
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