Technical Manager - Systems Engineering

Job Title:

Technical Manager – Systems Engineering

Job Code: 38532

Job Location:

Rochester, New York

Job Schedule:

9/80 (Every Other Friday Off!)

Job Description:

The Technical Manager - Systems Engineering provides technical and organizational leadership for the development, integration, and delivery of complex defense and aerospace systems. This role leads systems engineering activities across the full system lifecycle, from concept development and requirements definition through integration, verification, validation, production transition, and sustainment support. The position is responsible for managing teams supporting mission‑critical programs while ensuring alignment with customer needs, contractual obligations, airworthiness or mission assurance expectations, and organizational objectives.

The ideal candidate brings strong people leadership, deep systems thinking, and demonstrated success leading multidisciplinary engineering efforts in a highly regulated defense or aerospace environment.

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of systems engineers supporting defense and aerospace programs, platforms, or technology initiatives.
• Direct systems engineering execution across the program lifecycle, including concept of operations, requirements analysis, system architecture, interface definition, integration, verification, validation, and operational support.
• Ensure technical execution aligns with customer requirements, program cost and schedule constraints, mission performance objectives, and contract deliverables.
• Oversee development and maintenance of system requirements, interface control documentation, verification traceability, and technical baselines.
• Contribute directly to program performance leveraging technical expertise and experience to system architecture, design, implementation, test, integration and sustainment.
• Lead root cause corrective action investigations, provides independent review team perspective, participate in non‑advocate reviews.
• Lead technical planning, risk management, trade studies, design decision support, and system‑level problem resolution.
• Support major program reviews and customer reviews, including SRR, PDR, CDR, TRR, PRR, and related milestone events.
• Collaborate with program management, chief engineers, software, hardware, test, manufacturing, quality, supply chain, and field support teams to ensure integrated program execution.
• Drive compliance with defense, aerospace, safety, quality, airworthiness, cybersecurity, and mission assurance requirements, as applicable.
• Manage staffing, workload planning, performance management, employee development, and succession planning within the systems engineering organization.
• Provide technical leadership for integration and test planning, requirements verification, anomaly resolution, and qualification activities.
• Support proposal efforts, technical volume development, basis of estimate preparation, technology roadmaps, and capture activities for new business opportunities.
• Identify and mitigate technical, programmatic, and integration risks across complex system‑of‑systems environments.
• Promote continuous improvement in systems engineering processes, digital engineering practices, MBSE adoption, and technical rigor.
• Serve as a key interface to customers, suppliers, subcontractors, and senior leadership on program status, technical issues, and strategic engineering matters.

• Bachelor’s Degree and minimum 9 years of prior relevant experience. Graduate Degree and a minimum of 7 years of prior related experience. In lieu of a degree, minimum of 13 years of prior related experience.
• 9+ years of progressive engineering experience, including significant systems engineering experience in defense, aerospace, avionics, mission systems, C4
  
  ISR, weapons, space, radar, communications, or other complex regulated environments.
• 5+ years of leadership experience managing technical teams, engineering organizations, or major engineering work scopes.
• Ability to obtain and a secret security clearance.

• Master’s degree in Systems Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Engineering Management, or a related…