Contract Chief Engineer

Contract Chief Engineer, Solid Rocket Propulsion Open hourly rate 12-month contract, 40 hours per week. Start mid-October 60 days site onboarding, then remote A defence and space technology company is hiring a Chief Engineer to own the technical success of its solid rocket propulsion programmes through a 12-month engagement, from design through qualification and into production. This is a technical leadership role, not a people management one. You'll lead a multidisciplinary team with no direct reports. The company needs a broad, hands-on engineer who has led controllable solid rocket motor programmes before and keeps technical, cost and schedule decisions aligned. What You'll Be Doing Direct the full technical lifecycle, including design reviews and qualification milestonesMake sure systems are producible, compliant, and balanced against cost and scheduleDrive the critical path, deconflict resources and manage task span-timesHold lean technical baselines, monitor CPI, and challenge budget change requestsAct as the programme's lead technical voice with customers and stakeholdersSupport new business and keep customer requests within authorised scope What You'll Need Degree in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering, or a related discipline15+ years of engineering experience5+ years of technical leadership on controllable solid rocket propulsionBroad background across design, analysis and test, through IRAD, EMD and productionA generalist profile from systems, project, design or test engineering, without over-specialisingChief Engineer-level experience (this role isn't open to programme managers)Ability to obtain and maintain a US security clearance (requires US citizenship) Nice to have Current DoD Secret clearanceExperience leading multidisciplinary teams of 10+Hardware taken through qualification and into productionPrior contract or independent consulting work, so you can land and add value fast Interested Click apply with an updated copy of your resume. I'll come back to you within 48 hours. If you don't hear back within 48 hours, please assume you haven't been successful on this occasion.