Project Engineer (Motor Control)

Position Summary

Ensures timely and efficient completion of engineering projects to achieve company, customer, and product reliability and cost objectives. Has overall responsibility for leading technical projects or phases of projects involving the design and development of new or core products and/or processes. Is responsible for technical scope, cost and schedule management of assigned projects/tasks. Plans, schedules, and coordinates efforts of assigned project staff and is accountable to meet team performance to project objectives.

Essential Functions

• Develops project objectives by reviewing technical project proposals and plans and conferring with management and related teams.
• Ensures projects meet schedule commitments, cost (non-recurring and recurring) results, and technical expectations through effective project leadership.
• Creates project plans and milestones by studying product or system design and customer technical program requirements (including performance and data requirements), completing technical studies; and preparing cost estimates.
• Determines project responsibilities by identifying project phases and elements and assigning staffing and resources.
• Maintains frequent formal and informal customer interface to present project status; determines feasibility of changing customer requirements and may propose and/or negotiate changes in schedules or methodology in coordination with program management.
• Gains customer confidence in overall support of customer programs.
• Controls the project plan by reviewing any changes in technical requirements or specifications (e.g. requirements management) and recommending actions to achieve milestones.
• Controls project costs by reviewing non-recurring and recurring costs, monitoring and approving quotes and expenditures; may administer and have oversight for outsourced contractors.
• Maintains efforts within defined cost and schedule constraints, including providing status and root cause/corrective actions of associated variances. May act as Control Account Manager for projects applying Earned Value Management.
• Prepares and reviews technical project work prepared by others (e.g. system schematics, layouts, algorithms, transfer functions and related test plans, procedures and reports) by applying engineering principles and technical judgment.
• Advises and monitors regulatory and intellectual property concerns.
• Sets up and maintains engineering history files, project files, and related information to provide archive of technical project activities.
• Maintains professional and technical knowledge by attending educational workshops, reviewing technical publications, benchmarking best practices, and/or participating in professional associations.
• Acts as point of contact on technical and project-related matters.
• Identifies mentoring and development needs; serves as a mentor for other employees.
• May serve as a functional specialist.
• Will participate in high-performance team and lean initiatives as needed.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree (BS) (or Professional Engineer (PE) certificate) in engineering or a science technical discipline; Master's degree (MS) or MBA preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to perform the essential functions of the job typically acquired through 7-9 years of related experience.
• Experience in electrical engineering design and development, with a strong emphasis on brushless DC motor controller applications in aerospace or other high-reliability environments is required.
• A solid background in power electronics, motor control, embedded systems, circuit design, system integration, and verification, along with experience supporting testing and qualification activities is required.
• Familiarity with regulated development processes and have working knowledge of DO-178 and DO-254, including requirements-based development, verification, and documentation for safety-critical systems is required.
• Has thorough in-depth knowledge of engineering domain principles, concepts, product standards, and techniques, industry practices, regulations, and policies.
• Ability to apply broad knowledge of other related engineering or scientific field to area of expertise.
• Ability to effectively communicate and present status, actions, recommendations, and other technical information with clarity and precision.
• Ability to respond to significant inquiries from customers, regulatory agencies, or marketing/sales teams.
• Effective project management and organizational skills. Able to facilitate project team interactions and develop project team member capabilities.
• Ability to apply and integrate knowledge of other related engineering areas or experts to own area of expertise.
• Proficient with software and specialized data analysis, design, and project management tools following established project/program management protocol.
• Ability to establish and track performance to goals and objectives to complete complex or major projects and provide direction to the team at project milestones.
• Proficient with standard project management tools and practices.
• Ability to apply Earned Value Management (EVM) principles to manage scope, schedule and cost objectives.