Software Engineering Project Team Lead

About the role

The Software Project Team Lead reports to a functional manager under the Electrical Software and Controls (ESC) Engineering Director and is matrixed to a combat vehicle Program Engineering Director. In this role, you will lead a project team of 25-30 software engineers supporting a family of combat vehicles. The scope includes software development within the BAE Systems Platforms and Services sector, as well as the management of outsourced software subcontracts. You will hold primary responsibility for vehicle-level software integration, encompassing in-house development, subcontracted software, and government-furnished software and equipment. Integration and testing efforts range from low-level hardware/software integration to full vehicle-level integration and formal software qualification testing.

Responsibilities

• Engineering Oversight: Lead all software engineering phases, including requirements analysis, design, implementation, integration, testing, verification, final delivery, and maintenance.
• Compliance & Quality: Coordinate with Software Quality Assurance and Software Configuration Management to ensure rigorous standards. Partner with Safety Engineering to ensure safety-critical requirements are accurately recorded and drive the appropriate level of rigor in architecture and design.
• Execution & Delivery: Ensure the on-time delivery of high-quality contract deliverables, targeting a 90%+ first-pass customer acceptance rate.
• Financial & Resource Management: Oversee assigned Control Accounts and Work Packages, monitoring progress and taking corrective action to meet cost, quality, performance, and schedule constraints.
• Planning & Proposals: Develop software staffing forecasts, estimates, and Basis of Estimates (BoEs) for proposal efforts, ensuring they are executable and affordable. Coordinate with Software Functional Management for BoE review and approval.
• Milestone Management: Plan software project schedules and builds to align with vehicle-level development. Lead formal milestone reviews with US Government customers, including SRR, PDR, CDR, and TRR.
• Technical Evaluation: Evaluate software requirements and designs to ensure consistency with higher-level performance requirements, customer needs, and the Statement of Work.
• Stakeholder Collaboration: Guide the team in collaborative problem-solving and resolve cross-disciplinary conflicts to optimize system performance, reliability, and cost. Maintain the stakeholder matrix to ensure engagement across systems, electrical, mechanical, safety, and cybersecurity engineering.
• Communication & Risk Management: Proactively communicate with functional and program leadership. Promptly identify and elevate emerging risks, issues, and opportunities to ensure management awareness.
• Team Leadership: Provide clear, concise direction to project personnel. Provide unbiased, constructive Performance and Development Review (PDR) inputs and collaborate with functional managers to provide staff with growth and development opportunities.
• External Representation: Prepare and present project metrics and technical status at formal reviews and technical interchange meetings, maintaining the technical reputation of BAE Systems with customers and industry partners.

Requirements

• Practical knowledge and experience with applicable software engineering processes.
• Working knowledge of Earned Value Management System (EVMS) and Control Account Manager (CAM) / Work Package Manager (WPM) responsibilities.
• Familiarity with CANbus and Ethernet communications.
• Contemporary design/development experience such as object oriented, model-based design, DevSecOps and CI/CD pipelines.
• Exceptional communication (verbal and written) and collaboration skills.
• Ability to conduct effective meetings, discussions, and presentations.
• Experience in management at the Software Project Lead level or one level lower (e.g., managing the software architecture development, software implementation, software integration, or software test portion of a software project).
• Working knowledge of the software safety domain, including a basic understanding of MIL-STD-882E or DO-178C compliance.
• Working knowledge of the cybersecurity domain, including a basic understanding of the Risk Management Framework (RMF) and the requirements and process to obtain/maintain Authority to Operate (ATO).

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant technical discipline plus 8 years relevant experience; or a master’s degree and 6 years of experience; or a Ph.D. and 4 years of experience.
• Practical knowledge and experience with applicable software management processes, engineering development processes, process tailoring and process improvement.
• Working knowledge of a process improvement framework used in software engineering, such as Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) or Automotive Software Process Improvement and Capability dEtermination (ASPICE).
• Cybersecurity certification.
• Project Management Professional (PMP) certification through the Project Management Institute (PMI).
• Combat vehicle subject matter expertise.
• Experience managing software subcontracts.

Skills

• Practical knowledge and experience with applicable software engineering processes.
• Working knowledge of Earned Value Management System (EVMS) and Control Account Manager (CAM) / Work Package Manager (WPM) responsibilities.
• Familiarity with CANbus and Ethernet communications.
• Contemporary design/development experience such as object oriented, model-based design, DevSecOps and CI/CD pipelines.
• Exceptional communication (verbal and written) and collaboration skills.
• Ability to conduct effective meetings, discussions, and presentations.
• Experience in management at the Software Project Lead level or one level lower (e.g., managing the software architecture development, software implementation, software integration, or software test portion of a software project).
• Working knowledge of the software safety domain, including a basic understanding of MIL-STD-882E or DO-178C compliance.
• Working knowledge of the cybersecurity domain, including a basic understanding of the Risk Management Framework (RMF) and the requirements and process to obtain/maintain Authority to Operate (ATO).

Benefits

• Health, dental, and vision insurance.
• Health savings accounts.
• A 401(k) savings plan.
• Disability coverage.
• Life and accident insurance.
• Employee Assistance Program.
• Legal plan.
• Other perks including discounts on things like home, auto, and pet insurance.
• Leave programs including paid time off, paid holidays, and other types of leave, including paid parental, military, bereavement, and any applicable federal and state sick leave.
• Recognition program to receive monetary or non-monetary recognition awards.
• Other incentives may be available based on position level and/or job specifics.

Pay

Full-Time Salary Range: $132962 - $226035. This range is based on our market pay structures. However, individual salaries are determined by a variety of factors including, but not limited to: business considerations, local market conditions, and internal equity, as well as candidate qualifications, such as skills, education, and experience.

Schedule

We operate on a 9/80 schedule (every other Friday off) and utilize a hybrid approach that balances on-site collaboration and onboarding support with the flexibility of remote work.