MANAGER - PRODUCT INNOVATION

AeroTEC’s Engineering Department provides comprehensive, full-service aerospace engineering across the full aircraft development lifecycle — design, analysis, integration, test, and certification. Spanning Structures and Flight Sciences, Design and Stress, Mechanical Systems, Aircraft Systems, Systems Engineering and Certification, Test and Evaluation, and Product Innovation, the Department delivers the technical capability behind AeroTEC’s customer programs and its own products, and is central to the company’s mission to pioneer the future of sustainable aerospace. 

The Manager, Product Innovation is responsible for leading AeroTEC’s Product Innovation function, driving the development and execution of new product concepts from inception through prototype, test, and delivery. This includes providing technical leadership and ownership across mechanical design, wind tunnel models, structural and systems analysis, and design-for-certification activities required to bring novel aerospace products to market. The Manager is responsible for the development, maintenance, and consistent application of product development processes, for managing a team of Group Leads and Engineers, and for overseeing the cost, schedule, and quality performance of Product Innovation scope across a portfolio of programs. This role requires the significant exercise of independent discretion and judgment in matters of significance. 

Job Duties and Responsibilities (Essential Functions): 

• Hold formal responsibility for the AeroTEC Mechanical Design and Wind Tunnel Model (WTM) Engineering skill codes, including the planning, resourcing, technical quality, capability development, and overall cost and schedule performance on the portfolio of programs. 

• Lead AeroTEC’s Product Innovation function across the full product development lifecycle for every program and project, including: 

  1. Concept and ideation – driving the ideation and concept-development process and fostering an environment of innovation, creative problem-solving, and lean continuous improvement. 

  2. Mechanical design – conceptual and detailed design of products, assemblies, and installations, including CAD/PLM modeling and prototype-ready definition. 

  3. Wind tunnel models (WTM) – design, build coordination, and delivery of wind tunnel models and associated test articles. 

  4. Analysis and design-for-certification – structural and systems analysis ensuring compliance with relevant customer, regulatory, and airworthiness requirements. 

  5. Prototype and delivery – prototyping, testing, and transition of new products through to delivery. 

• Develop, maintain, and continuously improve AeroTEC’s product development processes, procedures, templates, and toolsets, including PLM systems, CAD standards, and prototype manufacturing workflows; mentor and support other engineering disciplines in their correct application. 

• Provide functional review of generated bids, proposals, and statements of work within assigned programs/projects; support business development with technical input for new opportunities. 

• Assess, manage, and mitigate overall technical risk within assigned programs; independently review deliverables and assist Program Managers in managing program technical risk. 

• Lead cross-functional collaboration with internal and external stakeholders, including: 

  1. Systems Engineering & Certification – to ensure product requirements are correctly allocated, verified, and certified. 

  2. Design & Stress, Mechanical Systems, and Test & Evaluation – to integrate, analyze, and validate product designs. 

  3. Manufacturing – to ensure prototypes and products are producible and delivered on schedule. 

  4. Program Management – to integrate Product Innovation scope, deliverables, and risks into program plans and customer reporting. 

  5. Customers, suppliers, and certification authorities – representing AeroTEC’s Product Innovation position with technical authority and professionalism. 

• Manage and support a portfolio of programs from a Product Innovation perspective – own the cost and schedule performance of Product Innovation scope, applying Earned Value Management (EVM) principles to plan, baseline, measure (BCWS, BCWP, ACWP, CV, SV, CPI, SPI), forecast, and recover work; produce variance analyses and corrective action plans. 

• Oversee the quality of all product development work products, ensuring designs, analysis packages, and certification artifacts meet AeroTEC, customer, and regulatory standards prior to release. 

• Support technical and customer discussions and reviews, including formal gate reviews, and lead the preparation of technical data and presentations. 

• Identify the need for, scope, source, and manage the work product of contractors, consultants, and external service suppliers supporting Product Innovation activities; ensure their deliverables meet technical, quality, schedule, and budget expectations. 

• Manage the Product Innovation team – Group Leads and Engineers – including: 

1. Day-to-day direction, workload balancing, and ensuring teams are correctly loaded against program needs. 

1. Performance management, including feedback, performance reviews, and recovery plans for under-performance. 

1. Professional development, mentoring, training plans, and succession planning. 

1. Recruiting, onboarding, and retention of talent. 

1. Administrative tasks: shift/coverage scheduling, timesheet review, and approvals. 

• Identify, communicate, and actively manage technical and programmatic risks; report key metrics, status, and issues to their supervisor, Program Management, and customers as appropriate. 

• Represent AeroTEC in external forums, industry bodies, and customer-facing settings as a Product Innovation subject matter expert. 

• Complete special projects and other duties as assigned by their supervisor. 

Knowledge / Skills / Abilities: 

• Broad technical background spanning aerospace mechanical design, structural and systems analysis, and product development – with a passion for innovation and emerging technologies. 

• Knowledge of wind tunnel model design and build, flight test operations, aircraft certification, and design-for-certification principles, including 14 CFR Part 23/25/27 and associated guidance material. 

• Proficiency with CATIA V5/V6 and/or NX CAD; familiarity with PLM environments and prototype manufacturing methods. 

• Familiarity with sustainable propulsion technologies, electric aircraft systems, or advanced composite structures is strongly preferred. 

• Ability to manage complex, ambiguous work statements; skill in rationalizing, assessing, and evaluating information that may not always be clear or mature. 

• Proven leadership presence: able to build, motivate, and coach a team to measurable results; moves easily between leading, managing, and doing; instills urgency while remaining patient and objective in difficult situations. 

• Effective cross-functional collaborator who can influence without authority and align stakeholders behind technical decisions. 

• Strong analytical and decision-making skills, with the ability to troubleshoot, develop defensible conclusions, and act decisively under uncertainty. 

• Strong communication skills – verbal, written, and presentation – including the ability to publicly represent AeroTEC to customers, suppliers, and certification authorities. 

• Strong organizational, time management, and prioritization skills; able to maintain focus across multiple programs and hit deadlines in a fast-paced environment. 

• Computer skills: Proficient in Microsoft Office; experienced with relevant engineering and project management tools. Able to quickly learn new software and systems. 

• Creative thinker who develops solutions tailored to each customer and project, balancing technical, regulatory, and commercial considerations to maximize value for both the customer and AeroTEC. 

• High personal standards: professional, self-confident, ethical, and committed to high-quality outcomes. 

Level Requirements (Minimum): 

Education 

• Four (4) year degree in Engineering (Aerospace, Mechanical, Systems, or related). B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. considered. Other Engineering fields may be considered. 

Experience 

• Minimum ten (10) years of aerospace engineering experience, including substantive product development work across the design, analysis, and certification domains. 

• Minimum three (3) years of experience leading other technical personnel and managing a project to completion, including responsibility for cost, schedule, and quality outcomes. 

Physical Requirements: 

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job: 

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk and/or hear. The employee is frequently required to sit, stand, walk, use hands to finger, handle or feel, and reach with hands and arms. Must have the ability to sit for long periods of time. 

• The employee is occasionally required to climb or balance, and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The employee must frequently lift and/or move up to 10 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus. 

• Travel (flying and driving) to various domestic and international worksites and client offices is required. Frequent travel to the Moses Lake Facility for extended periods of time during scheduled flight test operations may be required. 

This Job Description is not intended to describe, in detail, the multitude of tasks that may be assigned but rather to give the incumbent a general sense of the responsibilities and expectations of his/her position. As the nature of business demands change, so may the essential functions of this position.