Full Time | North Sydney, Sydney
Chief Engineer – Position Description
Av-Comm designs, manufactures, and installs optical and RF ground station terminals in support of Space and Defence customers around the world. Our mission is to create space technology solutions to connect the world and beyond.
Over the last twelve months Av-Comm has grown at an exponential rate, and over the next 12 months, will continue to grow due to its involvement in Australian Defence programs. The company is looking to fill a range of positions to cover the scope of work and opportunities that lay ahead.
We are seeking a Chief Engineer to help lead the company.
Key Skills Sought
Leadership – present good leadership skills by way of patience, active listening, mentorship skills and the capacity to provide constructive feedback.
Analytical Skills – be able to obtain data from a variety of sources and evaluate it to arrive at a logical conclusion. Will be able to provide guidance on estimating time to key engineering tasks.
Communication – have great verbal communications skills. Must be able to communicate in a clear and concise manner especially when addressing complex subjects with persons who do not have a technical background. Write reports to board of directors or executive managers.
Duties and Responsibilities
- Communicating the goals of the company to all engineers and professionals that are part of the team.
- Calculating the overall time and cost of engineering tasks, including labour and materials costs.
- Assuring that projects are completed within their budgetary restrictions and on time.
- Having various members of their engineering team take on distinct roles.
- Supervising their employees’ training.
- Performing product and system quality assurance compliance.
- Using conflict resolution techniques to settle disagreements among team members.
- Recognizing and thanking team members for their efforts.
Role Description
- Leading and developing a multi-disciplinary team using innovative tools, best engineering/management principles, etc.
- Ensuring engineering strategies and processes meet business objectives.
- Initiate and support new business opportunities – RFQ’s, RFT’s, RFI’s, etc.
- Continually reviewing and evaluating product development plans against measurable objectives.
- Establishing delivery of engineering works within timeframes and group objectives.
- Working closely with internal and external stakeholders.
- Providing specialist engineering advice and direction into business development, production, concept development, etc.
- Fostering a learning, supportive and development culture.
- Reporting to company CEO.
Further responsibilities
- Ensure that all aspects of a project are organised and conform to timeline and deliverable requirements.
- Develop and maintain engineering performance database that tracks overall progress and achievement of engineering milestones.
- Assign and monitor resources effectively to boost project efficiency and maximize deliverable output.
- Report technical risks and outcomes to appropriate management channels and escalate issues according to project work plan.
- Serve as a point of contact between company teams and external engineering and technical resources.
- Deepen partnerships with outside resources, including third-party vendors and researchers.
Required skills and qualifications:
- A Bachelor Degree (as a minimum) in Engineering.
- A Chartered status and NER Registration as a Professional Engineer is also mandatory.
- ITAR compliance a non-negotiable.
- A minimum of 10 years experience in product development – mechanical and electrical or systems in a similar role.
- A minimum of 5 years’ experience in leading and mentoring a multi-disciplinary engineering teams, ideally in defence or project engineering role.
- Proven ability to drive complex technical programs.
- A hands-on leader regarding design, building, testing, delivering, etc.
- Excellent problem solving and troubleshooting skills.
- Highly developed written and verbal English skills.
- Be able to attain a baseline security clearance from AGSVA
