Engineering Project Manager

Engineering Project Manager

Dayton, OH

Our client is an established small business and a trusted Prime Contractor to the U.S. Department of War, delivering engineering, manufacturing, product quality, and supply chain solutions across weapon system sustainment programs. The team works directly with government and military customers to bridge the gap between initial requirements and manufacturing execution, including advanced and additive manufacturing, digital engineering, and model-based manufacturing. Our client is recognized as one of the fastest-growing private companies in the country.

Position Summary

Our client is hiring an Engineering Project Manager to serve as the technical bridge between engineering execution and program leadership. This is not a generalist project coordinator role: you will own engineering deliverables through the full program lifecycle, from requirements and design through integration, verification, and delivery, while staying close enough to the technical work to ask the right questions and catch problems before they become schedule or cost overruns.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary technical interface between engineering teams and program management on one or more DoD programs
• Own engineering deliverables: schedule, budget, and technical performance across the full project lifecycle
• Lead cross-functional engineering teams through requirements decomposition, design reviews, and verification planning
• Build and maintain integrated schedules for engineering deliverables, tracking risks, dependencies, and critical-path items
• Coordinate with procurement, manufacturing, and quality to keep engineering aligned with production and delivery commitments
• Track cost and schedule performance and deliver clear program status to leadership and government customers
• Manage engineering change requests, configuration control, and technical risk mitigation
• Support proposal and bid activity with technical scoping and schedule input
• Provide day-to-day technical direction to engineers assigned to the program

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Industrial, Systems Engineering, or a related technical field
• 7+ years of engineering experience, including at least 3 years in a project or technical leadership role
• Experience managing engineering execution on DoD, aerospace, or defense manufacturing programs, covering schedule, budget, and technical performance
• Working knowledge of MIL-STD processes and ITAR/EAR/DFARS as they apply to engineering data and deliverables
• Comfortable serving as the direct technical point of contact for government customers and internal leadership
• Strong organizational skills, able to manage multiple concurrent technical workstreams without losing ground on any of them
• Ability to obtain and maintain the required security clearance (U.S. citizenship required)

Preferred Qualifications

• PMP or similar project management certification
• Experience with Earned Value Management (EVM) and Integrated Master Schedules
• Familiarity with Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) or digital engineering environments
• Prior experience at a small-to-medium defense manufacturer or prime contractor, where one person owns more of the program than they would at a larger prime

Why This Role

• Real technical ownership of a program, not a scheduling-only coordinator seat
• Direct line to program leadership and the government customer, no layers in between
• Broad exposure across the engineering lifecycle, from requirements through delivery
• Join a fast-growing, small-business prime contractor with room to shape how engineering programs are run as the company scales