Lead, Chief Engineer
L3HARRIS Technologies
Huntsville, AL · Posted September 24, 2026
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November 2026
- #1Best cities for aerospace and defense jobs555 openings · of 67
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- #6Best cities for aerospace and defense pay after cost of living$151k · of 19
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About the job
Job Title: Lead, Chief Engineer Job ID: 42642 Job Location: Huntsville, AL or Orange, VA, Job Schedule: Huntsville, AL - 9/80: Employees work 9 out of every 14 days – totaling 80 hours worked – and have every other Friday off Orange, VA - 4/10: Employees work 10 hour days, 4 days a week
Job Description: L3Harris’ Missile Solutions Segment is seeking a Chief Engineer with expertise in the development of missile systems and/or missile propulsion systems. This individual will be responsible for the technical strategy and execution of ongoing customer funded efforts, covering all phases of development—from pre award concept development and proposal preparation through design, testing, verification, production, deployment, and operational acceptance. The Chief Engineer will lead the engineering execution activities across all disciplines for both existing programs and new pursuits.
Essential Functions: • Lead vehicle and propulsion systems design with a strong focus on continuous improvement to meet design milestones on schedule and within budget. • Provide strong leadership and demonstrate agility by making decisive technical judgments and communicating strategic vision in development environments with incomplete requirements, aggressive schedules, and high quality standards. • Coordinate engineering activities with Supply Chain and Operations for development efforts. • Share ownership of metrics related to MRB and Nonconformance rates, closure timelines for Production Programs, and production delivery performance. • Identify IR&D efforts and align them with technical roadmaps to create technology differentiators. • Lead pursuits with emphasis on technical baseline rigor, cost justification, executability, and risk management. • Contribute to program risk and opportunity management, driving mitigation and realization actions. • Ensure technical issue resolution, root cause identification, and effective implementation of corrective actions.
Qualifications: • Bachelor’s Degree and minimum 9 years of prior relevant experience. Graduate Degree and a minimum of 7 years of prior related experience. In lieu of a degree, minimum of 13 years of prior related experience. • Ability to obtain and maintain an active DoD Secret security clearance. • Proficiency in leading technical issue resolution through root cause investigation and implementation of corrective actions. • Expertise in communicating technical data to senior management and customers with varying levels of technical understanding. • Ability to travel up to 25%.
Preferred Additional Skills: • 7+ years of propulsion and vehicle systems domain knowledge. • Strong multidisciplinary technical breadth in missiles and propulsion. • Ability to quickly understand missions, customer needs, and drive strategy. • Experience with: – Requirements elicitation, analysis, and functional allocation; systems requirements reviews; concept of operations development; interface standards; and performing technical/non technical assessments and management. – Leading large, complex, multidisciplinary engineering development teams. – Technology innovation, ownership of technology roadmaps, prototyping efforts, and reference architectures. – Optimizing engineering processes for efficiency and compliance. – Scaling engineering talent, growing technical teams, and staffing programs to meet customer and program needs. – Design for manufacturability and cost. – Successfully executing multi site engineering efforts.
In compliance with pay transparency requirements, the salary range for this role in Virginia (outside of Greater D.C. area) is $110,500 - $205,500. This is not a guarantee of compensation or salary, as final offer amount may vary based on factors including but not limited to experience and geographic location. L3Harris also offers a variety of benefits, including health and disability insurance, 401(k) match, flexible spending accounts, EAP, education assistance, parental leave, paid time off, and company-paid holidays. The specific programs and options available to an employee may vary depending on date of hire, schedule type, and the applicability of collective bargaining agreements.
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