Head of Engineering Design

Company Overview

Metrea delivers effects-as-a-service to national security partners across five domains and more than a dozen mission areas. These include airborne ISR, electronic warfare, secure communications, aerial refueling, special air missions, aerial firefighting, and advanced simulation. We own the whole stack: designing, building, and operating turnkey capabilities that give our partners decisive, asymmetric advantage against rapidly evolving threats.

Our operating model is built around three interlocking pillars. The Support Groups provide a global shared-service – spanning people, finance, platform, operations, legal, and engagement. This frees up our Core Groups, who develop and own mission capabilities end-to-end, to focus entirely on delivery. The Market Groups apply a regional lens, ensuring that our agile and adaptable capabilities remain aligned to the wicked problems that matter most to our partners across the Americas, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific.

At the heart of our model is a simple but powerful idea: be a true partner with skin in the game. Our partners need effects, not just equipment. By owning the full stack – from the lab to the field – we are able to drive a continuous cycle of innovation that keeps our partners ahead. It's a fast-moving, intellectually demanding environment where talented people are given real responsibility, work on problems that matter, and contribute to an enterprise that is growing quickly and deliberately.

Headquartered in Washington, DC, with facilities across the United States, the United Kingdom, as well as Continental Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Position Summary

The Head of Engineering Design leads the engineering organization responsible for the design, development and integration of aircraft modifications across a mixed portfolio of aircraft platforms from twin engine turboprops to large jet aircraft. This position provides technical and organizational leadership for multidisciplinary engineering teams delivering complex aircraft modification programs, including (but not limited too) structural, mechanical, electrical, avionics, mission systems and cabins for special-mission integrations. These integrations support operations around the globe in various regulatory environments. The Head of Engineering Design is accountable for engineering design quality, technical execution, resource planning, schedule performance, regulatory compliance, and alignment with business and customer objectives.

The Head of Engineering Design will bring substantial aircraft modification experience, strong engineering judgment, and a demonstrated ability to lead teams through technically complex, safety-critical, and highly regulated programs.

What You'll Do

Engineering Leadership

Lead, develop, and manage multidisciplinary aircraft modification engineering teams across structural, mechanical, electrical, avionics, systems, and related technical disciplines

Establish clear organizational priorities, accountabilities, performance expectations, and development plans for engineering leaders and individual contributors

Build engineering capability through workforce planning, succession planning, technical mentoring, targeted hiring, and professional development

Promote a culture of technical rigor, ownership, collaboration, continuous improvement, and operational accountability

Ensure engineering teams are appropriately staffed and organized to support current programs, new business opportunities, and long-term strategic objectives

Aircraft Modification Execution

Provide executive-level oversight of aircraft modification programs from concept development through design, certification, installation, testing, delivery, and continued operational support

Ensure modification designs meet customer requirements, airworthiness standards, internal engineering requirements, and applicable regulatory obligations

Oversee engineering work related to aircraft structures, systems integration, avionics, electrical systems, mechanical systems, interiors, mission equipment, and special-purpose modifications

Review program status, technical risks, resource requirements, design maturity, and engineering deliverables and develop mitigations as appropriate to ensure on time, budget and performance delivery

Ensure aircraft modification designs are aligned with Metrea’s broader objectives in developing APUS compliant scalable solutions

Establish effective engineering planning, design review, verification, validation, and technical approval processes

Partner with Program Management and Operations to resolve technical issues affecting schedule, cost, installation, testing, or aircraft delivery

Certification and Airworthiness Adherence

Ensure aircraft modifications are designed and developed in accordance with applicable FAA, EASA, UK CAA, military, customer and other regulatory requirements

Partner closely with Certification, Airworthiness, Quality and other key personnel to develop and execute certification strategies

Support certification programs involving STCs, major repairs and alterations, field approvals, conformity activities, and other applicable certification pathways

Ensure engineering data, compliance findings, test plans, substantiation reports, drawings, analyses, and instructions for continued airworthiness meet required standards

Serve as a senior technical interface with regulatory authorities, customers, suppliers, and external engineering partners when required

Technical Governance and Quality

Establish and maintain engineering standards, procedures, design practices, technical authority structures, and approval processes

Ensure technical decisions are supported by appropriate analysis, testing, documentation, and sound engineering judgment

Lead or support formal design reviews, technical reviews, safety assessments, root-cause investigations, and corrective-action efforts

Ensure compliance with configuration management, document control, product safety, quality-management, export-control, and information-security requirements

Monitor engineering quality indicators and implement corrective actions when performance, compliance, or technical standards are not being met

Strengthen lessons-learned, knowledge-management, and continuous-improvement practices across the engineering organization

Capability Area and File Partnership

Support proposal development, technical estimating, statements of work, schedules, staffing plans, and risk assessments

Provide technical input into bid, no-bid, make, buy, and investment decisions

Assess the technical feasibility, certification complexity, resource requirements, and delivery risk of new aircraft modification opportunities

Ensure engineering commitments are realistic, appropriately resourced, and aligned with contractual and business expectations

Communicate program risks, resource constraints, technical decisions, and required leadership actions clearly and promptly

Financial and Resource Management

Develop and manage engineering budgets, staffing plans, labor forecasts, and capital or tool requirements

Dynamically balance resources across competing programs and priorities while informing and managing stakeholders as appropriately aligned with Enterprise objectives

Identify opportunities to improve engineering efficiency, standardization, reuse, and delivery performance without compromising safety or compliance

Manage consultants, suppliers, and external engineering resources as needed

What You Bring

Bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related technical discipline

Minimum 10 or more years of progressively responsible aerospace engineering experience

Significant experience supporting aircraft modification, integration, certification, or major repair programs, ideally in special mission aviation

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