Project Chief Engineer- Active Secret (Onsite)

Date Posted:

2026-08-13

 Country:

United States of America

 Location:

US-IA-CEDAR RAPIDS-121 ~ 350 Collins Rd NE ~ BLDG 121

 Position Role Type:

Onsite

 U.S. Citizen, U.S. Person, or Immigration Status Requirements:

Active and transferable U.S. government issued security clearance is required prior to start date.​ U.S. citizenship is required, as only U.S. citizens are eligible for a security clearance​

 Security Clearance Type:

Secret - Current

 Security Clearance Status:

Active and existing security clearance required on day 1

Shape the Future of the Connected Battlespace

Applied Research & Technology (ART) is seeking an experienced Pro ject Chief Engineer to lead complex integration, experimentation, and field demonstration activities supporting military customers and advanced mission-critical systems. In this highly visible role, you’ll provide hands-on technical leadership across customer engagements, field events, secure environments, and multi-domain integration efforts, helping transform emerging technologies into operational capabilities.

As a key member of the JADC2 Experimentation, Demonstration & Integration (JEDI) Team, you’ll help customers envision the future battlespace through demonstrations and experimentation that create demand and drive early advantage for Connected Battlespace implementation. You’ll work at the forefront of emerging technology to :

Identify , prioritize, and rapidly mature emerging capabilities that address evolving mission needs.

Influence key customer requirements and validate innovative solutions through experimentation, integration, and real-world demonstrations.

Create new opportunities and drive early competitive advantage, increasing the probability of win ( Pwin ) for Collins technical proposals.

This is an opportunity to work at the intersection of technology, mission, and customer need, influencing what comes next while seeing your technical leadership translate into real-world mission capabilities.

What You Will Do

Guide Technical Execution: Lead cross-discipline technical execution across engineering domains, ensuring that all elements work together as a cohesive solution.

Operational Planning and Project Controls: Design, communicate, and implement JEDI PMT technical plans, including engineering work breakdowns, schedules, and cost estimates. Lead the execution of project controls, monitoring progress against plan and ensuring that technical work is aligned with program cost, schedule, and quality targets.

Proposals, Business Plans, and Contract Support: Coordinate technical inputs to proposals, business plans, work statements, specifications, budgets, and contractual terms for their product or customer area. Ensure that commitments are technically sound, feasible, and consistent with family architectures and standards.

Design Direction, Development, and Execution: Guides team to build design concepts, criteria, and engineering direction for product research, development, integration, and test within their scope. Ensure that validation and certification/qualification activities are planned and executed to meet customer and regulatory requirements.

Issue Resolution and Resource Coordination: Monitor technical and operational progress, identify deviations from plan, and drive timely resolution of technical and execution issues to minimize delays. Work with Engineering Resource Management and functional leaders to secure and coordinate the resources necessary to meet commitments.

Stakeholder Engagement: Serve as the technical interface for their product/segment/customer scope with General Management, Program Management, customers, and suppliers, ensuring alignment between technical decisions, business objectives, and contractual obligations.

Ability and willingness to travel up to 25%, including to customer sites, test ranges, and field demonstration locations.

Qualifications You Must Have

Typically requires a degree in Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (STEM) and minimum 8 years prior relevant experience or an Advanced Degree in a related field and minimum 5 years of experience

Active and transferable U.S. government issued secret security clearance is required prior to start date

U.S. citizenship is required, as only U.S. citizens are eligible for a security clearance

Extensive experience in Mission Systems, aerospace, defense, or military ‑ relevant system roles.

Demonstrated experience working across multiple security domains and adhering to classified information handling, security, and safeguarding procedures.

Demonstrated project engineering experience leading complex, cross-functional programs involving systems integration, technical execution, customer engagement, and field demonstrations.

Qualifications We Prefer

Active Top Secret (TS) Security clearance

Excellent communication skills with the ability to brief military customers and translate complex technical concepts.

Experience leading integration and demonstrated activities for military systems or in secure operational environment

Strong troubleshooting skills across embedded systems, hardware interfaces, networking, and secure communications technologies

Experience supporting military platform integration (airborne, ground, maritime, or C2 systems)

Familiarity with secure lab operations, classified networks, and cross ‑ domain solutions

Background in systems engineering, real ‑ time embedded software, mission networking, or advanced avionics architectures

Prior experience delivering high ‑ visibility capability demonstrations to military customers or senior stakeholders

What We Offer

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

Three weeks of vacation for newly hired employees

Generous 401(k) plan that includes employer matching funds and separate employer retirement contribution, including a Lifetime Income Strategy option

Tuition reimbursement program

Student Loan Repayment Program

Life insurance and disability coverage

Optional coverages you can buy pet insurance, home and auto insurance, additional life and accident insurance, critical illness insurance, group legal, ID theft protection

Birth, adoption, parental leave benefits

Ovia Health, fertility, and family planning

Adoption Assistance

Autism Benefit

Employee Assistance Plan, including up to 10 free counseling sessions

Healthy You Incentives, wellness rewards program

Doctor on Demand, virtual doctor visits

Bright Horizons, child and elder care services

Teladoc Medical Experts, second opinion program

And more!

Learn More & Apply Now!

Collins Aerospace makes modern flight possible. Of course, that wouldn’t be possible without the capabilities and technologies of our organization, as well as our engineers – a highly skilled, accomplished network that spans more than 180 sites, 24 countries and 6 Strategic Business Units (SBUs) .

Our industry-leading experts are setting the standards for the aerospace industry and paving the way for the future. But as new challenges present themselves, we need fresh, creative and motivated minds to overcome these hurdles, help us break barriers and achieve new levels of innovation. Do you have what it takes to join a global organization that doesn’t shy away from big opportunities? If so, we invite you to join our ranks and create the next generation of aerospace technologies .

Together, we will nurture an engineering culture that values intellectual curiosity, risk takers and integrity. A place where we will challenge ourselves, our teams, and the status quo and where we will work to find a way – the right way – to achieve what others can only dream of.

*Please ensure the role type (defined below) is appropriate for your needs before applying to this role.

Onsite: Employees who are working in Onsite roles will work primarily onsite. This includes