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Senior Project EngineerAirborne Sensor Systems | Burlington, ONAbout the Job

At PV Labs, we're not just building cutting-edge airborne sensor systems—were rebuilding the expectations of what a high-performance, multi-disciplinary engineering organization can achieve. As our Senior Project Engineer, you are someone who can operate confidently at the intersection of complex engineering, program leadership, customer communication, and decision-making.

Your job is to turn technical ambition into actionable reality—by organizing multi-disciplinary work, aligning stakeholders, and translating complexity into clarity. You wont just manage timelines—you'll manage outcomes. And you'll do it through influence, trust, and an intimate understanding of what it takes to build sophisticated optical-mechanical-electronic systems that fly.

This is a senior-level role for a relationship-driven, technically grounded professional who can cut through noise, clarify priorities, and guide complex programs from ambiguity to execution. You'll serve as the translator, the integrator, and the calm in the storm—balancing long-term system delivery milestones with short-term decisions about lead times, design trade-offs, and interdependent engineering packages.

The Role is Evolving. And So Are We.

Were transitioning from a custom-engineering business to a product-centric innovation company. That means complexity is growing—but so is the opportunity to shape how programs are led and delivered.

Your Center of Gravity: The PVLabs Engineering Council

You wont manage every task engineer directly—but you will work closely through a core Engineering Council: a small, trusted group of Staff and Principal Engineers across systems, mechanical, electrical, software and gateware disciplines. This Council is your force multiplier—able to translate high-level priorities into actionable workstreams, escalate technical risk, and help you sequence interdependent deliverables.

Success in this role depends on the strength of your relationships with the Council. You'll be expected to earn trust, share context early and often, and rally these senior contributors around the critical path. While you'll own the big picture, they'll help you make the thousand little decisions that actually get the product built.

What You'll Do

• Understand the customer, the contracts, the engineering teams and the operations teams and keep them equally balanced with the kind of information that moves things forward.
• Command the Program Landscape: Own all program-level tracking for cost, schedule, scope, risk, and change—ensuring that technical realities are reflected in customer expectations and business plans.
• Lead Through Relationships: Manage up, down, and across. Translate big-picture goals into prioritized engineering priorities, while earning the trust of designers, leaders, and customers alike.
• Simplify the Complex: Digest massive amounts of technical data, schedules, and constraints—and define the net-net for decision-makers at all levels.
• Prioritize Interdependently: Balance the technical dependencies between electrical, mechanical, systems software and FPGA teams—knowing when to push, when to sequence, and when to adapt.
• Engineer Realism: Identify whats achievable with current supply chain and operations/production realities, NPI risks, and internal resourcing—then align everyone to deliver accordingly.
• Design and Deliver Process: Help implement (and continuously refine) our ERP-integrated project management structure, including resource modeling, material demand planning, and NRE forecasting.
• Own the Program Backbone: Manage cost, schedule, risk and performance across active programs—driving outcomes through clarity, realism, and urgency.
• Prioritize with Intent: Sequence and deconflict technical workstreams—especially when software, mechanical, FPGA and electronics deliverables collide.
• Make Complexity Actionable: Digest huge volumes of tasking, risk, and timing—and distill them into clear, simple direction for internal and external stakeholders.
• Drive Alignment Through Influence: Serve as the connective tissue between engineering execution, supply chain, leadership, and customer commitments.
• Partner with the Engineering Council: Translate project needs into engineering priorities, elevate tradeoffs, and rely on their leadership to manage daily execution.
• Shape the System, Not Just the Project: Participate in defining how we use ERP, engineering planning tools, and cost tracking systems—because process matters.

What You Bring to the Table

• Can see the forest and the trees—zooming out to align teams on strategic intent, and zooming in to remove blockers at the work-package level.
• Bring a diplomatic assertiveness—someone who earns buy-in rather than demands it.
• Are energized by messy problems—especially where design complexity, technical novelty, and tight deadlines collide.
• Have a knack for making order out of disorder—especially when it comes to engineering documentation, planning, dependencies, and system-level integration.
• Are naturally inclined to manage outcomes, not just tasks—with a relentless focus on making smart decisions, fast.
• A systems-thinking mindset, with strong technical literacy across multiple domains (you've likely worked with electro-mechanical-optical systems before)
• Confidence without ego—able to command a room, but comfortable saying, I don't know—lets find out.
• A diplomats touch—comfortable pushing priorities, navigating friction, and resolving cross-functional tension with grace.
• The ability to zoom in and zoom out—equally fluent in discussing FPGA resource constraints, production lead times, and customer delivery timelines.
• Experience working in environments where technical teams are small, timelines are tight, and documentation evolves as fast as the product.

Communication & Leadership Competencies (Non‑negotiable)

We are seeking demonstrable evidence in these key core communication competencies :

• Critical Path Narration
• Synthesis‑Based Communication
• Executive Communication Translation
• Decision‑Driving Communication
• Cross‑Functional Orchestration
• Structured Risk Communication
• Predictive (Forward‑Looking) Communication
• Ownership of Communication Tools (IMS, dashboards)
• Escalation Judgment
• Leadership Communication Presence

Your Background

• 9+ years in engineering project execution, NPI project engineering, or cross-functional program management in complex hardware environments.
• Strong fluency in systems engineering fundamentals.
• Proven track record in managing or supporting high-complexity programs—ideally in aerospace, defense, or high-reliability systems.
• Expertise in schedule management, critical path analysis, and risk communication
• Familiar with modern planning tools (IMS, WBS, earned value, Jira/Confluence) and ERP integration for engineering workflows.
• Exposure to manufacturing, DFM, DFT, or assembly sequencing.
• Comfortable managing programs from $5M–$30M, with deep exposure to technical team resourcing, cost forecasting, and supplier coordination.

What Success Looks Like

• Senior leadership trusts your updates without requiring micro‑management.
• Customers receive clear, concise, decision‑ready communication.
• Program schedules remain accurate, realistic, and tightly managed.
• Cross‑functional teams feel aligned, informed, and supported.
• Engineering issues surface early and are addressed proactively.
• You contribute to a culture where precision, accountability, and clarity set the tone.

Why PV Labs?

Because you want to work on something hard, something meaningful—and you want to do it with people who are as driven, smart, and resourceful as you are. Because you want to work where it matters. At PV Labs, your work wont disappear into a slide deck. You'll be part of a mission-driven engineering culture, designing high-performance, airborne gimballed imaging systems that outperform global incumbents—and doing it on a four-day workweek.

Our workplace is built around performance, trust, and accountability—measured in outputs, not hours. You'll collaborate with exceptional people solving hard technical challenges with autonomy and urgency.

PVLabs commits to using real humans to review applications, if you commit to being a real human when you apply.