About Calian
At Calian, we help organizations overcome obstacles, manage risks, and drive progress. Since 1982, we’ve grown from a small consulting firm into a trusted global company across defence, space, health, nuclear energy, public safety, and government.
We create innovative solutions that tackle complex challenges and help organizations and communities stay resilient, informed, and connected.
If you’re driven by purpose and energized by solving real-world challenges, we want you on our team.
Job Type: Full Time
Ottawa, ON | On-site
Position Overview
The Manager, Mechanical Design and Core Engineering is responsible for establishing and executing the strategic roadmap for shared engineering capabilities, laboratories, technical infrastructure, and specialized engineering services that support the organization’s research, product development, systems engineering, and industrialization activities. The role contributes to engineering strategy, investment planning, workforce development, and continuous improvement initiatives to ensure the engineering organization has the capabilities required to support current and future business objectives.
Responsibilities
This role ensures the availability of high-quality engineering services, tools, laboratories, and technical resources needed to support innovation, product development, systems engineering, and industrialization activities.
Shared Services Leadership
- Lead and manage shared engineering resources.
- Prioritize and allocate resources across multiple projects.
- Establish engineering standards and best practices.
- Conduct performance reviews, development planning, succession planning, and talent assessments.
- Ensure appropriate workforce capacity and skills development to meet organizational needs.
- Foster a culture of technical excellence, innovation, accountability, and collaboration
Technical Service Delivery
- Oversee mechanical design and enclosure development.
- Manage PCB layout support.
- Lead antenna measurement and validation services.
- Oversee compliance and environmental testing activities.
Infrastructure and Capability Development
- Maintain engineering laboratories and test facilities.
- Develop new measurement and validation capabilities.
- Ensure calibration and certification compliance.
Process Improvement
- Improve efficiency and responsiveness of support services.
- Standardize engineering tools and methodologies.
- Implement resource planning and forecasting processes.
Collaboration
- Support all engineering organizations in achieving program objectives.
- Facilitate technical reviews and issue resolution.
- Ensure timely execution of engineering support activities.
Engineering Strategy and Capability Planning
- Develop and maintain a multi-year roadmap for engineering services, laboratory infrastructure, and technical capabilities.
- Identify future capability requirements needed to support product roadmaps and technology development initiatives.
- Recommend capital investments, technology acquisitions, and facility enhancements.
- Participate in engineering leadership planning activities and contribute to organizational strategy development.
- Establish service delivery metrics and monitor performance against engineering objectives.
This helps demonstrate that the role is shaping capability rather than simply administering resources.
Key Internal Interfaces and Cross-Functional Collaboration
The Manager, Core Engineering provides shared engineering capabilities and infrastructure that enable all product, research, systems, and industrialization activities. The role ensures engineering resources are effectively allocated across the organization and aligned with business priorities.
Collaboration Responsibilities
With RF & Antenna Research and Technology
- Support prototype development and validation.
- Provide measurement, testing, and design services for research activities.
- Assist in developing new engineering and laboratory capabilities.
With Product Development
- Deliver mechanical design, PCB layout, validation testing, and qualification support.
- Participate in development planning and design reviews.
- Ensure engineering standards are consistently applied.
With RF & Antenna Systems
- Support system integration, prototyping, and qualification activities.
- Provide specialized testing and measurement capabilities.
- Assist with complex multidisciplinary engineering challenges.
With Industrialization and Production Support
- Support manufacturing tooling, test fixtures, compliance activities, and sustaining engineering efforts.
- Provide technical expertise for yield improvement and root cause investigations.
- Ensure qualification and validation activities support production requirements.
Qualifications
A successful candidate must possess broad engineering knowledge, strong organizational skills, and the ability to manage multiple technical disciplines. They must understand how shared services create value across the entire organization. The Manager, Mechanical Design and Core Engineering is accountable for the effectiveness, scalability, and continuous improvement of centralized engineering capabilities that support all engineering functions within the GNSS antenna business. The role influences engineering strategy through capability planning, resource optimization, technology investments, and operational excellence initiatives
Education
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or related discipline.
Experience
- 10+ years in engineering development environments.
- Experience leading multidisciplinary engineering teams.
- Experience supporting product development organizations.
Technical Skills
- Mechanical design and electronics packaging.
- PCB design processes.
- Test and measurement methodologies.
- Compliance and environmental qualification testing.
- Engineering infrastructure management.
Leadership Skills
- Resource management.
- Organizational effectiveness.
- Process optimization.
- Service-oriented leadership.
Additional Requirements
- Experience supporting the development of electronic or embedded hardware products.
- Experience with plastic enclosure design, injection molding, water sealing, or outdoor electronic products is considered an asset.
- Experience with environmental qualification, reliability testing, ingress protection (IP), sealing, or ruggedized product development is considered an asset.
Compensation
$140K-$180K
Vacancy
We have 1 available position.
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AI Usage Disclosure
At Calian, we do not use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to screen or evaluate candidates. AI tools may support backend administrative tasks, but they do not influence hiring decisions. All evaluations and decisions are made by real people on our recruitment team and hiring managers. All applicants are reviewed and only those chosen for an interview will be contacted by our recruiting team.
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