ENGINEERING MANAGER, PROGRAMS
INVEST OTTAWA – AREA X.O
Reporting to the Senior Engineering Manager, Defence and Advanced Robotics at Area X.O, the Engineering Manager, Programs is accountable for delivering Area X.O’s recurring, milestone- and KPI-driven engineering programs, currently defence innovation programs and the agri-tech (Innovation Farm) program. The role combines people leadership with hands-on technical work, with roughly half the time spent leading and developing a small engineering team and half on direct technical contribution. The Engineering Manager, Programs also holds overall accountability for the Area X.O design and fabrication lab, including its utilization, safe operation, and application to client prototyping. The role suits a versatile robotics, integration, or test and evaluation engineer with strong business judgment and client-facing ability.
Work Model:
In person role at our Area X.O site located in Nepean
Corporate Pay Band D: $86,400 - $129,600
Hiring Salary Range: $86,400 - $118,800 (Segment 1 - Segment 2)
Reason for Opening:
This is an anticipated role. The position is contingent on confirmation of program funding, and posting does not guarantee that the role will be filled. Applicants will be notified of any change in status.
WHAT YOU WILL BE DOING
Team Leadership
- Lead and develop a small, multidisciplinary engineering team spanning field support, integration, test and evaluation, and design and fabrication, through one-on-ones, technical mentorship, goal setting, feedback, and performance management
- Assign and balance work across concurrent projects, set technical standards, and hold the team accountable for quality, safety, and schedule
- Participate in recruitment, interviewing, and onboarding, and build team capability across successive delivery cycles
- Provide technical direction across all disciplines on the team, including those outside your own specialization
Program Delivery & Coordination
- Own end-to-end delivery of recurring program cycles, including challenge definition and sponsor endorsement, open call and applicant assessment, cohort selection, design and prototyping, interim reviews and down-select, trials and demonstrations, and close-out
- Maintain schedules, milestones, and dependencies across overlapping cycles, ensuring continuity between the close-out of one cycle and the scoping of the next
- Plan and execute trials and demonstration events, including site and range selection, airspace and flight authorizations, instrumentation, safety briefings, and contingency planning
- Manage program budgets, effort allocation, procurement, and capital planning within approved envelopes
- Coordinate site resources, including test areas, ranges, networks, fabrication capacity, and specialist staff, across competing demands and seasonal windows
- Ensure regulatory, security, and safety requirements are met for each activity
Design & Fabrication Lab
- Hold overall accountability for the design and fabrication lab, including scheduling across client and internal demand, user authorization, consumables and capital planning, and adherence to the lab’s safety, training, and authorization regime
- Set the standard for hardware produced for clients, and make and defend decisions on technical approach, tooling, and build-versus-buy
Technical Contribution
- Work as a practising engineer across robotics, systems integration, design and fabrication, and test and evaluation
- Translate sponsor problem statements into technical requirements, development scope, and evaluation criteria, and assess the merit and feasibility of candidate solutions
- Assess client technology and maturity, identify gaps against program requirements, and define the engineering, prototyping, or evaluation work needed to close them
- Define technical approaches for trials across robotics, sensing, uncrewed, and agricultural platforms, including measurement objectives, validity criteria, and reference data
- Perform hands-on work including system-of-systems integration, sensor and payload onboarding, IP networking, scripting, test design, data analysis, and fault diagnosis
- Resolve escalated technical issues across laboratory, fabrication, and field environments
Client & Stakeholder Relationships
- Serve as the primary engineering point of contact for client companies, SMEs, and end users, scoping technical work and setting realistic expectations for what the site, lab, and team can deliver in a cycle
- Work with challenge sponsors and end users to define and validate challenge statements, and report candidate solutions and outcomes back to them
- Communicate program status, technical risk, trade-offs, and resourcing needs to senior leadership, funding partners, and government clients
- Contribute to proposals, statements of work, and cost and effort estimates
- Represent Area X.O professionally at demonstrations, site visits, industry events, and stakeholder meetings
Reporting & Data
- Define, track, and report the performance indicators committed under each program, including participation, milestone completion, technology advancement, and client-reported outcomes
- Produce program status reports, technical summaries, and funder reporting on a defined cadence, with accurate supporting evidence
- Maintain records of client engagements, engineering effort, test results, and deliverables sufficient to withstand audit and claim review
- Use program data to identify trends, forecast risk, and inform decisions on scope, resourcing, and future program design
WHAT YOU HAVE ACCOMPLISHED/GAINED THROUGHOUT YOUR CAREER:
- Post-secondary degree or diploma in robotics, mechatronics, electrical, computer, mechanical, or systems engineering, computer science, or a related technical field, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience
- Valid driver’s licence and ability to travel between sites as required
- Must be a Canadian citizen and capable of attaining and maintaining Secret-level security clearance
- Minimum 3 to 7 years of progressively responsible engineering experience, including hands-on delivery in robotics, systems integration, test and evaluation, or a comparable technical domain
- Demonstrated experience leading engineers or technical teams as a people manager, technical lead, or project lead
- Demonstrated experience delivering projects against externally committed schedules, budgets, and performance targets
- Experience in a client-facing, consulting, or technical business development capacity
- Retained hands-on technical depth in at least one core area (systems integration, robotics, or test and evaluation), with sufficient breadth to direct work in the others
- Strong business judgment, including estimating effort and cost, scoping work to a budget, and recognizing when an engagement is not viable
- Working proficiency in at least one programming or scripting language, with Python preferred
- Working knowledge of prototyping and fabrication processes, including machining, electronics and PCB assembly, embedded hardware, and additive manufacturing
- Understanding of experimental design and test methodology sufficient to review and approve trial designs, test plans, and results
- Understanding of shop and laboratory safety governance, including training and authorization regimes, machine guarding, and hazardous material controls
- Practical understanding of system-of-systems integration, IP networking, sensing technologies (radar, RF, EO/IR, LiDAR, GNSS, IMUs), edge compute, and ROS/ROS2
- Excellent written and verbal communication, including reporting to senior stakeholders and funding partners
Assets:
- Experience with uncrewed, counter-uncrewed, agricultural, or industrial robotics, or other operational technology
- Experience delivering challenge-based innovation programs, or managing a machine shop, prototyping lab, or comparable fabrication facility
- Experience delivering publicly funded programs with defined reporting and claim obligations
- P.Eng. or eligibility for licensure in Ontario
Do you have some of these skills but maybe not all? We still encourage you to apply as we would love to review your unique application and learn more about you!
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