Insitu

Vice President, Engineering and Technology

Bingen, WA · Exec

No sponsorship$215k-$295kDetected 30 days ago

CybersecurityProduct StrategyOKRsBusiness DevelopmentRecruitingResearchLeadershipCommunicationCollaborationMentoring

About the role

This is a high‑impact, enterprise‑wide role that combines technology strategy, engineering leadership, and operational integration.
Job Description Summary The Vice President of Engineering and Technology is the company's senior technical leader and primary technology strategist.
This role reports to the Chief Executive Officer and is a key member of the executive leadership team, acting as the company's chief technical authority and external technology ambassador.

Lead portfolio‑level technology and architecture decisions (e.g., make/buy/partner, modularity vs. integration, open architectures) to optimize capability, schedule, lifecycle cost, and technical risk.
Chair key technical governance forums (e.g., Architecture Review Board, Design Authority reviews) to maintain technical integrity, reuse, and common standards across programs.
Drive a focused, high‑impact R&D portfolio aligned with the technology strategy and customer needs, making clear go/hold/stop decisions on major technology bets.
Serve as the company's ultimate technical authority for key design and architecture decisions, technical risk acceptance, and technology trade‑offs.
Build and maintain a strong technical ladder, including Principal/Chief Engineers, to provide deep expertise, mentorship, and design leadership across programs.
Engage directly with key customers, end‑users, and partners to understand mission problems, shape the technology roadmap around real operational needs, and advocate for investment priorities.

Bachelor's degree in Engineering or a closely related technical discipline from an accredited institution.
Extensive experience in aerospace, defense, and/or autonomous systems, with significant time in senior technical leadership roles (e.g., Vice President, Chief Engineer, Head of Engineering, or equivalent).
Ability to engage credibly at a deep technical level (e.g., architecture trade‑offs, algorithm performance, system safety, test strategies) while maintaining a portfolio‑level strategic view.
Strong cross‑functional collaboration skills, with the ability to influence and align stakeholders from engineering, operations, programs, finance, and business development.

Demonstrated success managing sizable departmental budgets and contributing to annual operating plans and long‑range business planning.

Technology Vision, Strategy & Architecture
Own and continuously evolve the company's multi‑year technology vision and roadmap for unmanned and autonomous systems, aligned with long‑range business plans, customer mission outcomes, and innovation priorities.
Sponsor and review research and case studies on leading‑edge technologies, identifying differentiating capabilities and ensuring rapid learning cycles (demo, test, iterate).
Establish and track key technical KPIs/OKRs (e.g., defect rates, design cycle times, test coverage, reliability metrics) and drive continuous improvement based on data.

Lead and integrate a multi‑disciplinary Engineering organization (Systems, Software, AI/Autonomy, Aerospace, Mechanical, Electrical, Payloads, Test) to deliver cohesive, high‑impact solutions for global defense and security customers.

215,000.00 - 295,350.00 Insitu is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, physical or mental disability, genetic factors, military/veteran status or other characteristics protected by law.

Sponsor and review research and case studies on leading‑edge technologies, identifying differentiating capabilities and ensuring rapid learning cycles (demo, test, iterate)

This listing is sourced directly from Insitu's careers page and normalized into a canonical job model.