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Chief Engineer Director

Lockheed Martin

Littleton, COFull-time$195–350K/yrSeen todaySeen in employer's feed today

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At a glance

Compensation
$195–350K/yr
Location
Littleton, CO
Schedule
Full-time
Work Authorization
US work authorization required

Olive lists jobs from US employers, including remote roles you can work from the United States.

Requirements

Credentials this posting asks for.

TS/SCI clearance, required

Job overview

The National Security Space Line of Business Chief Engineer Director leads engineering and technology across programs, shaping technical strategy with senior leadership and serving as a technical authority for customers. The role oversees program engineering through chief engineers, directs technical execution, and develops engineering talent. It requires extensive technical and leadership experience, U.S. citizenship, and an active, maintainable TOP SECRET/SCI clearance.

Skills & qualifications

RequiredNice to have

Skills

Systems Integration, requiredCross-Functional Team Leadership, requiredTechnical Product Development, requiredTechnical Issue Resolution, requiredTechnical Talent Development, requiredFunctional Management, requiredProgram Management, nice to haveDigital Engineering Practices, nice to haveTechnical Communication, nice to haveExecutive Presentations, nice to have

Qualifications

15+ Years Technical and Leadership Experience, requiredChief Engineer or Related Role, requiredUS Citizenship, requiredTOP SECRET/SCI Clearance, requiredDrug and Background Check, required

Benefits

Medical Insurance
Dental Insurance
Vision Insurance
401(k) Match
Paid Time Off
Parental Leave
Tuition Assistance

Full job description

Standard Job Description

What is the mission?

The mission matters. So do the people behind it. With advancing defense technology at our core, what sets us apart is a culture of collaboration, purpose, and impact. (https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/careers/why-lm.html)

Space is a critical domain, connecting our technologies, our security and our humanity. While others view space as a destination, we see it as a realm of possibilities, where we can do more— we can innovate, invest, inspire and integrate our capabilities to transform the future.

What does this role look like?

National Security Space (NSS) LOB Chief Engineer Director leads engineering excellence across NSS Programs, accountable for Engineering and Technology (E&T) via Program Chief Engineers (CEs) and NSS Chief SW Engineer. Shapes technical strategy with senior leadership for on-time, affordable missions. Oversees >$6B/year program scope and >$100M/yr IRAD/B&P, ensuring risk-balanced solutions. Serves as technical authority engaging senior customers. Develops CE talent pipeline, resolves technical issues via E&T, and feeds lessons into Space Corrective Action Board (CAB). Requires proven delivery on technical/schedule/financial commitments and next-generation leadership skills.

This role will offer you the following daily challenges:

Accountable for all aspects of engineering and technology activities within a program, program area, or line of business to ensure mission milestones and business objectives are met. Serves as the primary technical authority / technical interface with internal program management and external customers. Ensures proposals have sound technical solutions and schedules and drive affordability. Leads a technical team of cross functional engineers to ensure successful proper system/product development and execution. Evaluates and ensures complex issues are resolved in a cost effective, innovative way. Champion mission success and drive a mission success culture. Directs a team into exploration of new problem solution areas with novel concepts and approaches, guiding scope definition and prioritizing problems for investigation. Determine appropriate risk posture and develop mitigation strategies for complex projects. Ensure selected designs are robust and include appropriate margins to facilitate safety, performance, producibility and operational availability/supportability. Ensures program plans and technical baselines are consistent with Program Control processes and Modern Engineering Practices. Responsible for key decision making that impact businesses, the failure to achieve the objectives result in critical impact of program capabilities. Ensures identification of lessons learned, and corrective action are initiated and implemented to improve future and ongoing programs. Provides technical mentoring and career development support of team and allocates resources effectively. Leads and directs the technical execution efforts of the program or LOB.

Basic Qualifications

To be effective, you will need to possess these basic qualifications:

  • Minimum 15 years of technical and leadership experience with demonstrated expertise in systems integration, desired prior role as Chief Engineer, Chief System Engineer, or System Engineering Director.

  • Must have experience leading cross-functional teams who lead the design, development, sustainment and evolution of technical products.

  • Must demonstrate full spectrum leadership skills and behaviors and proven experience leading a cross-functional team of employees.

  • Demonstrated ability to drive closure and resolve complex technical issues/challenges.

  • Experience managing and delivering technical, cost and schedule requirements for a product or program.

  • Demonstrated ability to develop technical talent.

  • Experience working in a functional management organization construct

  • You will need to be a US Citizen, and currently possess and be able to maintain a US TOP SECRET / SCI clearance,to support this government contract, as well as successfully pass a drug and background check, in order to meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information.

Desired Skills

To be effective, ideally, you should also have:

  • Program Management Experience

  • Experience applying modern digital practices to creating technical solutions across all engineering domains (mechanical, electrical, systems) and stages of the life cycle (requirements, design, manufacturing and test)

  • Must be an excellent communicator, with experience presenting to executive leadership and external customers.

Pay Information

Full-Time Salary Range: $195000.00 - $350000.00

At Lockheed Martin, we know mission success starts with taking care of our people. Our Total Rewards program is designed to attract top talent, support your well-being, and help you grow—both professionally and personally.

The salary range for this position is as listed on the requisition. Please note that the salary information listed is a general guideline only. Lockheed Martin considers factors such as (but not limited to) scope and responsibilities of the position, candidate's work experience, education/ training, key skills as well as market(work location) and business considerations when extending an offer.

Benefits offered: Medical, Dental, Vision, Flexible work arrangements and schedules (e.g., 4x10), 401(k) match, Paid time off, Holidays, Parental Leave, EAP, Flexible Spending Accounts, Education Assistance, Life Insurance, Short-Term Disability, and Long-Term Disability.

  • Annual short-term and/or long-term incentive compensation programs may be offered depending on the position. Payments under these annual programs are not guaranteed and can vary from year to year and are tied to a range of performance metrics.

  • For (Washington state applicants only) Non-represented full-time employees: accrue at least 10 hours per month of Paid Time Off (PTO) to be used for incidental absences and other reasons; receive at least 90 hours for holidays. Represented full time employees accrue 6.67 hours of Vacation per month; accrue up to 52 hours of sick leave annually; receive at least 96 hours for holidays. PTO, Vacation, sick leave, and holiday hours are prorated based on start date during the calendar year.

Lockheed Martin is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified candidates will be considered without regard to legally protected characteristics.

How this job compares

Set against the 2,287 open Engineering Leadership jobs on Olive Jobs, counted November 12, 2026.

Pay
  • This posting$195–350K/yr
  • Colorado median$171–236K/yr56 salary ranges
  • US median$182–306K/yr1,905 salary ranges

This range's midpoint, $273K, is 31% above the Colorado median midpoint ($209K) — in the middle half of Engineering Leadership salary ranges in Colorado.

Openings
Olive Jobs lists 67 open Engineering Leadership jobs in Colorado and 2,287 across the US. 6% of them nationwide are listed as remote or flexible.
Hiring the most in Colorado
Experience
This posting asks for at least 15 years of experience — more than three in four Engineering Leadership postings that state a minimum ask for (median 10 years, across 1,790 postings).
Education
718 of the 2,287 open Engineering Leadership jobs (31%) ask for a bachelor's degree or higher.

Counted across the open, public US postings on Olive Jobs on November 12, 2026. Pay medians are the middle values of the low ends and of the high ends of postings that list both ends of a range in the same cadence (a yearly salary or an hourly rate); a range's midpoint is halfway between its ends. Pay and experience figures resting on fewer than 20 postings are left out.

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