Project Engineer

Founded in 1918, Kearfott Corporation, a global Aerospace and Defense supplier for over 100 years, is a leader in the design and manufacture of precision motion control products and inertial navigation components.

Kearfott has a very long history of innovation and excellence and is the go-to brand for many of our global clients.  Kearfott is trusted, respected and plays a vital role in the success of America’s aerospace and defense industries. With over a century of expertise & experience, Kearfott is dedicated to providing quality, reliability, and cutting-edge technology to customers worldwide to meet their sea, land, air, and space navigation and guidance requirements.

Kearfott offers a comprehensive benefits package including a 401K, and Tuition Reimbursement.   We offer a 9/80 schedule with every other Friday off. 

We are looking for talented individuals who want to be part of a world-class work force. Join Kearfott and become part of a company that is recognized for technical expertise and respected world-wide as a ‘full service’ provider.

For more information, visit our website at www.kearfott.com

Position Description:

The Project Engineer bridges the gap between sales, design engineering, and volume production. This role drives the successful execution of New Product Introduction (NPI) programs from concept and bid phases through production readiness. Acting as the technical project coordinator, this position leads technical proposal development (scoping, costing, scheduling) and transitions won programs through design release to production implementation.

Responsibilities:

Bid & Proposal Development (Pre-Award)

• RFP/RFQ Evaluation: Analyze complex technical specifications, statements of work (SOW), and military/aerospace standards within Requests for Proposals (RFPs).
• Technical Writing: Draft comprehensive technical proposal narratives, executive summaries, compliance matrices, and engineering execution strategies.
• Cost & Labor Estimation: Establish Engineering Cost Estimates (ECEs) and Basis of Estimates (BOEs) for engineering labor hours, non-recurring engineering (NRE), and hardware development.
• WBS & Scheduling: Define the project Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and author preliminary integrated master schedules (IMS) using Microsoft Project or Smartsheet to map resource constraints.
• Pricing: Conduct pre-bid risk assessments to identify technical roadblocks, manufacturing challenges, or long-lead material constraints, pricing these risks into the proposal contingency.

NPI Coordination & Technical Execution (Post-Award)

• Execution Strategy: Translate proposal concepts into actionable engineering development plans upon program award.
• Action Item Tracking: Maintain detailed technical action item lists, tracking engineering tasks to prevent schedule drift.
• Cross-Functional Communication: Facilitate technical alignment across Design Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain, and Operations.
• Milestone Reviews: Lead and support critical program gateway reviews, including PDR (Preliminary Design Review), CDR (Critical Design Review), and MRR (Manufacturing Readiness Review).

Critical Competencies

• Possesses advanced problem solving and troubleshooting skills.
• Ability to dissect vague RFPs and build accurate, defensible cost and scope architectures.
• Strong communication skills to translate highly complex aerospace engineering concepts into plain language for customer evaluation teams.
• Strong working knowledge of manufacturing processes for complex mechanical or electromechanical assemblies.
• Proactive mindset to anticipate critical-path delays and execute mitigation strategies before milestones are missed (schedule ownership).

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Aerospace, Industrial Engineering or related technical discipline required.
• 3+ years experience in a highly regulated industry (Aerospace, Defense, Space, or Automotive).
• 2+ years of direct experience contributing to technical proposals, BOE generation, and formal RFQ responses.
• Experience using enterprise PLM (Teamcenter, Windchill) and ERP/MES software.
• Advanced proficiency with scheduling software (MS Project).
• Strong familiarity with configuration management standards (MIL-STD/AS9100).
• Must be a U.S. Citizen