Quest Defense is an organization at the forefront of innovation and one of the world’s fastest growing engineering services firms with deep domain knowledge and recognized expertise in the top OEMs across seven industries. We are part of a twenty-five-year-old company on a journey to becoming a centenary one, driven by aspiration, hunger and humility.
We are looking for humble geniuses, who believe that engineering has the potential to make the impossible, possible; innovators, who are not only inspired by technology and innovation, but also perpetually driven to design, develop, and test as a trusted partner for Fortune 500 customers.
As a team of remarkably diverse engineers, we recognize that what we are really engineering is a brighter future for us all. If you want to contribute to meaningful work and be part of an organization that truly believes when you win, we all win, and when you fail, we all learn, then we’re eager to hear from you.
The achievers and courageous challenge-crushers we seek have the following characteristics and skills:
Essential Job Functions:
Quest Defense is seeking a Delivery Leader who supports P&L responsibility, will lead a growing organization through a period of rapid growth, and can establish and scale strategic target clients in Aerospace and Defense. This role is part of the new business development cycle and requires significant range in leadership and engineering management skills, elasticity, responsiveness, and business sense. This is a fantastic opportunity for a dynamic leader looking for autonomy in an entrepreneurial company. The ideal candidate will enjoy working with strong support from the senior leadership team and Sales team, but enough autonomy to “feel like it is your company.” The role is a legacy building leadership opportunity if you are successful.
• Lead a team with a current book of business of ~$5M and aspirations to grow to $20M and beyond within 1-3 years
• Partner with sales team to develop new business both remotely and at multiple customer locations across the country
• Manage all financial and operational aspects of the position, including revenue generation, growth, invoicing, manpower utilization, etc.
• Lead and support Quest Defense initiatives in driving the Quest Defense culture and enhancing employee satisfaction and engagement
• Build partnership with customers to drive strategic and operational excellence
• Lead a quality-focused AS9100-compliant environment
• Interface directly with delivery leaders, sales leaders, and customers in own department as well as across the company
• Attract, select, hire, lead, and mentor engineers, managers, and technical staff
• Establish and continuously improve technical excellence in engineering and related disciplines
• Work closely with clients to understand customers’ engineering needs and develop operational plans to meet them (i.e. solve customer problems).
• Create and maintain plans for headcount growth, recruiting needs, financial models, and infrastructure requirements
• Define and implement operational best practices to generate measurable and continuous improvements in productivity
• Track and report metrics for your organization’s performance, including customer satisfaction, earned value, quality, employee engagement and retention, and financial KPIs
• Follow all Quest Defense policies and procedures to ensure proper employee performance and development (metrics, performance reviews, training plans, etc.)
• This position description is not intended to be all-inclusive and employee will also perform other tasks as assigned.
Required Skills:
• 15+ years of experience in the engineering industry with strong team leadership/relationship management/account management experience.
• 5+years experience in engineering services
Bachelor’s Degree in related field, or equivalent experience
• Personnel and project management experience are required
• Hands-on experience with solving technical problems and leading cross functional teams
• Strong leadership, interpersonal, communication, and presentation skills
• Effective in executive management presentations
• Excellent networking and relationship building skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to forge relationships and build trust both within and external to the organization
• Demonstrated ability to quickly learn new methods, techniques, and approaches
• Strong detail-oriented and organizational skills
• Must be willing and able to get and maintain a DoD Secret clearance
Desired Skills:
• Experience managing business of $15+ Million account
• Experienced with military aircraft/aero-engines and associated standards
• MBA or advanced training in operational leadership preferred
• Defense industry experience
• Experience facilitating workshops or customer facing Sales
Physical Requirements & Work Environment:
• Mostly Office Environments, Occasional Shop Floor involvement
• Substantial amounts of telephone and computer work
• Heavily Regulated Industries with strict adherence to procedures
• Flexibility to meet business deadlines by staying late or arriving early
• Typical 8 hour days plus lunch / 40 hour weeks / core (required) hours are 9AM to 4PM
• Due to the nature of the work, all candidates must be a U.S. Citizen and willing/able to get and maintain a DoD Secret clearance (or have an existing or recent clearance)
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
Job Location: Remote Position
Travel: Monthly to customer locations for governance meetings and to meet with delivery team(s)
• Destinations may include (but not limited to): Cincinnati, OH; Dallas/FW, TX; Palmdale, CA; Melbourne, FL; Windsor, CT; Greenville, SC; Indianapolis, IN
Quest Defense provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.
This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
