Defense Software Chief Engineer (Defense)

Location: New Hudson, Michigan, United States. Full-time position with daytime Monday–Friday hours; monthly travel and occasional offsite testing trips may be required.

Pay range: $136,500–$241,500 per year across U.S. locations.

Company

Pratt Miller, an Oshkosh company, develops products and provides engineering, prototype manufacturing, testing, validation, and low-volume production solutions for motorsports, defense, and mobility industries.

What you will do

• Lead software teams delivering solutions for defense projects, including design, development, implementation, testing, and integration.
• Own software architecture and technical design decisions across defense project teams.
• Establish software engineering processes, standards, best practices, and delivery technologies.
• Support proposals, customer meetings, strategic planning, technical roadmaps, and external partner relationships.
• Mentor technical staff, identify capability and training needs, and participate in staffing and selection decisions.
• Manage technical risks, coordinate cross-functional integration, and ensure compliance with industry standards, government regulations, and company policies.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field; an advanced degree is preferred.
• 15 or more years of industry experience in defense, automotive, or robotics.
• Experience leading software development teams and making technical design and delivery decisions.
• Knowledge of defense and Department of Defense project environments, Agile frameworks, software architectures, infrastructure, networking, security, and DevOps/DevSecOps.
• Experience with programming languages and platforms including Python, C/C++, .NET, Java, JavaScript, Angular, React, Windows, and Linux.
• Must meet the requirements for obtaining U.S. Government clearance; certain work may require U.S. Person status under ITAR or EAR.

Nice to have

• Experience in engineering prototype or research environments.
• Experience with simulation and modeling tools such as Unreal Engine, CarSim, Simulink/Matlab, FMI/FMU, and Modelica.
• Experience with IoT, ROS/ROS 2, embedded development, CAN bus, mobile development, cloud platforms, containers, observability, and application security.

Culture & Benefits

• People-first culture with opportunities to support professional growth and success.
• Work with internal teams, external partners, and remote resources across defense initiatives.
• Flexible working hours may include longer hours and weekends during peak delivery periods or testing trips.
• Reasonable accommodations are available during the recruitment process.