Clientmind Recruiting is searching for a Sustainment Engineer for a rapidly growing technology company based in the Greenbelt, MD area. This engineer will maintain and improve products, systems, or processes after their initial release, ensuring continued functionality and performance throughout their lifecycle.
This role involves troubleshooting process and product issues, optimizing performance, and managing obsolescence in collaboration with engineering, manufacturing, and logistics personnel. This position will lead efforts to resolve production and warranty issues by driving root cause analysis, corrective action implementation across internal and supplier operations. We seek an engineer with demonstrated intellectual curiosity with a strong desire to learn and explore new ideas and concepts, often leading to a deeper understanding and improved processes and products. This role serves as the bridge between Quality, Manufacturing, and Supply Chain to ensure sustained performance of fielded products and support long-term reliability across the product lifecycle.
Key Responsibilities
• Troubleshooting and Problem Solving - Identifying, analyzing, and resolving technical issues that arise with products or systems during their operational phase. Driving resolution of production issues in collaboration with Quality, Manufacturing, and Supply Chain teams.
• Problem Analysis and Corrective Actions - Investigating quality issues and working with manufacturing sub-contractor, engineering and quality teams to implement corrective actions and prevent future occurrences.
• Warranty – working closely with cross-functional team, perform failure analysis of warranty returns and in-process test failures, identifying and documenting systemic root causes.
• Lifecycle Management - Planning and managing the sustainment activities throughout the entire product lifecycle, from initial release to end-of-life.
• Performance Optimization - Improving the efficiency, reliability, and overall performance of products or systems through analysis and modifications.
• Documentation and Change Management - Creating and maintaining technical documentation, including production drawings, and managing changes to product BOM and/or system.
• Continuous Improvement - Identifying opportunities for product or process enhancements and implementing changes to improve performance, efficiency, or cost-effectiveness.
• Corrective and Preventive Actions (CAPA) – Lead ECP/ECO initiation, documentation updates, and controlled release in alignment with internal review processes.
• Root Cause Analysis - Lead structured investigations (8D, 5-Whys, Ishikawa, etc.) and manage containment, deviation, or rework paths based on investigation results. Partner with suppliers to drive accountability through SCARs and corrective plans; contribute to supplier qualification and risk mitigation for alternate parts.
• Define and maintain Control Plans, FMEAs, and Inspection Plans, ensuring traceability from issue to resolution.
• Testing - Setup, calibrate, and maintain production test equipment and fixtures; collaborate with Engineering and sub-contractor to ensure test coverage aligns with product performance and quality standards. Perform Gage R&R studies to validate measurement systems and maintain accuracy across inspection stations.
Qualifications
• U.S. Citizenship required with a Secret clearance or the ability and willingness to obtain one
• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or other engineering degree with equivalent experience.
• 5+ years experience with experience in Sustainment or Production Engineering ideally in defense, aerospace, or high-reliability manufacturing.
• Effective oral and written communication skills and excellent interpersonal skills demonstrating an ability to communicate and interact easily and effectively with a wide variety of individuals and echelons in both written and verbal forms.
• Possess the energy and experience to demonstrate sound judgment, foresight and problem-solving skills in a fast-paced environment
• This is a hybrid position and will spend 50% of onsite time in Greenbelt and 50% at the manufacturing facility in Frederick, MD. If one location is more convenient than the other, the bulk of time can be spent at that location.