Engineering Director Jobs in Colorado
Engineering Director jobs in Colorado concentrate in aerospace and defense, clean energy, semiconductor and hardware design, and enterprise software, with the Denver metro, Boulder, and Colorado Springs anchoring the largest share of openings. Long-established employers like Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Ball Aerospace maintain significant engineering leadership headcount in the state, and the Front Range corridor is among the most active markets in the country for senior engineering roles. The most in-demand specialties are systems engineering leadership, hardware and embedded development management, and software platform engineering. Find a role that fits below and apply directly.
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Be one of the Bedo 100
About this role:
Albedo is hiring a Director of Hardware Engineering to lead our hardware org across opto-mechanical, structural, thermal, and avionics disciplines. You'll own the design margin discipline for precision spaceflight hardware, drive the AIT build flow from mirror fabrication through integration and environmental testing, and execute our make-vs-buy strategy across the org as we scale to production. You'll develop hardware engineering managers, partner closely with production, software, and systems, and stay hands-on with the highest-stakes design and anomaly work.
What You'll Do:
- Lead the hardware engineering organization — opto-mechanical, structures, thermal, avionics — across approximately three to four teams of managers and ICs
- Own design margin discipline against design standards across thermal, structural, radiation, electrical, mass, and optical budgets, and make those margins routine rather than heroic
- Drive the AIT build flow from primary mirror unit fabrication through bus-to-payload integration through environmental test, eliminating the integration-stage discoveries that should have been caught analytically
- Set and defend make-vs-buy strategy: vertical integration where the physics is the moat, aggressive outsourcing of commodity, decisions documented and revisited
- Develop hardware engineering managers who can run their domains without requiring you in every technical decision
- Partner with the Director of Software, Systems Engineering, and program management to close the analytical loop between hardware design, flight telemetry, and the next build
- Engage directly in design reviews, anomaly investigations, and supplier technical assessments — operate in the system without becoming a bottleneck
Your Ideal Skills and Experience:
- Twelve-plus years in precision spaceflight hardware, with at least four leading hardware engineering managers
- Hands-on depth in opto-mechanical engineering, structural dynamics, or precision pointing systems — you have personally owned a precision payload or precision pointing chain end-to-end
- Track record of design margin discipline against NASA, MIL, or equivalent standards, with examples where your margin calls held up under flight conditions
- Demonstrated cross-disciplinary system reasoning: you think in budgets across optics, structures, thermal, GNC, mass, and power, and you can trace budget violations to root cause
- Experience leading hardware through environmental test campaigns and on-orbit anomaly resolution
- Real make-vs-buy decisions you have owned and can defend with cost, schedule, and capability data
- Comfort holding a schedule against pressure when the analysis demands it, and yielding when the analysis says you can
Salary Range:
- $250,000 to $275,000 per year
Compensation and Benefits for Full-Time Roles:
- Employee friendly equity compensation
- 4% direct matching 401k
- Health Insurance: 100% employee coverage & 75% dependent coverage
- Parental leave and childcare coverage
- Flexible vacation and sick time from day one
- 12 company holidays
- $100 monthly wellness benefit
- Relocation package if not based in Denver
Be one of the Bedo 100
About this role:
Albedo is hiring a Director of Hardware Engineering to lead our hardware org across opto-mechanical, structural, thermal, and avionics disciplines. You'll own the design margin discipline for precision spaceflight hardware, drive the AIT build flow from mirror fabrication through integration and environmental testing, and execute our make-vs-buy strategy across the org as we scale to production. You'll develop hardware engineering managers, partner closely with production, software, and systems, and stay hands-on with the highest-stakes design and anomaly work.
What You'll Do:
- Lead the hardware engineering organization — opto-mechanical, structures, thermal, avionics — across approximately three to four teams of managers and ICs
- Own design margin discipline against design standards across thermal, structural, radiation, electrical, mass, and optical budgets, and make those margins routine rather than heroic
- Drive the AIT build flow from primary mirror unit fabrication through bus-to-payload integration through environmental test, eliminating the integration-stage discoveries that should have been caught analytically
- Set and defend make-vs-buy strategy: vertical integration where the physics is the moat, aggressive outsourcing of commodity, decisions documented and revisited
- Develop hardware engineering managers who can run their domains without requiring you in every technical decision
- Partner with the Director of Software, Systems Engineering, and program management to close the analytical loop between hardware design, flight telemetry, and the next build
- Engage directly in design reviews, anomaly investigations, and supplier technical assessments — operate in the system without becoming a bottleneck
Your Ideal Skills and Experience:
- Twelve-plus years in precision spaceflight hardware, with at least four leading hardware engineering managers
- Hands-on depth in opto-mechanical engineering, structural dynamics, or precision pointing systems — you have personally owned a precision payload or precision pointing chain end-to-end
- Track record of design margin discipline against NASA, MIL, or equivalent standards, with examples where your margin calls held up under flight conditions
- Demonstrated cross-disciplinary system reasoning: you think in budgets across optics, structures, thermal, GNC, mass, and power, and you can trace budget violations to root cause
- Experience leading hardware through environmental test campaigns and on-orbit anomaly resolution
- Real make-vs-buy decisions you have owned and can defend with cost, schedule, and capability data
- Comfort holding a schedule against pressure when the analysis demands it, and yielding when the analysis says you can
Salary Range:
- $250,000 to $275,000 per year
Compensation and Benefits for Full-Time Roles:
- Employee friendly equity compensation
- 4% direct matching 401k
- Health Insurance: 100% employee coverage & 75% dependent coverage
- Parental leave and childcare coverage
- Flexible vacation and sick time from day one
- 12 company holidays
- $100 monthly wellness benefit
- Relocation package if not based in Denver
See All 38 Engineering Director Jobs in Colorado
Find roles in Colorado that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
Find Engineering Director JobsEngineering Director Jobs by City in Colorado
Where Colorado roles are concentrated, by current openings.
Engineering Director Job Market in Colorado
A snapshot from current Colorado openings, updated as new roles post.
Who's Hiring
Top Industries Hiring
- Technology & Software
- Energy
- Construction & Real Estate
- Healthcare & Medical Services
- Consulting & Professional Services
What Colorado Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in engineering director jobs across Colorado.
- Bachelor's or master's degree in engineering or a related technical discipline required
- Ten or more years of progressive engineering experience with at least five in management
- Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional engineering teams of twenty or more
- Experience delivering complex programs in aerospace, defense, or energy sectors preferred
- Proficiency with Agile, systems engineering lifecycles, or hardware development processes
- Ability to obtain or maintain a U.S. security clearance for Colorado defense roles
Engineering Director Jobs in Colorado: Frequently Asked Questions
How do you become a engineering director in Colorado?
Most engineering directors in Colorado reach the role by combining a bachelor's degree in an engineering discipline with a decade or more of progressively senior engineering and management experience. While Colorado does not require a state-issued management license for the director title, roles at defense and government contractors often require a Professional Engineer registration or a security clearance through the relevant federal agency. An advanced degree in engineering or business strengthens candidacy, particularly at Colorado's larger aerospace and technology employers.
How much do engineering directors make in Colorado?
Engineering directors in Colorado earn a median of about $183,810 a year, based on May 2025 Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data, ranging from around $135,380 for the lowest 10% to over $272,950 for the top 10%. Pay rises with experience, specialty, and employer.
Which companies hire engineering directors in Colorado?
Companies currently hiring engineering directors in Colorado include XCimer Energy, Albedo, and CVS Health, per current listings on Migrate Mate as of August 2026. Colorado's concentration of aerospace primes, defense contractors, and clean-energy infrastructure firms means engineering director demand stays relatively consistent across economic cycles in the state.
Which Colorado cities have the most engineering director jobs?
Denver, Broomfield, and Colorado account for the largest share of engineering director openings in Colorado. Denver's size and its role as a regional headquarters hub for technology and energy companies drives the volume there, while Boulder's dense concentration of semiconductor, software, and space-tech firms sustains demand, and Colorado Springs benefits from the heavy presence of military installations and defense contractors such as Northrop Grumman and SAIC.
Are there remote engineering director jobs in Colorado?
Yes, but they're less common than for individual-contributor technical roles, since engineering directors are typically expected to be present for team leadership, cross-functional coordination, and site oversight. About 65% of engineering director openings tied to Colorado are remote or hybrid as of August 2026, and the remote share skews toward software platform and enterprise product organizations rather than hardware or defense programs. Hybrid arrangements are more prevalent than fully remote for this seniority level.
How can I get hired as a engineering director in Colorado with little or no experience?
The most realistic path is moving into a senior engineering manager or principal engineer role first, then building a record of leading teams and delivering programs before stepping into director-level competition. Colorado's large aerospace employers, including Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton and Ball Aerospace in Westminster, run structured leadership development programs that give high-potential engineers exposure to program management and people leadership. Earning a Professional Engineer registration in Colorado or completing an MBA strengthens a candidacy for internal promotion, and lateral moves from technical program manager or chief engineer roles are a common bridge to the director title.
Where can I find and apply to engineering director jobs in Colorado?
You can find and apply to engineering director jobs in Colorado on Migrate Mate, which lists current Colorado openings. Find the roles that fit your background and apply directly from the listings.
See All 38 Engineering Director Jobs in Colorado
Find roles in Colorado that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
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