WHAT DOES A LEAD ENGINEER DO?
Updated: Jun 13, 2025 - The Lead Engineer oversees the entire product development lifecycle, ensuring solutions are effectively integrated into systems while managing product quality issues through robust design, testing, and validation. This position spearheads Value Engineering and Continuous Improvement initiatives to optimize costs and enhance product performance, while also supporting cross-functional team collaborations to meet project milestones. This role conducts detailed analyses and leads innovative efforts to identify and rectify root causes of failures, ensuring the development of sustainable and cost-effective solutions.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Lead Engineer
1. Lead Engineer Duties
- Troubleshooting: Create trouble tickets, issue outage notifications, open internal trouble tickets, initiate conference bridge for scheduled and unscheduled maintenance or outages, and maintain a shift log of activities and events that occurred during the shift.
- Documentation: Assist in documenting, scheduling, and submitting USS High-Risk Notifications and Methods of Procedure.
- Provisioning: Perform provisioning duties, including additions, deletions, moves, and cuts.
- Project Management: Complete special projects and assignments by USS management.
- Maintenance Support: Aid and assist with internal department maintenance window work.
- MOP Execution: Complete Engineering MOPs during maintenance windows.
- Team Development: Create a team of capable technicians that would take over maintenance work from engineering teams when able.
- Structural Engineering: Structural engineer in tower engineering.
- Structural Analysis: Deliver tower structural calculations and computer-aided design modeling of the tower.
- Design Optimization: Develop and optimize tower designs and processes based on Chinese requirements.
- Technical Delivery: Deliver the technical solution within the quality, time, and cost targets of the project.
- Risk Management: Identify and report technical risks within the project scope.
2. Lead Engineer Details
- Leadership: Serve in a leadership role in the Power BI and ETL team – welcome and mentor new developers.
- Team Management: Lead the Power BI and ETL team to develop, test, implement, and maintain Allvue data products.
- ETL Development: Lead, design, and develop ETL processes for the data warehouse lifecycle.
- Collaboration: Collaborate and work alongside the Product Owner and other technical professionals.
- SQL Development: Design and develop SQL Server stored procedures, functions, and views to be used and to feed SSRS reports.
- Troubleshooting: Troubleshoot data issues and optimize SQL query performance.
- Data Maintenance: Maintain and support existing data products.
- System Optimization: Provide feedback and issue design solutions to interfacing systems to optimize product design.
- Software Development: Participate in the development of proprietary software using Creo and Windchill.
- Project Delivery: Deliver the technical solution within the quality, time, and cost targets of the project.
- RF Circuit Design: Design and test low-noise amplifiers and passive circuits.
- Microwave Engineering: Conceptualize and develop new RF and Microwave circuits, packages, and products.
3. Lead Engineer Responsibilities
- Technical Excellence: Show technical excellence in work and maintain a strong focus.
- Team Development: Responsible for the team’s development.
- Process Improvement: Challenge existing processes and structures.
- Collaboration: Promote inner- and cross-team collaboration.
- Strategic Alignment: Ensure the team remains aligned with the strategy and mission.
- Team Inspiration: Inspire team members to deliver.
- Knowledge Sharing: Drive innovation, education, and knowledge.
- EM Simulation: Perform EM simulations of microwave housings, transitions, and passive circuits.
- Circuit Simulation: Perform circuit simulations of microwave active circuits.
- Specification Development: Develop specifications for microwave components and sub-assemblies.
- RF Analysis: Perform RF and microwave sub-assembly analysis.
- Reporting: Generate test and data reports.
4. Lead Engineer Job Summary
- Product Development: Responsible for the end-to-end development of products/parts and release of solutions into the system with complete product ownership, tackling quality issues effectively.
- Design and Validation: Perform design, testing/validation, and development projects to meet Product Quality, Delivery, Cost, and Feature targets, reporting progress in project forums.
- Cost Optimization: Generate Value Engineering and Value Analysis (VA/VE) and Continuous Improvement (CI) ideas to reduce product costs and drive/support implementation.
- Problem Solving: Analyze component parts and assemblies to determine the best course of action for resolving actual or potential problems and implement cost-effective solutions.
- Packaging Support: Support packaging engineers in packaging and installation tasks, including technical reports, packaging investigations, and DMU utilization.
- Project Planning: Define Level 4 (component/system) time plans, incorporating key cross-functional milestones using APQP as the supporting process.
- Cross-Functional Coordination: Independently drive cross-functional activities to close development open points and achieve project deliverables.
- Collaboration: Work closely with engineers from Cab, Electrical, Styling, Verification & Validation teams locally and across Volvo sites.
- Process Development: Take ownership in developing engineering process and method documents (TR, guidelines, rules, etc.).
- Knowledge Management: Contribute to knowledge management within the area of assignment.
- Innovation and IP Initiatives: Drive innovation within the team and take up intellectual property initiatives independently.
- Root Cause Analysis: Conduct thorough investigations to identify root causes of failures and deliver robust countermeasures to address customer issues.
5. Lead Engineer Accountabilities
- Mentorship: Provide direction and mentorship to the team.
- Best Practices: Set up best practices for engineering.
- Resource Planning: Connect product objectives to an optimal engineering structure, including accurate resource estimation.
- Collaboration: Work closely with Product Managers and Founders to provide relevant inputs from the engineering team.
- Project Management: Plan and track development and release schedules, proactively assess and mitigate risks.
- Crisis Management: Prepare for contingencies and provide visible leadership during crises.
- Team Engagement: Work closely with engineers, conduct 1:1s, understand requirements, and foster a productive and happy environment.
- Task Estimation: Assist engineers with accurate time estimation and task scoping.
- Career Development: Map projects to engineers’ strengths, weaknesses, and career paths.
- Performance Management: Conduct regular 1:1s for performance feedback and lead appraisals.
- Code Quality: Drive good coding practices, including high-quality code, documentation, and timely bug fixing.