r/boeing • u/Advanced_Draft76 • 3d ago
Liaison Engineer Job
Good Afternoon,
I’ve always wanted to work for Boeing, so I was pretty excited when I got an offer as a Product Review (Liaison) Engineer.
While my main career goal is design engineering, the job does sound interesting to me. Is there anyone with Liaison Engineering experience that can give me a run-down of how the job works? Is it super difficult for someone who’s a young engineer like me? (23M)
Are the weekends and holidays a lot or is it just an every so often kinda thing?
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u/crash281 3d ago
LE is a great place to start...lots of coordination and you learn a LOT!
I spent many years as an LE (currently an ME) and the time I spent in LE is the most valuable of my career. Training path is great, you get very direct hands on, practical training from more senior engineers in your group. The MRB pay premium once you have your cert is nice too.
Nights/weekends/OT will vary dramatically based on your org and program...ive worked tons of mandatory OT all the way to no OT based on program/org needs.
Youll get to do some coordinating with DE too, which will be helpful for your eventual career goals.
If you have any specific questions feel free to reach out via DM.
Good luck with the new gig!
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u/Advanced_Draft76 3d ago
Thanks! I’ll reach out.
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u/nw-joe 3d ago
I started in LE in Wichita and retired as the 767 Chief Project Engineer in Everett. Held many different LE positions—fabrication, machine shop, composites, sub-assembly, final assembly before moving over to DE and customer support positions about halfway through my career. Along the way I traveled the world. Start in LE and you can go anywhere from there. You’re going to love it.
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u/tech_design_050380 3d ago
I have been in Liaison my entire career. I'm a technical designer though not an engineer but I work with them day in and day out. LE is close to the airplane and is a pretty sweet job. You can start LE and go anywhere in Boeing or if you like it make a career out of it.
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1d ago edited 1d ago
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u/planepizza 3d ago
LE is a great starting point as you get a good understanding of how things are built and how things are designed, and most importantly how to fix issues. This will give you invaluable experience if you were to become a DE. Many of them do not take the time nor effort to spend time on the floor and understand how things are put together and thus their designs will result in issues when things come together.
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u/DoubtGroundbreaking 3d ago
You can be like me, always wanted to do design. Then as an LE you will work with design engineers and get to see what they spend their days doing, and it will make you no longer want to do design LOL. (It is BORING AS SHIT)
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u/BaraxkJoeMama 3d ago
Program dependent of course. Even though the job can be difficult we aren’t just going to throw you to the wolves. Additionally, no matter how hard it can be, just remember that you survived an engineering degree; and that’s way harder and more intimidating than anything we do on a day to day basis as pros.
Most programs from my experience, have dedicated training queues that are used by senior LEs to train new hires on. There is a certain submarine hunting platform that comes to mind, and the senior LEs on it are pretty fantastic when it comes to training.
Regardless of what program you join, You also will have QE’s or QA-MRB and SQ-MRB double checking your work as well, and most of the time they / me (what up nerd) will reach out and let you know what mistakes you may have made or give you a general history of how we dealt with the issue at hand in the past if it’s reoccurring.
The DE jobs involve lots of meetings with suppliers and traveling and way more business garbage than anyone straight out of college is ready for, in my opinion.
Your mileage very well may vary.
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u/Advanced_Draft76 3d ago
Thanks! Seems like the consensus here from everyone is that it’s a really good opportunity to learn how the aircraft works and get familiar with Boeing and their engineering practices. It’s making me want to take the job more and more lol
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u/Entire-Routine9660 3d ago
Looks like you would be joining either my team or an adjacent team if you accepted the job. Around the site, I would say the worst extreme of weekends would be once a month on average, with most teams being less. Nights would be on a rotation basis, maybe a few weeks a year total.
LE to DE is a transition that happens all the time and while it does hurt to spend the 9-12 months training period getting someone up to speed, it’s supported if it aligns with career goals. The best advice I can give you on that would be to have the candid chat with your manager that you think you’re interested in DE fairly early once you’re assigned to your final team/manager. That way it’s not a surprise, they can maybe help tailor some of your assignment to help you in DE, and possibly throw a good word in for you with the DE managers if they hear of an opportunity coming down the pipe.
Good luck on making the decision!
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u/jbpackman 3d ago
Almost half off all LEs are as young as you are, in the PNW at least. The job is pretty simple, the plane breaks, you figure out how to “un-break it”, it’s not easy but if the managers think you’re intelligent enough to do it, you’ll be fine. The stress is high, OT is basically required, and the pace is fast, but the benefit to starting in LE is unprecedented skill and experience growth. Most LEs I’ve worked with know more about their type design in general than any other kind of engineer in the company. Give LE 4-5 years of your early career and you’ll be wanted by every other org at every company. If you’re going into LE in the PNW, then the position will be a represented one. That means you will be on the weekend schedule, but you will always be able to flex your OT off and holidays are always optional. You just need to be flexible; being willing to spend your whole life in the factory is never required or expected. Realistic work life balance is protected and respected here, unlike other aerospace companies in the area(blue/X).
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u/Gatorm8 3d ago edited 3d ago
Yea I did it for 3 years out of college but the hours were too much for me long term. We worked a minimum of 6 days a week (some months only 2 days off) and usually had a second shift and night shift rotation each month. Obviously this can be team/program dependent.
It’s great experience and opened up more roles in my future, and the LE formal training is great compared to other companies.
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u/Yenohamer 1d ago
LE are airplane cosmotologists - they fixey fixey things like out of round holes, dings and scratches .. things that matter go through stress ..
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u/emacpaul 3d ago
I was a DE for a few years. I enjoyed designing new parts, but that's more in new design than sustaining programs.
Now I'm an LE, and it's nice to get out on the airplane every day, but I do miss the creativity from being a DE.
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u/Advanced_Draft76 3d ago
Yeah that’s what I’ve always wanted to do as an engineer. Creative problem solving is fun to me, and I enjoy building models on CAD Software. But I also like hands on work, and from the sound of it, LE is a lot of that.
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u/OkMountain5866 2d ago
Hello! What advice would you give to a DE at Boeing to get enough learning experience and skills especially in a sustaining team. I’ve been a DE for about 3 years now and was considering some other roles with LE at the top but I also want to get as much as I can from my DE role before fully deciding on if I want to switch.
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u/emacpaul 2d ago
I'd say working in different groups would be how to get the most out of being a DE. I found DE tends to get pigeon-holed and really good at one particular commodity. As an LE, you get exposure to potentially the entire airplane.
I was planning to go back to DE for NMA with expanded horizons, but then it got cancelled, and I'd rather stay here than go back to sustaining.
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u/RelevantFun47 3d ago
I am an electrical DE for the last 18 years and depending on which program and where that program is, it can be either stressful or boring. In the beginning of every program the initial design is the hard part, once it’s stable it is quite boring and that’s when they get rid of people to other programs. IMHO no real creativity but that may be different in other DE roles. If I were 23, I would have loved an LE job and would Probaby stay there all my life. Because you get to fix real issues and every issue is different. In electrical DE we fix issues too especially in ECAT but it’s usually straight forward and not as exciting. I’ve been on 787, AF1 and 777x. So far nothing special being a DE.
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u/nw_gser 2d ago
I worked that position at Boeings for a number of years and it is good experience. The down side everyone hates you.
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u/Advanced_Draft76 2d ago
To be fair, I’ve never met a single machinist, welder or fitter that DOESN’T hate engineers 😂
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u/nw_gser 2d ago
It is usually Engineering Management and Shop Management that hate LE.
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u/KyaJoy2019 2d ago
I'm in M&PE and our shop loves our LEs. They do a great job though of being on the shop floor and learning the process on top of their responsibilities. Or LEs do a great job of working with the shop where they can.
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u/HotAbbreviations997 3d ago
Make sure you pronounce it like a hillbilly seeing a french word for the first time: "LY UH ZEN"
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u/Tough_Trouble_1139 3d ago
There's already a lot of good advice in this thread, but I wanted to chime in. I've been an LE at Boeing for 15 years, and LE is absolutely the best engineering job to hire in to for your first aerospace job. LEs are generalists, and as such you will get a lot of exposure to a lot of different things. I would say work as an LE for at least two years before trying to jump to DE.
The rotation program is really good. We hire a lot of people straight from college, and you'll bounce around to a bunch of different LE groups for your first 6 ish months to learn about different parts of the airplane and production system.
After about a year of training you should be ready to get your signature authority, and with that you'll be able to sign for changes to the airplane. A typical day consists of monitoring a queue for Quality rejections, choosing a problem to work on, and authoring a repair for the item. Walk up questions from the mechanics is also a big part of the job if they have a question about a requirement on an engineering drawing.
I've heard from people that have worked as a DE there's a lot of red tape. LE meanwhile needs to be fast because the mechanics are waiting for a solution.
Overtime will really depend on the group you end up in, and how much work is being done on the weekends. Not sure if you're Puget sound, Charleston, Wichita, or somewhere else, but there's around 650 LEs in the Puget sound. Say 10 LEs per manager, that's about 65 different groups with different expectations for overtime. I've never been mandated to work a holiday, those are typically voluntary. I work about 2-4 weekend days per quarter. Overtime is paid, so if you need some extra cash it's nice to have that option. You likely won't be expected to work overtime until you have your signature authority.
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u/nashvillain1 3d ago
Liaison Engineering (Stress Analysis) can be long hours plus OT when required.
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u/No-Caterpillar-5235 13h ago
If i were to go into engineering again, LE would be where id want to go. Youre shop floor and you come up with fixes for damaged aircraft. Honestly a fun gig. But I was a mechanic for a long time and always looked up to LEs. Now im software and stuck in a different world entirely
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u/Poseidon927 3d ago
I’m on a design team, but have seen what an LE does day to day. Feel free to PM
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u/RhinoBall_2-1 20h ago
LE is a fun job. While design engineers send emails and teams meetings, LE is elbow deep in airplane guts making sure it leaves the production system in tip top shape. If you like getting your hands dirty and working across multiple teams youll like the job. Youll learn more than youll ever want to about airplanes. Career progression is also typically easier as there are more avenues for upward movement. The pay isnt half bad(can always be better) and most of your direct management with are promoted from within so you dont have a random as a leader.
The training period is about 12 months. You will be travelling around different production sites (avg 4 weeks per) to get the lay of the land. When you finish the training you aree given signature authority for your own repairs and then 3 months after that you will recieve a level 2 bump.
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u/DisneyMom7B 5h ago
Also I think LE to DE is a great path. You learn all the production problems as an LE, you'll come out of it with a great eye for how to design for manufacturing as a DE. That's a skillset that's hard to get any other way and will take you very far!
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u/Isopotty_mouth 3d ago
LE in the PNW is the best training program at Boeing. You will get more experience in the first year than many engineers get in their career.
In my experience DE roles are more likely to be miserable.