With the invitation for an interview as a Lockheed Martin employee, you have already left a lot of work behind you. Congratulations! The good impression you made with your application as a Lockheed Martin engineer must now be continued face to face. Be prepared to not only be asked questions about your professional and technical skills but also to ask more personal questions. These are the top 25 questions and answers for an interview with Lockheed Martin.
1. Why Are You Interested In This Role?
This industry is a growth industry that is very much driven by innovations and technologies. The megatrend of digitization and the increasing need for efficient products offer enormous opportunities for everyone involved, especially engineers. Due to increasing digitization, not only classic disciplines but also new fields of activity such as artificial intelligence, data analysis, and end-to-end connectivity are on the radar of companies. Pure diversity, exciting projects, and a large selection of tasks – this is what the job market in the industry promises to the talents of tomorrow.
2. What Are The Roles Of A Lockheed Martin Employee?
The field of activity as an engineer on the team of Lockheed Martin is subject to constant change – for example, due to modifications and updates to standards and regulations, modifications to the programs of the space organization, and due to ongoing new developments in the area of components.
There is a wide range of roles you can take as a Lockheed Martin employee, through which one can gain a foothold in the areas of construction, development, planning, production, or research. You offer a job in development departments, in production-related areas, and in quality assurance. Furthermore, the professional field of an aerospace engineer is no longer limited to the development of new aircraft, engines, satellites, and their carrier systems. Some of the roles I consider taking in your company are:
- Construction, development, and improvement of aircraft and spacecraft
- Working in technical sales
- Quality management assurance
- Activity in purchasing and material control
- The construction of engines for different flying objects
- The development of new systems for their energy supply
- Servicing existing vehicles
- The optimization of the basic equipment of airplanes and other missiles such as rockets
- Aerospace research, climate research via satellite technology, aerodynamics research, flight safety or research for environmental protection, and renewable energies.
3. What Are The Qualities That A Lockheed Martin Employee Needs To Be Successful?
This industry is characterized by development and never stands still. Engineers should have many skills. In addition to subject-specific skills, they should above all have a high level of social skills to get involved in this exciting, dynamic, and international project environment. In addition, early practical experience is an advantage. From a technical point of view, it is clever to try out and specialize in different areas during your studies. So, you know what to expect in your desired area, bring the appropriate hard skills with you, and can start right away. For this, you should be all the more broadly positioned in terms of your soft skills. Since many projects take place across departments, teamwork and communication skills are essential. On the other hand, you should also be able to work independently and on your initiative and be happy to take on responsibility. Curiosity, motivation, solution orientation, organizational talent, and the ability to think analytically complete the top profile of a Lockheed Martin employee. If you bring all this with you then you can happily throw yourself into the wide sea of responsibilities of your dream job.
4. What Major Challenges Did You Face During Your Last Role? How Did You Manage Them?
At my last job, I coordinated and monitored projects, so I had to communicate with a lot of people to get the right information from each area. There were also unforeseeable situations that you have to analyze and react to in a targeted manner to solve problems properly and quickly. Since research teams tend to be small, everyone needed to pull together. Here teamwork was one of the most important skills. I learned that the aerospace industry is open to many disciplines as long as you are passionate about satellites, probes, and everything that goes with them. It is not possible to know everything about space technology. Just focus on the task you take on in a project. And communicate with everyone related.
5. Describe Your Daily Routine As A Lockheed Martin Employee?
As an employee at Lockheed Martin, I will be primarily concerned with organizing the work to achieve the objective. Therefore, a large part of my working day will consist of talks and meetings in which I would make arrangements with the project team and colleagues, discuss solutions, and discusses procedures. Especially in cooperation projects with other research institutes and universities, one is often busy coordinating the work of the individual teams. I see myself mainly active in development and construction. I expect to mostly work with Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and create technical documentation as well as production drawings and orders. If needed, I would also be responsible for procuring all the necessary components, assembling the construction, and testing it.
6. Describe Briefly About Your Experience?
I have a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the Technical University. I worked as a research associate at the Institute for Aerospace, Department of Space Technology. The institute mainly researches the development and operation of micro and small satellites. These are satellites in a size class from one to 20 kilograms for earth observation tasks and the demonstration of new technologies in orbit. I was part of the team researching the development of modular satellite systems. So far, satellites have tended to be very compact systems, which means that in the event of a malfunction or failure, repairs in orbit are out of the question. Thanks to the modular design, one would be able to exchange individual defective building blocks and replace them with new ones. The goal was to increase the lifespan of satellites and thereby reduce the number of obsolete or defective satellites in space.
7. What Kind Of Strategies And Mindset Is Required For This Role?
The fulfillment of the core roles and responsibilities requires a high level of competence in complex system integration. Therefore, in addition to a broad technical understanding, which is necessary for the commissioning of these systems, engineers need an open, flexible mindset and a desire for lifelong learning.
8. What Is The Biggest Challenge You Foresee In This Job?
I think the main question is how I deal with the responsibility for such an elementary system. How do I develop reliable control mechanisms to avoid errors – after all, human lives depend on our work. Of course, the engineer also deals with time and resource management as well as material procurement. The challenges that an engineer in aviation has, have always been the same: increasing efficiency, reducing emissions and noise, and increasing safety in air traffic. However, prospective engineers and engine technicians should be prepared for the fact that the approaches to solving all these challenges are becoming increasingly detailed and distributed across the entire aircraft. The areas of application are therefore becoming more and more individual.
9. How Do You Stay Motivated At Work?
It is a good feeling to know that whether it’s engineering, IT, or logistics, any employee that is part of the team doesn’t just keep aviation moving. We work on the future every day. We are innovators, technophiles, and those who think aviation ahead. Our pioneering spirit discovers the next horizon even in the smallest detail. And what drives me is the will to push boundaries.
10. Describe A Time You Failed In This Role And The Lesson You Learned?
The projects on which we work are often very long-winded, and things can change during the project, many technical requirements still change. This is certainly one of the biggest challenges in the industry. As a satellite technician, you need patience, but you are rewarded with exciting projects. There is a constant change in tasks and challenges. And the demands in aviation are still extremely high. Because aircraft systems are becoming more and more complex, teams are also becoming increasingly complex and larger. Consequently, aeronautical engineers need an in-depth understanding of several subject areas – or should at least be able to understand them. It is easy to feel as if you have failed. You work with abstract numbers and ideas. The work of an engineer is that of a trial and error. So failing is a natural and encouraged part of the process.
11. Why Do You Feel You Are Qualified For This Role?
I possess the teamwork and communication skills that are required. I have worked at an international level. I have technical and commercial knowledge that helps to understand all connections. The more understanding you have of all the scenarios, the easier it is ultimately to make the right decisions. I have good judgment and a high degree of responsibility and commitment
12. Share With Us Your Greatest Achievement
Just working in aerospace gives me a sense of accomplishment. I think the reason for the great fascination is that by working on a satellite structure, you are automatically part of a space mission. The space industry is simply fascinating. For me, this is a very exciting and valuable task.
13. What Are The Current Issues In Space Travel?
Space is determined by the same issues that concern society, for example, migration, climate change, and globalization are challenges where space has to ask itself what contribution it can make. The specialist areas of space-based early detection/reconnaissance of developments on earth or in the atmosphere are moving more into focus than before. But the digital society and its needs are also increasingly associated with space travel. Central issues that our industry takes up here are secure data transmission and data storage. In addition, lunar exploration is poised for a renaissance.
14. What Innovations Will Space Travel Surprise Us With In The Next Few Years?
Space will continue to be at the forefront of future energy generation and storage issues, as well as the design and use of new, high-performance composite materials. Overall, the megatrend of digitization exerts a central influence on the way systems work in orbit and how they are developed and built. This means that large-scale systems of the usual dimensions can become more and more powerful. At the same time, ever smaller, more cost-effective systems should and will take over the tasks of larger systems in terms of weight and design.
15. What Should Be Considered When Designing Military Aircraft Engines?
In military aviation, the requirements for demanding missions are the preservation of the material and the continuous performance of the components. In the engine area, among other things, high engine performance, high thrust, and additional thrust increases in a short time, the optimal manufacturing processes and modern materials, as well as tailor-made repair options, are important.
16. What Do You Think Is The Future In Aviation?
Additive Manufacturing enables a completely new conception of engine parts and systems. From component reduction to lighter structures to new material applications, AM is writing the history of tomorrow’s aviation. To be part of this story, aircraft manufacturers and suppliers must develop new concepts, for example for the engine system and the performance as well as the functional integration of the module design. Also, more and more suppliers are using plastics to manufacture their components. Parts such as seat trims, mirrors, lighting elements, and overhead compartments are not only made of plastic in the cabin but can now also be used to replace load-bearing structural elements.
17. What Should Aerospace Engineers Focus On?
Today’s engineers should no longer just strive to make everything bigger, faster, stronger, and better. The life cycle is the magic word here. Not only the level of emissions during operation is important when considering, but above all how a means of transport, device, or product is manufactured and recycled after decades of use. In addition, large means of transport are in use for many years. In other words, aircraft that are being built now will still be in use 30 years from now. The topic of sustainability is still in its infancy in engineering studies. Prospective engineers in classic engineering courses are often only given sustainability know-how in a few modules or module parts. Perhaps it should already be started there because the students are the engineers of the future. A double-edged sword is digitization. It promotes sustainability but also slows it down. The weighing of effort and yield is particularly important when developing new technologies.
18. What Is The Biggest Problem That Aerospace Faces Today?
Ecology in particular is playing an increasingly important role given the constantly growing global number of flights. Because despite all the advantages, modern aviation is neither clean nor quiet. You don’t even have to live in the flight path of a major airport to know that. The industry knows that too. of the feared noise pollution and environmental damage. To defuse such conflicts, we should focus on dialogue, optimal citizen involvement, and transparent decision-making processes. And, of course, on the ongoing inventiveness of the engineers. It is ultimately thanks to this that significantly less fuel has to be burned for flights today than two decades ago.
19. How Did You Come To Choose A Technical Profession?
I’m a Star Trek fan and since I was a kid I loved astrophysics and the stars. In school, science and math were my strengths, so after my bachelor’s degree, I decided to pursue my dream and get a master’s in space engineering to get closer to the stars.
20. Have You Always Been Interested In Technology And/Or Programming?
Regarding satellite technology yes. But I didn’t like the programming. It wasn’t until I was doing my Ph.D. that I started liking programming because it allowed me to play around with my remote sensing data. At the end of my Ph.D., I developed the first Python program and a method to detect natural oil wells in the sea from radar satellite images.
21. Where Are You Most Likely To Be Found In Your Free Time?
At home with my child, with friends, or playing badminton.
22. What Advice Do You Follow To This Day?
Go boldly where no one has gone before.
23. Where Would You Like To Develop Yourself Professionally And Personally In The Future?
With satellites, I can observe every part of the world. But it is important to communicate the research and methods to the ‘local communities in these regions so that they can implement measures in good time. I would like to focus on the topic of science communication (education, training, and ‘capacity building’) to support local communities and decision-makers in these communities to make the right decisions.
24. Have You Applied To Other Companies?
Your company is my first choice. Nevertheless, I have also written to other companies that can also benefit from my experience. As already mentioned, I am very ambitious and therefore want to sit around doing nothing for long.
25. Describe Yourself In Five Words?
Here are five words I use to describe myself: assertive, confident, driven, upbeat, and passionate.
Conclusion
As a Lockheed Martin employee, you will be working on new projects in the future. So, you should let your knowledge and areas of expertise shine through. The following applies: Your chances will be better if you have already gained a lot of practical experience and can look back on a few projects.
However, despite being a highly specialized professional in the field of aerospace engineering, you are by no means on your own. Teamwork will play a very important role in your everyday work, so you should never present yourself as a lone wolf in the interview.
