BRING YOUR A-GAME
If you are interested in an Army acquisition career field that sounds “dangerous and fascinating at the same time,” Viviana Gutierrez Jimenez has you covered. “I have demil- itarized munitions items dating as far back as the Vietnam era and I get to blow things up,” she said.
VIVIANA GUTIERREZ JIMENEZ
COMMAND/ORGANIZATION: Joint Program Executive Office for Arma- ments and Ammunition (JPEO A&A) Project Director for Joint Services
TITLE: Program management engineer
YEARS OF SERVICE IN WORKFORCE: 16
DAWIA CERTIFICATIONS: Practi- tioner in production, quality and manufacturing
EDUCATION: M.S. in engineering management and B.S. in electrical engineer- ing, New Jersey Institute of Technology
AWARDS: Combat Capabilities Develop- ment Command (DEVCOM) Armaments Center Quality Engineering and System Assurance Employee of the Month (2009), DEVCOM Armaments Center Munitions Engineering and Technology Center Demilitarization and Environmental Division Employee of the Quarter (Oct. – Dec. 2019)
Gutierrez travels often to the 12 U.S. demilitarization sites but “this is not my everyday job,” she said, “it only happens when I go visit one of the multiple demilitarization oper- ation locations.” Her typical day is in the office where she works with a team to plan and fund these efforts and track the work completed. Tis process is important to the Army and the warfighter in order to clear room for serviceable items throughout the U.S. and overseas storage facilities, thereby allowing the services to be efficiently mission ready. “I take my job very seriously and do my very best to support our mission,” Gutierrez said.
Gutierrez began her career with the Army Acquisition Workforce straight out of college after attending a career fair. Her first position was an electrical engineer role support- ing the quality engineer and system assurance directorate under the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) Armaments Center, Army Futures Command, where she worked on quality engineering, systems assurance, reliability and system safety competencies.
“I got an interview and learned about Picatinny Arsenal and its mission. At the time, our forces were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom so the job appealed to me because it would allow me to participate in acquisition projects from cradle to grave, while ensur- ing that the systems were safe and operational for the safety of our warfighters,” she said.
Since then, Gutierrez has worked on a wide range of programs in multiple phases of the life cycle. For example, from 2014 to 2018 she was the software quality engineer for the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle, working to validate the vehicle’s software. Now, she
Gutierrez serves as a project management engineer for the Product Director for Demil- itarization within the Joint Program Executive Office for Armaments and Ammunition (JPEO A&A). Her responsibilities include managing a portfolio of more than $200 million to strategically plan, budget and execute the demilitarization of conventional ammunition that has come to the end of its life cycle for all the U.S. armed forces. Te purpose of her work is to properly demilitarize or dispose of obsolete, unserviceable and excess conventional and missile munition to reduce the stockpile and open storage space for serviceable munitions.
“Demilitarization happens in a controlled and regulated environment. It takes place at a military detonation range where field operators set up open detonation pits with pre-selected munition items. Te items are wired to a time fuse or electric shock, then from a shelter away from the detonation zone, a button is clicked to fire the pits,” she explained. “We watch the detonation through a window.”
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Army AL&T Magazine
Fall 2022
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