Head of Programs

About the role

The Head of Programs is a full-time, on-site executive leadership role located in California, designed for an experienced leader who seamlessly bridges high-level organizational strategy with hands-on shop-floor execution.

Responsibilities

• Define and monitor high-level program KPIs, dashboards, and performance metrics to project overall portfolio health for executive leadership and key customers.
• Continuously evaluate program management workflows to eliminate redundancies, introduce industry best practices, and maximize team productivity.
• Lead resource planning, organizational design, and talent acquisition; manage staffing, and performance reviews to build a high-performing team.
• Partner with business development and engineering to support new proposals, providing accurate technical context, resource estimates, and data-backed trade-off analyses.
• Partner with leadership across Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, and Supply Chain to harmonize program goals, timelines, and deliverables from concept through production.
• Serve as the escalation point and strategic bridge between the PMO and Production to ensure real-time schedules and recovery dates are accurate and actionable.
• Represent technical content, program status, and OORs (Open Order Reports) to internal stakeholders, suppliers, and customers; oversee the maintenance of customer portals to maximize on-time delivery.
• Proactively identify and resolve systemic execution bottlenecks across internal departments; step in directly to expedite critical jobs through the shop floor when necessary to maintain strict cost and schedule adherence.
• Oversee and validate ERP system data integrity, ensuring that system milestones and unreleased/on-hold job lists are managed effectively to prevent production delays.
• Flexibly support technical execution, resource allocation, and program integration across engineering and manufacturing during peak cycles to meet aggressive organizational objectives.
• Travel to customer sites, test facilities, and partner locations as required to lead high-level integration activities and support critical program milestones.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution in Engineering, Business, or a related field; equivalent executive-level experience or advanced certifications (PMP, PgMP) in an aerospace or defense manufacturing environment highly preferred.
• 8+ years of progressive leadership experience in program management, engineering leadership, or production operations within the aerospace, defense, or advanced materials industries, with a proven track record of managing a portfolio of programs.
• Demonstrated experience in strategic resource planning, department-level budgeting, organizational design, and full-cycle talent management.
• Proven success in supporting business development and capture management by leading technical proposals, defining program scopes, estimating resource requirements, and providing data-backed trade-off analyses.
• Expert proficiency with ERP systems and project management tools (e.g., MS Project, Smartsheet, Jira), with the ability to architect system tracking workflows and audit data integrity against real-time shop floor production status.
• Deep technical knowledge of Thermal Protection Systems (TPS), including extensive experience with launch vehicles, missile systems, soft goods, coatings, and other components designed for extreme thermal environments.
• Advanced risk management experience, with a proven ability to anticipate systemic program risks, design data-driven contingency models, and lead cross-functional recovery plans during schedule-critical situations.
• Exceptional leadership and communication skills, with a demonstrated ability to influence executive stakeholders, align cross-functional departments (Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain), and manage critical customer relationships.
• A "working manager" mindset, comfortable balancing high-level organizational strategy with tactical execution, including directly stepping in to expedite shop floor bottlenecks or resolve unreleased/on-hold job lists when critical deadlines are at risk.
• Willingness to travel to customer sites, test facilities, or partner locations as required to lead program integration, execute high-level reviews, and support critical milestones.