Program Manager

About the role

This is a full-time, on-site Project Manager role located in California, designed for a proactive leader who bridges the gap between high-level program strategy and shop-floor execution.

Responsibilities

• Align cross-functional teams including engineering, manufacturing, quality, and supply chain on program goals, timelines, and deliverables to ensure seamless execution from concept through production.
• Proactively identify and resolve execution bottlenecks across internal departments to maintain strict cost and schedule adherence.
• Expedite jobs through the shop floor and internal work centers to prevent schedule delays and drive task completion.
• Serve as the primary bridge between Program Management Office and Production to obtain accurate recovery dates and real-time production schedules.
• Identify, assess, and mitigate program risks early, implementing data-driven contingency plans to maintain technical performance.
• Monitor and manage unreleased or "on-hold" job lists, driving them to immediate resolution to keep production moving.
• Track program progress and backlog using project management tools, maintaining full visibility on key milestones, budgets, and resource allocation.
• Ensure data integrity within the ERP system, ensuring that system milestones and delivery dates align perfectly with actual production status.
• Prepare dashboards, KPIs, and performance metrics for internal leadership and customer review to project program health.
• Facilitate timely decision-making by providing technical context, data-backed insights, and clear trade-off analyses to leadership and engineering teams.
• Represent technical content and program status clearly to internal stakeholders, suppliers, and affiliated business units.
• Prepare and complete customer Open Order Reports (OOR), ensuring documentation compliance and meeting all submission timelines.
• Flexibly support technical execution across engineering and manufacturing as needed to meet aggressive program objectives.
• Travel to customer sites, test facilities, and partner locations as required to support program execution and integration activities.

Requirements

• Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution in Engineering, Business, or a related fields, or equivalent professional experience including certifications in an aerospace or defense manufacturing environment.
• 4+ years of direct experience in project management, production planning, or technical coordination within the aerospace, defense, or advanced materials industries.
• Direct experience with ERP systems and customer portals, with a proven ability to ensure system data (milestones/delivery dates) aligns with actual shop floor production status.
• Technical familiarity with complex aerospace systems, such as launch vehicles, missile systems, thermal protection systems (TPS), or composite materials.
• Proficiency in project planning and reporting tools (e.g., MS Project, Smartsheet, Jira, or Excel), including the ability to run and analyze data to track job status and backlog.
• Demonstrated experience managing program risk and KPIs, with the ability to develop and execute schedule recovery plans in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.
• Strong organizational and follow-through skills, specifically in managing unreleased/hold lists and expediting jobs through internal departments (Manufacturing, Quality, and Materials).
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with a proven ability to lead and influence cross-functional teams and external partners without direct authority.
• Comfortable acting as a technical liaison, with the ability to translate customer feedback into actionable tasks and communicate complex engineering concepts clearly to internal stakeholders.
• Willingness to travel to customer sites, test facilities, or partner locations as required to support program integration and execution activities.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Security Clearance (Secret or higher), including meeting all background check and eligibility requirements for access to controlled defense information and facilities.

Qualifications

• Active U.S. Security Clearance (Secret or higher) is strongly preferred.
• Deep technical knowledge of Thermal Protection Systems (TPS), including experience with launch vehicles, missile systems, soft goods, coatings, and other components designed for extreme thermal environments.
• Subject matter expertise in advanced manufacturing processes related to metallics and superalloys, composites, ablatives, and ceramics used in high-heat aerospace applications.
• Direct experience with qualification and developmental testing (e.g., vibration, thermal vacuum, or high-velocity flow testing), in addition to standard production testing environments.
• Hands-on experience with PLM systems and CAD tools to support engineering collaboration and configuration management.
• PMP or similar project management certification is a plus.
• Master’s degree in Engineering, Business, or a related field is preferred but not required.
• Strong background in customer-facing roles or technical business development, with the ability to manage complex partner and stakeholder relationships.
• Demonstrated success in transition-to-production, specifically moving advanced material designs from the R&D phase into a high-rate manufacturing environment.