Program Manager [Vespid]

About the role

CHAOS Industries is redefining modern defense with a multi-product portfolio that gives the ultimate advantage—domain dominance. The company's products are powered by Coherent Distributed Networks (CDN™), empowering warfighters, commercial air operators, and border protection teams to act faster, adapt rapidly, and stay ahead of evolving threats. CHAOS Industries was founded in 2022 and has raised a total of $1 billion in funding from leading investors, including 8VC, Accel, and Valor Equity Partners. The company is headquartered in Los Angeles, with offices in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, San Diego, and London. We are seeking an experienced Program Manager with a strong technical background to lead the planning, execution, and delivery of autonomous Massed Modular Aircraft program contracted through Defense Innovation Unit (DIU). The successful candidate will own program cost, schedule, and technical performance (CSP) baselines from proposal through development, test, production, and sustainment, serving as the primary interface with customers (DoW, government agencies, international customers), internal engineering teams, operations teams, and supply chain partners. This role requires a rare blend of program management discipline and hands-on technical fluency in military aircraft domain.

Responsibilities

• Own full program P&L, including cost performance, schedule adherence (IMS/IMP), risk/opportunity management, and technical baseline control (EVMS-lite) across the program lifecycle.
• Serve as primary point of contact for customer program offices (e.g., PEO, PM offices), leading program reviews (PMR, technical interchange meetings, milestone reviews).
• Coordinate cross-functional Integrated Product Teams (IPTs) spanning systems engineering, airframe, aerodynamics, guidance, propulsion, warhead/payload integration, avionics, software, manufacturing, quality, test, and logistics.
• Develop and maintain Integrated Master Schedules (IMS); manage critical path and resolve schedule conflicts.
• Manage program risk and opportunity registers; drive mitigation plans for technical, schedule, cost, and supply chain risks.
• Support proposal development, including Basis of Estimate (BOE) generation, technical volume input, pricing strategy, and capture activities for new business and follow-on contracts.
• Provide informed oversight across the full system lifecycle: requirements decomposition, System Requirements Review (SRR), Preliminary/Critical Design Review (PDR/CDR), integration, flight/static test, Test Readiness Review (TRR), and Production Readiness Review (PRR).
• Partner with Chief Engineer and systems engineering lead to assess technical trade studies, verify requirements traceability, and ensure design maturity gates are met.
• Oversee airworthiness, flight safety, and range safety processes, and ensure compliance with applicable safety standards.
• Coordinate developmental and operational test campaigns (DT&E/OT&E), including flight test, captive