Senior Program Manager - Remote Sensing

About the role

The Senior Program Manager at Umbra leads a portfolio of U.S. national security remote sensing programs, supporting U.S. Department of War (DoW) and Intelligence Community (IC) customers. Responsibilities include managing program cost, schedule, technical and operational performance, and customer satisfaction across the program lifecycle. The role involves developing and maintaining program plans, schedules, budgets, forecasts, and risk and opportunity registers; leading recurring program reviews; and providing clear assessments of program health, risks, and outlook to customers and executive leadership.

Responsibilities

• Lead a portfolio of U.S. national security remote sensing programs with responsibility for cost, schedule, technical and operational performance, contractual commitments, financial outcomes, and customer delivery.
• Develop and maintain program plans, schedules, budgets, forecasts, and risk and opportunity registers; lead recurring program reviews; and provide clear assessments of program health, risks, and outlook to customers and executive leadership.
• Serve as a primary interface for DoW and Intelligence Community customers and build trusted relationships across program offices, mission partners, and operational user communities.
• Engage frequently and directly with analysts, operators, and other end users to understand mission workflows, operational challenges, evolving requirements, and how Umbra's products are employed.
• Translate these insights into program improvements, product requirements, new capabilities, and growth opportunities.
• Partner with mission operations, engineering, product, and other cross-functional teams to ensure reliable execution of customer missions and delivery of imagery, data, and mission products.
• Establish and monitor program KPIs, service-level requirements, capacity, delivery performance, and other contractual measures; proactively identify risks and drive corrective actions.
• Apply and help mature scalable program management processes appropriate to a fast-paced commercial space environment.
• Serve as the voice of the customer across product and technical organizations, helping shape company roadmaps and investment priorities based on mission needs and market demand.
• Build effective relationships across engineering, product, mission operations, analytics, business development, contracts, finance, and other organizations.

Requirements

• Bachelor's or graduate degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Business, or a related STEM or business field.
• 5-8+ years of program management or comparable technical program leadership experience, including experience supporting U.S. Government aerospace, defense, intelligence, or national security space programs.
• Active TS/SCI security clearance with a read-in within the past two years.
• Proven ability to independently lead complex technical or operational programs and cross-functional teams through planning, execution, and customer delivery.
• Experience managing program financials, schedules, contractual requirements, risks and opportunities, technical or operational performance, and customer relationships.
• Experience working directly with U.S. Government customers and translating mission and contractual requirements into executable program priorities.
• Experience supporting U.S. Government captures, proposals, and business development efforts.
• Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills, with the ability to establish trusted relationships across customers, senior leadership, technical teams, and partner organizations.

Desired Qualifications

• 10+ years of program management or technical program leadership experience, including significant experience supporting DoW, Intelligence Community, or national security space programs.
• Experience with Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and commercial Earth observation, including familiarity with satellite tasking, collection or mission operations, imagery products, processing and dissemination, and operational customer applications.
• Experience working with or supporting the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and the broader GEOINT community, including direct engagement with intelligence analysts, mission operators, and other end users to understand operational workflows and translate mission needs into program priorities, product requirements, and new capabilities.
• Experience developing and growing U.S. Government programs through competitive captures, strategic proposals, follow-on opportunities, and expansion of existing customer relationships.
• Experience transitioning new technologies, sensing capabilities, or data products from development and demonstration into operational use or scalable commercial services.
• Familiarity with additional remote sensing and intelligence capabilities, including Passive RF/RF geolocation, EO/IR, multi-INT architectures, data fusion, imagery analytics, or derived intelligence products.
• Understanding of space and ground system architectures, systems engineering principles, and structured program or product development methodologies.
• Self-motivated, adaptable, and comfortable operating in a fast-paced, ambiguous commercial environment with a high degree of ownership and initiative.
• Ability to travel domestically (CONUS) up to 25% of the time.