Senior Program Manager – Unmanned Systems (Middle East & North Africa) - Relocation Assistance Available - Onsite

About the role

The Senior Program Manager – Unmanned Systems is responsible for end-to-end leadership and regional portfolio management of complex unmanned systems programs (air, ground, maritime, or multi-domain) from capture to proposal development, engineering, production, deployment, and sustainment. This role owns customer satisfaction, cost, schedule, and technical performance for the portfolio and leads strategic initiatives across the region that drive new revenue opportunities.

Responsibilities

• Lead planning and execution of one or more complex, multi-year unmanned systems programs and regional portfolio of programs
• Provide strategic leadership and governance for a regional portfolio of complex, multi-year unmanned systems programs
• Manage portfolio scorecard for program baselines (scope, schedule, budget)
• Execute program plan with engineering, logistics, operations, supply chain, quality, and functional support teams and identify improvement opportunities
• Proactively assess portfolio health (cost, schedule, performance), risks and issues; develop and implement mitigation and recovery plans
• Prioritize resources, investments, and risk mitigation across programs to meet regional growth, margin, and strategic objectives
• Ensure portfolio-wide adherence to technical performance, safety, and regulatory requirements (e.g., airworthiness, certification, range/test) and resolve cross-program integration issues
• Establish and nurture stakeholder relationships with key regional customers and partners
• Oversee customer satisfaction, communications, and contract performance across programs; empower program managers to maintain strong relationships and contractual compliance
• Develop multi-year customer engagement strategies and portfolio-level partnership plans to maximize growth and retention
• Collaborate with executive leadership to define regional portfolio objectives, performance targets, and investment priorities
• Consolidate and present integrated portfolio performance, risks, and opportunities to Insitu and Boeing senior leadership
• Own portfolio P&L performance, including revenue forecasting, margin, and cash flow projections
• Develop and manage portfolio budgets; monitor EVM or equivalent performance metrics as applicable
• Ensure timely, accurate reporting and support internal financial reviews
• Develop and deploy regional execution strategy in collaboration with Global Growth & Program Managers
• Support capture activities, including customer engagement, solution strategy, teaming, and price-to-win
• Support proposal efforts: requirements analysis, WBS, schedules, risk registers, and management volumes
• Identify growth opportunities (follow-on contracts, upgrades, new mission sets) within existing portfolio
• Provide strategic input on product roadmaps for unmanned systems and related services (payloads, autonomy, C2, data services)
• Continuously scan and respond to market and customer trends to identify and shape new opportunities for revenue growth
• Manage program managers, support performance management, coaching, and succession planning tasks
• Lead portfolio teams; establish priorities, ensure accountability, and effective communication across functional IPT
• Mentor and develop program managers in program management best practices
• Champion a culture of safety, quality, ethical conduct, and continuous improvement across all programs in the region
• Drive process improvements across program management and lifecycle governance
• Own execution metrics for unmanned systems portfolio
• Drive swift decision-making across programs

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Business, or related field
• 12+ years of progressive experience in program or project management, with at least 8 years managing complex aerospace, defense or unmanned systems programs
• Demonstrated success managing full lifecycle portfolio of programs (concept through deployment/sustainment)
• Proven ability to manage cost, schedule, and technical performance; experience with gated development and phase reviews
• Strong understanding of unmanned systems architectures, subsystems, and mission applications
• Experience working with government and/or commercial acquisition frameworks
• Excellent leadership, communication, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills
• Proficiency with program management tools (e.g., MS Project or Primavera, requirements matrix, risk registers, dashboards)
• Ability to travel as required (typically 10–25%)
• Ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Engineering, Business (MBA), or related technical discipline
• PMP, PgMP, or DAU/Defense Acquisition certification (or equivalent)
• Experience with: Military or commercial UAS development, integration, and fielding – Acquisition and Services Earned Value Management (EVM) Agile or hybrid Agile/waterfall development environments
• Direct experience interfacing with DoD service branches and international defense customers