Senior Program Controls Specialist V

Senior Program Controls Scheduler

Firefly Aerospace is seeking an experienced Senior Program Controls Scheduler to help programs stay on time and on budget. The Senior Program Controls Specialist will develop, baseline, manage and monitor both schedule and cost aspects of the program to ensure the program stays on time and within budget for Spacecraft programs. This position is central to synchronizing engineering, manufacturing, and integration activities across multiple programs supporting national security missions. The controls specialist will collaborate with program managers, the execution team, and external partners to ensure all efforts are aligned with contract deliverables, major milestones, establish budgets, and risks & opportunities. This experienced individual will also help the Director of Program Performance Management establish company processes, create company training & train Firefly employees on Program Controls best practices and analytics.

The ideal candidate is a seasoned planner and scheduler with process creation & implementation experience who combines a deep understanding of complex aerospace and defense programs with the ability to drive clarity, consistency, and performance tracking across multiple simultaneous efforts.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Develop, maintain, and analyze program-level Integrated Master Schedules (IMS) encompassing design, build, integration, test, and launch phases for multiple programs.
• Develop, maintain, and analyze program estimate at complete, monitor expenditures, and ensure cost align with the IMS
• Conduct "what-if" scenario planning and risk analyses to evaluate impacts of scope changes
• Provide executive-level cost and schedule reports to leadership and customers summarizing performance trends, risk drivers, and recovery actions.
• Analyze program data to report on performance, program status, driving path management, identify risks, issues, & opportunities and recommend corrective actions to leadership.
• Develop processes, training, templates that blend agile & waterfall scheduling and support rapid scaling and cross-program consistency.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, business, or a related field.
• 15+ years of experience in program scheduling, program planning, risk analysis and/or cost analysis in an engineering/manufacturing environment (preferably aerospace)
• Direct experience in aerospace (traditional and non-traditional) environments to help advise on project management best practices
• Demonstrated expertise using Microsoft Project and Jira (or similar tools) for schedule development, managing logic dependencies, tracking, and analysis.
• Demonstrated ability to balance technical/cost/schedule constraints to achieve customer satisfaction
• Experience leading proposal schedules and schedule volumes
• Expert level understanding of fundamentals in planning & scheduling, working with teams to create an accurate IMS, cost management, and program management.
• Experience leading team discussion as it relates to cost, schedule, and risk management
• Experience implementing Earned Value Management (EVM), risk analysis tools, and cost & schedule reporting
• Experience with DCMA 14 Point Schedule Assessment guidelines.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to brief executives, engineers, and government customers.
• Strong understanding of DoD acquisition frameworks
• U.S. citizenship with an active DoD Secret security clearance (or ability to obtain and maintain one).

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced knowledge in excel
• Experience developing IMS for Spacecrafts from concept through flight execution.
• Knowledge of integrated test and launch operations, range scheduling, and cross-agency coordination.
• Demonstrated ability to balance technical/cost/schedule constraints to achieve customer satisfaction
• Experience in managing early career program controls staff on cost & scheduling standards, tools, and best practices.
• AACE and/or PMI professional certifications

Salary range for this role: $184,500 - $205,000

Firefly offers outstanding benefits for our employees, including generous health, dental and vision plans with low plan deductibles, parental leave, educational reimbursement, short term disability, pet Insurance, and flexible PTO options.

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Firefly Aerospace, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Firefly is governed based on merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status