Program Operations Manager

Job Description

Job Description

About Merlin:

Merlin is a venture backed aerospace startup building a non-human pilot to enable both reduced crew and uncrewed flight. Backed by some of the world’s leading investors, Merlin is scaling alongside our customers to begin leveraging autonomy today to solve some of aviation’s biggest challenges.

About You:  

You are a mission-driven builder who thrives at the intersection of technology, execution, and impact. As a Technical Program Manager at Merlin Labs, you’ll play a central role in bringing our autonomy technology to life—delivering the Merlin Pilot into operational service on military aircraft and driving execution across some of the most ambitious programs in aerospace.

 

Embedded within our fast-moving autonomy and flight systems teams, you’ll work side-by-side with engineers, business stakeholders, and customer teams to ensure technical momentum and cross-functional alignment. You bring technical fluency, structured thinking, and the ability to bring clarity to complexity. You’re energized by hard problems, unafraid of ambiguity, and relentless about delivering results.

 

This role sits at the heart of Merlin’s mission and next stage of growth. You’ll support a dynamic portfolio that spans internally funded R&D and customer programs. Above all, you believe in the mission: to accelerate autonomy, support the warfighter, and redefine what’s possible in aviation.

 

We’re building the future of flight—and you’ll help us make it real, one milestone at a time.

Responsibilities:

• Own delivery of complex, cross-functional aerospace and defense programs—spanning autonomy development, flight test, integration, and certification.
• Drive technical execution rhythms across engineering, systems integration, certification, flight test, and business stakeholders.
• Serve as the central point of coordination for internal teams, subcontractors, and government customers—ensuring alignment, transparency, and trust.
• Define and maintain detailed program plans, including scope, milestones, dependencies, and risk mitigation strategies.
• Identify blockers early and drive resolution through structured problem-solving and escalation.
• Shape and manage program scopes and deliverables in alignment with contractual, technical, and business objectives.
• Support capture and proposal efforts by developing cost estimates, technical inputs, and schedules.
• Lead stakeholder communications—from internal reviews to formal customer engagements and milestone briefings.
• Build scalable processes and tools that improve execution velocity and visibility across projects.
• Travel up to 25% to support key integration events, flight test campaigns, and customer engagements.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical field.
• 5+ years of experience managing complex technical programs—ideally within aerospace, defense, or autonomy.
• Demonstrated success delivering integrated hardware-software systems under high accountability.
• Technical fluency—you can engage deeply with engineers and recognize risks and tradeoffs.
• Expert-level project management skills—tools, methods, and the ability to bring order to chaos.
• Strong communicator—able to engage diverse technical and non-technical audiences.
• Proven ability to work within dynamic environments and adapt to evolving priorities.
• Ability to obtain a U.S. Secret Security Clearance.

Nice to Have:

• Active U.S. Security Clearance.
• Experience leading defense programs with DoD and/or FAA certification elements.
• Background in autonomous systems, flight control, or avionics integration.
• Familiarity with U.S. DoD airworthiness, flight test planning, and acquisition processes.

This position is based on-site at Merlin HQ in Boston, MA.

Once you’re here, you’ll enjoy a variety of on-site perks designed to make your workday enjoyable and convenient. These include catered lunches featuring a rotating menu of delicious options, an assortment of snacks to keep you fueled throughout the day, and a selection of beverages, including coffee, tea, and other drinks, to keep you refreshed.

Our goal is to create an environment where you can thrive both professionally and personally

Merlin Labs offers an innovative, entrepreneurial, and team-focused startup environment. We also offer a top-notch benefits package (health, dental, life, unlimited vacation, and 401k with match) and work/life integration. Being part of the Merlin team allows you to become part of a small team that supports professional development while working together to achieve our mission.

Merlin Labs is an equal opportunity employer and values diversity. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, genetic information, sex (including pregnancy), gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, military service or obligation or disability status, or any other characteristic protected by law. All job offers are contingent upon the candidate passing background and reference checks.

At this time, we are unable to provide visa sponsorship or consider candidates who require visa transfers. Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States without the need for visa sponsorship now or in the future. 

In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire.

If you require reasonable accommodation in completing an application, interviewing, completing any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participating in the employee selection process, please direct your inquiries to: View email address on ziprecruiter.com

Merlin Labs does not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than directly from candidates.