Sr. A&D Program Manager

Job Description

We are seeking an experienced Senior Aerospace & Defense Program Manager to lead complex, multi-year manufacturing programs from pre-award planning and customer onboarding through qualification, production launch, ramp-up, and sustained delivery.

This role serves as the primary point of accountability for overall program performance, aligning customer commitments with execution across manufacturing facilities and approved supplier networks. The Senior Program Manager oversees integrated program plans, financial performance, delivery commitments, risk management, and customer communication while coordinating Engineering, Sales, Operations, Quality, Supply Chain, and Finance teams.

The ideal candidate brings extensive experience managing complex manufacturing programs involving multiple part families, interdependent workstreams, contractual milestones, and recurring production requirements. Success requires the ability to anticipate dependencies, manage competing priorities, protect profitability, and build lasting customer relationships.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

\n
• Manage the Full Program Lifecycle: Lead assigned Aerospace & Defense programs from opportunity qualification and pre-award planning through onboarding, development, qualification, production ramp-up, and ongoing execution. Maintain continuity across all phases with clear ownership, measurable deliverables, and defined readiness criteria.
\n
• Develop and Manage Integrated Program Plans: Establish program scope, work breakdown structures, integrated schedules, budgets, resource requirements, and customer milestones. Coordinate dependencies across engineering, material procurement, tooling, outside processing, first-article inspection, and production to protect critical-path schedules.
\n
• Serve as the Primary Customer Contact: Build strong relationships with customer program management, engineering, procurement, and quality stakeholders. Lead program reviews, communicate performance and emerging risks, manage expectations, and present recovery plans when commitments are at risk.
\n
• Lead Cross-Functional and Multi-Site Execution: Coordinate customer teams across Sales, Applications Engineering, Operations, Quality, Supply Chain, and Finance. Align manufacturing facilities and approved suppliers around program objectives, responsibilities, decision-making, and escalation procedures. Lead through influence within a matrixed organization.
\n
• Oversee Program Financial Performance: Manage program budgets, revenue and margin forecasts, cost-to-complete estimates, and financial risks in partnership with Finance and Operations. Track nonrecurring engineering, tooling, launch costs, and production performance against approved assumptions. Drive corrective actions and support recovery of authorized customer-driven changes.
\n
• Support Pre-Award Planning and Commitments: Partner with Sales, Applications Engineering, and estimating teams to develop proposals based on realistic capacity, lead times, qualification requirements, and delivery plans. Identify program risks, resource needs, assumptions, and dependencies before commitments are made. Lead the transition from program award to execution.
\n
• Manage Requirements, Scope, and Configuration Changes: Coordinate contract and requirement reviews with Engineering, Quality, and other functional teams to ensure customer obligations are understood and incorporated into execution plans. Maintain visibility into drawing revisions, specification changes, quality clauses, and scope changes. Ensure cost, schedule, qualification, and delivery impacts are evaluated and approved before implementation.
\n
• Proactively Manage Program Risks and Recovery: Maintain risk and issue registers covering technical, quality, schedule, financial, capacity, and supply chain concerns. Assign owners, establish mitigation plans, and escalate decisions as needed. Lead cross-functional recovery efforts with clear actions, deadlines, and customer communication.
\n
• Coordinate Supply Chain and Capacity Planning: Translate customer forecasts, contractual milestones, and production releases into coordinated demand and capacity plans. Partner with Operations and Supply Chain to address long-lead materials, constrained processes, supplier readiness, and manufacturing transfers. Coordinate with Quality and Compliance to ensure execution plans and information sharing receive required approvals.
\n
• Establish Program Governance and Reporting: Lead internal execution reviews, customer program reviews, and executive escalations based on program complexity. Maintain dashboards tracking delivery, quality, financial performance, customer satisfaction, and outstanding risks. Ensure decisions, commitments, and corrective actions are documented and completed.
\n
• Develop Customer Relationships and Program Management Practices: Work with Sales and Applications Engineering to identify follow-on opportunities, additional part families, and program expansion opportunities. Mentor other program managers and develop onboarding processes, governance templates, lessons learned, and best practices to strengthen program management capabilities.
\n

Required Qualifications

\n
• Minimum of 10 years of progressive experience in Aerospace & Defense program management or closely related manufacturing leadership, including at least five years directly accountable for complex, multi-year manufacturing programs.
\n
• Demonstrated experience managing programs involving multiple part families, phased releases, interdependent projects, qualification requirements, and recurring production commitments, rather than solely individual orders or standalone projects.
\n
• Successful leadership across pre-award planning, contract review, new product introduction, qualification, production ramp-up, and sustained delivery. Experience managing programs across multiple facilities or external manufacturing partners is strongly preferred.
\n
• Hands-on experience developing integrated schedules, work breakdown structures, resource plans, budgets, financial forecasts, risk registers, and executive scorecards. Ability to identify critical-path risks and translate complex dependencies into actionable execution plans.
\n
• Demonstrated ability to manage program financial performance, evaluate performance against budgets, forecast cost and margin exposure, and lead recovery actions. Experience with nonrecurring engineering, tooling investments, long-term agreements, and customer change management.
\n
• Strong working knowledge of precision CNC machining, complex assemblies, outside processing, and production qualification. Ability to interpret engineering drawings, GD&T, material and finish requirements, and manufacturing constraints to coordinate technical decisions.
\n
• Experience working in regulated Aerospace & Defense environments, with working knowledge of AS9100 quality-system expectations, ITAR-controlled work, customer-specific quality requirements, traceability, configuration management, and first-article inspection.
\n
• Experience serving as the primary program contact for aerospace OEMs, defense prime contractors, or major tier suppliers. Ability to communicate effectively with engineering, procurement, quality, operations, and executive stakeholders, including during difficult performance discussions.
\n
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional teams without direct reporting authority, resolve competing priorities, hold team members accountable, and escalate issues with clear recommendations.
\n
• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Business, or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience.
\n
• Proficiency with program scheduling, ERP/MRP, CRM, and reporting tools.
\n

Preferred Qualifications

\n
• Familiarity with additional manufacturing technologies, including additive manufacturing, sheet metal fabrication, and molding.
\n
• Familiarity with Nadcap-accredited special processes.
\n
• PMP or PgMP certification.
\n
• Experience mentoring and developing other program managers.
\n