Job DescriptionAbout the RoleThe Integrated Survivability Solutions Product Line is seeking a Program Director to lead the development and growth of a next-generation, long-range EO/IR threat warning sensor being developed as a common product for multiple customers and platforms.
This role will serve as the
internal product owner, leading an integrated cross-functional team across engineering, operations, supply chain, quality, finance, contracts, business development, and program management. The Program Director will be responsible for establishing the product operating model and governance necessary to mature a common sensor architecture while successfully executing customer-specific applications and commitments.
The successful candidate will bring strong program leadership, business acumen, and product-level thinking-balancing near-term execution with the long-term health, scalability, and competitiveness of the product.
Key Expectations of the Role- Own the product: Serve as the accountable business leader for the common EO/IR sensor product, its performance, maturity, roadmap, and overall business success.
- Lead cross-functional execution: Build and lead the integrated team responsible for delivering the product from development through qualification, production, and fielding.
- Establish product governance: Define decision rights, operating cadence, configuration governance, and change-control processes across common and customer-specific product requirements.
- Protect commonality: Drive disciplined management of the core product baseline, balancing customer needs with reuse, affordability, scalability, and lifecycle considerations.
- Drive program performance: Own cost, schedule, technical execution, risk and opportunity management, and achievement of key product and customer milestones.
- Shape the product roadmap: Partner with Engineering and Business Development to define future capabilities, investments, technology insertion, and next-generation growth opportunities.
- Develop the business: Support customer engagement, captures, proposals, and business cases that expand adoption of the common product across multiple platforms and customers.
- Enable production readiness: Drive early alignment across design, supply chain, manufacturing, test, quality, and supplier readiness to support a successful transition to production.
- Provide executive-level visibility: Clearly communicate product health, key decisions, risks, investment needs, and business outlook to Product Area and Product Line leadership.
Leadership ProfileThe ideal candidate is a systems-oriented leader who can operate across technical, programmatic, and business boundaries. They should be comfortable making decisions in an evolving development environment, creating structure where it does not yet exist, and aligning multiple stakeholders around a common product strategy.
Success in this role will require the ability to simultaneously
execute today's development commitments, establish a scalable product framework, and position the sensor for adoption across multiple future customers and platforms.Required Skills and Education- Leadership of complex defense electronics, sensor, EO/IR, or similarly integrated development programs
- Experience transitioning advanced technology from development through qualification and production
- Demonstrated leadership of large, cross-functional integrated teams
- Strong understanding of program financials, risk and opportunity management, and business planning
- Experience managing common product architectures across multiple customers, platforms, or configurations
- Customer-facing experience supporting captures, proposals, negotiations, and program execution
- Experience developing product roadmaps and shaping internal investment strategies
- Experience building complex business cases and leading discussions with senior leadership
Preferred Skills and Education- Successfully demonstrated leading teams through the transition to a common product build mentality
- Successfully took a product through development, introduction, and commerciality
