Principal Program Scheduler

K2 Space

• $160K — $200K *
Aerospace & Defense
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in business, engineering, finance, operations management, or related field.
  • 8+ years of experience in project planning and integrated master scheduling.
  • Expertise in integrating schedules from various data sources and third parties.
  • Strong communication skills interfacing with leadership levels externally and internally.
  • Experience conducting critical path and what-if analysis effectively.
  • Familiarity with schedule health metrics and work breakdown structures.
  • Proficiency in tools such as Smartsheet, MS Project, or Primavera.

Responsibilities

  • Create and manage master schedules for satellite programs from inception to launch.
  • Deliver clear, data-driven critical path schedules to teams and customers.
  • Collaborate across teams to ensure alignment with key milestones.
  • Assess projects, identify dependencies, and maintain stakeholder engagement.
  • Deeply understand engineering and manufacturing workflows for accurate scheduling.
  • Lead impactful reviews to keep schedules actionable and relevant.
  • Perform complex analyses to recommend strategic paths to leadership.

Benefits

  • Unlimited paid time off for work-life balance.
  • Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage.
  • Paid parental leave for new parents.
  • Life insurance options to provide family security.
  • Equity opportunities in the company for long-term investment.
Full Job Description
The Role

Can you bring order to chaos and keep programs on track when the stakes are sky-high?

We're looking for a Principal Program Scheduler to architect and maintain end-to-end development timelines across diverse projects - from initial concept studies to on-orbit testing. You will operate across engineering, operations, and production teams to create detailed program plans and scalable solutions to drive execution for multiple programs. This role uniquely spans both government and commercial efforts, requiring a dynamic approach to planning across multiple priorities and stakeholders.

You'll collaborate with technical leads and program managers to track milestones, flag risks, and keep delivery aligned with aggressive schedules. This role demands both strategic insight and hands-on execution, coordinating non-recurring engineering, spacecraft builds, ground infrastructure, software development, and launch operations. If you're energized by solving complex scheduling puzzles and want to help shape the future of National Security and commercial space, this is your mission.

Responsibilities
  • Create, own, and drive master schedules for new satellite programs from inception through launch and on-orbit operations
  • Develop, communicate, and deliver clear, data-driven critical path schedules and progress updates to internal teams and customers
  • Collaborate with engineering, operations, and production teams to assure alignment to ground truth milestones
  • Rapidly assess new and ongoing projects, identify required dependencies from internal and external stakeholders
  • Gain deep operational insight into K2's engineering, manufacturing, and launch workflows to drive accurate schedules and process improvements
  • Lead fast-paced, high impact reviews as needed to keep plans current and actionable
  • Perform complex what-if analysis and recommend paths forward to Leadership
  • Build schedule tools and reports to enable time-relevant decision-making
  • Proactively monitor engineering data sources to enable more accurate schedules

Qualifications
  • Bachelor's degree in business, engineering, finance, operations management, or a related field
  • 8+ years of experience with project planning and integrated master scheduling
  • Experience integrating schedules within the same tool, and from third parties and various data sources
  • Experience interfacing with External and Internal Leadership
  • Experience performing critical path and what-if analysis
  • Experience with schedule health metrics and work breakdown structures
  • Experience with summary schedule reporting tools such as Microsoft Timeline or equivalent
  • Highly proficient with Smartsheet, MS Project, Primavera, and/or other similar-to schedule applications or processes

Nice to have
  • Experience working in a fast-paced environment with cross-functional engineering and operations teams, familiarity with the engineering development life cycle
  • Experience with first-of engineering projects and scaled production efforts
  • Ability to support concurrent projects, executing with clear guidance and operating in ambiguity, connecting pieces of the puzzle and raising issues before they arise
  • Experience with engineering development projects
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with extreme attention to detail
  • Ability to set the appropriate cadence for updates, and pivot when necessary

Additional Requirements
  • Active Top Secret or Top Secret SCI clearance preferred; willing to pursue and maintain a clearance if not already cleared
  • Ability to work irregular business hours to support proposals or critical project timelines

Compensation and Benefits
  • Base salary range for this role is $160,000- $200,000 + equity in the company
  • Salary will be based on several factors including, but not limited to: knowledge and skills, education, and experience level
  • Comprehensive benefits package including unlimited paid time off, medical/dental/vision coverage, life insurance, paid parental leave, and many other perks


If you don't meet 100% of the preferred skills and experience, we encourage you to still apply! Building a spacecraft unlike any other requires a team unlike any other and non-traditional career twists and turns are encouraged!

If you need a reasonable accommodation as part of your application for employment or interviews with us, please let us know.

Export Compliance

As defined in the ITAR, "U.S. Persons" include U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents (i.e., Green Card holders), and certain protected individuals (e.g., refugees/asylees, American Samoans). Please consult with a knowledgeable advisor if you are unsure whether you are a "U.S. Person."

The person hired for this role will have access to information and items controlled by U.S. export control regulations, including the export control regulations outlined in the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR). The person hired for this role must therefore either be a "U.S. person" as defined by 22 C.F.R. 120.15 or otherwise eligible for a federally issued export control license.

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