Program Manager

Karman Space and Defense

$110K — $130K *
Aerospace & Defense
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • B.S. in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering or related field required.
  • M.S. or MBA preferred.
  • 5+ years of engineering experience required, including 2+ years in Aerospace and/or Systems Engineering.
  • 2+ years of experience managing teams and/or projects preferred.
  • Proven project development, planning, and execution skills are essential.
  • U.S. citizenship and ability to obtain a DoD SECRET clearance is mandatory.

Responsibilities

  • Develop and maintain long-term business relationships with customers through various communication methods.
  • Plan projects to set costs and schedules based on technical objectives.
  • Monitor project costs, schedules, and technical progress to meet program goals.
  • Document System Requirements and Contract Deliverables accurately.
  • Lead customer interactions including meetings and design reviews.
  • Support business development activities such as proposal writing.

Benefits

  • Medical, dental, and vision insurance.
  • Company-paid life insurance.
  • 401(k) retirement savings plan.
  • Generous paid time off (PTO).
  • Paid holidays.
  • Tuition reimbursement available.
Full Job Description
In this role, you will lead defense programs through planning, development, qualification, production, and delivery. You will develop integrated program plans, manage performance against cost and schedule, coordinate cross-functional execution, and serve as a primary interface with customers and internal stakeholders. Your work ensures the successful delivery of mission-critical missile, propulsion, launch, payload, and defense-system hardware.

Schedule
  • This shift follows a 9/80 schedule: 9 hours Monday through Thursday, 8 hours Friday, with every other Friday off.

Responsibilities
  • Leads assigned programs through planning, development, qualification, production, delivery, and contract completion.
  • Owns performance against cost, schedule, technical, quality, contractual, and customer objectives.
  • Develops and maintains integrated program plans, schedules, budgets, milestones, resource requirements, and performance metrics.
  • Coordinates cross-functional execution across engineering, operations, quality, supply chain, contracts, finance, and test.
  • Serves as a primary program interface for customers, prime contractors, government stakeholders, suppliers, and internal leadership.
  • Identifies technical, programmatic, supply-chain, cost, and schedule risks and drives mitigation and recovery plans.
  • Leads recurring program reviews and communicates financial performance, risks, decisions, dependencies, and corrective actions.
  • Supports design reviews, test-readiness reviews, qualification activities, production-readiness reviews, and customer acceptance events.
  • Manages contractual deliverables, statements of work, program changes, customer requests, and scope changes.
  • Supports proposals, estimates, contract negotiations, follow-on opportunities, and program-growth activities.
  • Performs other related duties as needed.

Required Qualifications
  • Bachelor's degree in engineering, business program management, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and directly relevant experience.
  • At least 5 years of experience supporting or managing aerospace, defense, advanced manufacturing, or similarly complex technical programs.

Preferred Qualifications
  • Master's degree in a related technical field or a Master of Business Administration (MBA).
  • Experience managing Department of Defense, U.S. government, allied-defense, or prime-contractor programs.
  • Experience with missile systems, propulsion, launch systems, payload integration, separation systems, energetic devices, or related flight hardware.
  • Experience managing programs from development through qualification and production.
  • Knowledge of government contracting and fixed-price, cost-reimbursable, or incentive-based contract structures.
  • Experience with Earned Value Management (EVM), cost-account management, or similar financial-performance methods.
  • Experience supporting proposals, estimates, negotiations, contract modifications, or follow-on program capture.
  • Project Management Professional (PMP) certification or equivalent formal program-management training.
  • Experience with program scheduling, enterprise resource planning (ERP), or product-lifecycle management (PLM) systems.
  • Experience leading engineering teams to develop mechanical and pyrotechnic components and systems.

This position requires U.S. person status under U.S. export control laws, including U.S. citizens and nationals, lawful permanent residents, refugees, and asylees.

Benefits
  • Medical, dental, and vision insurance
  • 401(k) with company match
  • Paid time off
  • Health Savings Account (HSA) with company contribution
  • Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
  • Company-paid life and AD&D insurance
  • Short- and long-term disability coverage
  • Tuition reimbursement

Similar Jobs

More Jobs at Karman Space and Defense

More Aerospace & Defense Jobs

Find similar Program Manager jobs: