General Motors

Program Manager, Lunar & Advanced Project Programs - GM Defense

General Motors • $134K — $207K *
Mountain View, CA 94040In-Person
Aerospace & Defense
5 - 7 years of experience
Today
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Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's Degree
  • 7+ years of experience in a relevant technical or operations discipline
  • Planning or program management experience leading cross-functional initiatives
  • U.S. citizenship required to comply with federal contracts
  • Strong financial acumen including budgeting and variance analysis
  • Proven ability to lead large, complex programs
  • Strong communication skills

Responsibilities

  • Lead planning and execution for Lunar and advanced mobility programs
  • Act as primary customer-facing leader for program relationships
  • Oversee program performance across multiple projects
  • Coordinate proposal shaping with internal teams for technical feasibility
  • Execute Lunar contracts while maximizing profitability
  • Lead cross-functional teams in achieving program objectives
  • Integrate cross-functional work products into cohesive solutions

Benefits

  • Medical, dental, and vision coverage
  • Health Savings Account and Flexible Spending Accounts
  • Retirement savings plan with company contributions
  • Life insurance and accident benefits
  • Paid vacation and holidays
  • Tuition assistance programs
  • GM vehicle discounts
  • Eligibility for company vehicle evaluation program
Full Job Description
Job Description

Remote/Hybrid - This role is based remotely, but if you live within a 50-mile radius of Austin, Warren, Mountain View or Milford, you are expected to report to that location three times a week, at minimum.

The Role:

GM Defense is seeking a highly motivated and dynamic program leader to own and grow our Lunar portfolio and related advanced programs across current and future mobility, robotics, and other advanced projects, while positioning GM's commercial EV and advanced technologies for future space and defense applications. This is a strategic, customer-facing people-leader role with responsibility for end-to-end program leadership across concept, capture, contract execution, and delivery and for building and developing a high-performing team.

You will serve as the primary point of contact and relationship owner between GM/GMD and key government and industry stakeholders for Lunar and other advanced mobility programs, ensuring clear alignment on mission objectives, technical requirements, and delivery milestones. You will coordinate across internal GM organizations and external industry and mission partners to bring together chassis, autonomy, robotics, and space-rated battery solutions into an integrated Lunar mobility capability.

The ideal candidate thrives in highly ambiguous environments, has a strong track record leading complex, cross-functional technical programs, and is eager to help write the next chapter of GM's role in space exploration.

What You'll Do
  • Lead portfolio-level planning and execution for GM Defense's Lunar and other advanced mobility and robotics programs, including current projects and future pursuits.
  • Serve as the primary Customer-facing program leader for Lunar and related advanced efforts, managing day-to-day interactions, expectations, and long-term relationships with Government and space-related customers.
  • Own overall program performance (schedule, cost, scope, technical execution, risk) across multiple, simultaneous contracted and pursuit efforts within the Lunar and advanced projects portfolio.
  • Coordinate closely with Business Creation, Business Development, and Product Development leads to shape and deliver executable proposals for Lunar mobility, robotics, and related opportunities, ensuring technical feasibility, realistic timing, and appropriate resourcing.
  • Execute awarded Lunar contracts to achieve customer requirements, exceed expectations, and maximize GM Defense profitability while meeting all contractual and regulatory obligations.
  • Lead the cross-functional program execution team (PET), enabling engineering, autonomy/robotics, battery and mobility systems, manufacturing, supply chain, finance, and other stakeholders to contribute to their full potential.
  • Integrate work products from cross-functional GM teams into cohesive Lunar and advanced mobility solutions, with clear interfaces, ownership, and decision rights, leveraging GM's commercial EV and automated driving technologies where appropriate for future Lunar and other advanced projects.
  • Manage issues and risks through effective decision framing, structured trade-off analysis, and timely escalation and resolution.
  • Develop and deliver clear, concise program communications via standalone presentations, program reviews, team meetings, and one-on-one discussions with senior leadership and government/industry partners.
  • Prepare materials for internal gate reviews and external Government/Customer leadership reviews, including technical progress, demonstration/test results, and risk and opportunity profiles.
  • Integrate supporting functional processes (engineering change management, configuration management, validation and verification, safety, quality) to ensure robust, repeatable execution across Lunar and other advanced programs.
  • Drive on-time completion of key milestones and contractual obligations.
  • Build and sustain a high-performing team by directly leading, coaching, and developing team members, establishing clear priorities and goals, and creating behavioral norms and accountability mechanisms aligned to GM's values.
  • Maintain effectiveness amid rapidly evolving Lunar mission concepts, technologies, and partnership structures while balancing Government/Customer priorities with GM Defense business objectives.


Your Skills & Abilities (Required Qualifications):
  • Bachelor's Degree
  • 7+ years of progressive experience in Quality, Manufacturing, Engineering, Purchasing, Contracting, Supply Chain, or other business, technical, or operations disciplines, or comparable cross functional role
  • Demonstrated planning, program management, project management or equivalent experience leading cross functional initiatives
  • Candidate must either be a U.S. Person (U.S. citizen, U.S. permanent resident, asylee or refugee) or a non-U.S. Person who is eligible to obtain any required export control authorization
  • U.S. citizenship required to comply with federal government contract provision expressly restricting role to U.S. citizens
  • Strong business acumen with experience and understanding of financial tracking during program execution, including budgeting, forecasting, and variance analysis
  • Proven track record leading large, technically complex programs with multiple stakeholders, ideally in highly regulated or mission-critical environments
  • Excellent ability to deal with ambiguity in a fast-paced environment
  • Proven track record of developing and driving high-performing teams
  • Strong framing and communication skills
  • Organizational agility and managerial courage
  • Proficient in MS Office, including PowerPoint, Excel, Word, and Project
  • Strong business acumen with experience and understanding of financial tracking during program execution with a keen attention to detail


What Will Give You A Competitive Edge (Preferred Qualifications)
  • MBA or equivalent degree
  • Program leadership experience in space, Lunar or planetary surface mobility, autonomy, robotics, or advanced defense/aerospace systems
  • Familiarity with NASA and/or DoD space-related acquisition frameworks, including experience with contract structures, milestones, and technical review processes
  • Familiarity with the defense industry, including knowledge of Acquisition frameworks, Business Development, Planning, Portfolio Planning, Engineering, Manufacturing, Finance, Accounting, Purchasing, and Supply Chain
  • Knowledge across one or more of the following domains as applied to Lunar or analogous extreme environments: systems engineering, mission/portfolio planning, engineering, manufacturing, finance, accounting, purchasing, and supply chain
  • Experience managing or coordinating with external partners, subcontractors, or consortiums on complex, multi-organization programs


Compensation: The compensation information is a good faith estimate only. It is based on what a successful applicant might be paid in accordance with applicable state laws. The actual base salary a successful candidate will be offered within this range will vary based on factors relevant to the position, as well as geography of the selected candidate.
  • The salary range for this role is $134,700 to $207,600. The actual base salary a successful candidate will be offered within this range will vary based on factors relevant to the position.
  • Bonus Potential: An incentive pay program offers payouts based on company performance, job level, and individual performance.
  • Benefits: GM offers a variety of health and wellbeing benefit programs. Benefit options include medical, dental, vision, Health Savings Account, Flexible Spending Accounts, retirement savings plan, sickness and accident benefits, life insurance, paid vacation & holidays, tuition assistance programs, employee assistance program, GM vehicle discounts and more.
  • Eligibility, after a satisfactory motor vehicle report review, to participate in the GM company vehicle evaluation program, which provides assignment of a GM vehicle to drive and evaluate (participants are required to purchase or lease a qualifying GM vehicle every four years unless an exception applies).


U.S. citizenship required pursuant to government contract.

#GMD

GM does not provide immigration-related sponsorship for this role. Do not apply for this role if you will need GM immigration sponsorship now or in the future. This includes direct company sponsorship, entry of GM as the immigration employer of record on a government form, and any work authorization requiring a written submission or other immigration support from the company (e.g., H1-B, OPT, STEM OPT, CPT, TN, J-1, etc).This role is based remotely, but if the selected candidate lives within a specific mile radius of a GM hub, they will be expected to report to the location three times a week {or other frequency dictated by your manager}.The selected candidate will be required to travel

About General Motors

General Motors Company engages in the manufacture and sale of cars and trucks in the United States, China, Brazil, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Italy. It offers sedans, crossovers, sport utility vehicles, pick-up trucks, coupes, sports/convertibles and hybrid vehicles, hatchbacks/wagons, and vans, as well as mini cars in India. The company also provides parts and accessories, such as iPod and MP3 compatibility, mobility accessories, performance parts, AC parts and services, and merchandise. In addition, it offers vehicle safety, security, and information services. The company provides used vehicles. It offers its products through dealers and distributors. General Motors Company was formerly known as NGMCO, Inc. and changed its name to General Motors Company in July 2009. The company was incorporated in 2009 and is based in Detroit, Michigan. It operates manufacturing facilities in India, the United States, and Canada. General Motors Company operates as a subsidiary of the United States Department of The Treasury. General Motors led global vehicle sales for 77 consecutive years from 1931 through 2007, longer than any other automaker, and is currently among the world's largest automakers by vehicle unit sales. General Motors acts in most countries outside the USA via wholly-owned subsidiaries but operates in China through 10 joint ventures. GM's OnStar subsidiary provides vehicle safety, security, and information services. In 2009, General Motors shed several brands, closing Saturn, Pontiac, and Hummer, and emerged from a government-backed Chapter 11 reorganization. In 2010, GM made an initial public offering IPOs to date and returned to profitability later that year.

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Learn more about General Motors
Size
157,000 employees
Market Cap
$46.9 billion
Industry
Manufacturing & Automotive
Net Income
$6.4 billion
Founded
1908
5 Year Trend
-3.2%
Revenue
$122.4 billion
NASDAQ
GM
* Ladders Estimates

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