Senior Program Manager

Kraus Hamdani Aerospace develops autonomous unmanned aircraft systems that provide persistent aerial intelligence and communications for defense, public safety, and commercial missions.

The Senior Program Manager owns delivery of assigned customer programs, from proposal planning and contract award through development, production, fielding, sustainment, and closeout. This hands-on leader is accountable for scope, schedule, cost, risk, and customer commitments, translating mission needs into executable plans and coordinating teams across Engineering, Production, Operations, Finance, and Client Success.

Work Location & Travel

This is a remote position requiring up to 25% travel to support customer engagements, program execution, and company operations.

Key responsibilities

• PMO Development & Governance: Establish, implement, and mature the company’s Program Management Office (PMO) while concurrently managing assigned programs; develop standardized program management processes, governance, reporting, and tools to drive accountability, cross-functional alignment, predictable execution, and on-time delivery across the organization.

• Project Manager Development & Mentorship: Train, mentor, and develop junior Project Managers by providing hands-on coaching, establishing standardized project management practices, and reinforcing best practices in planning, scheduling, risk management, stakeholder communication, and execution. Build organizational project management competency through structured training, performance feedback, and progressive delegation of responsibilities to develop a capable, accountable, and self-sufficient project management team aligned with PMO standards.

• Lead one or more complex programs, establishing integrated schedules, budgets, milestones, deliverables, acceptance criteria, and clear ownership across functional teams.

• Manage, train, and mentor individual Project Managers. Set clear priorities and performance expectations, provide regular coaching and feedback, and develop their skills in planning, financial management, risk mitigation, and customer communication.

• Partner with Business Development and Solutions Engineering on proposals, rough-order-of-magnitude estimates, execution assumptions, and achievable customer commitments; lead the transition from award into execution.

• Translate contract requirements into coordinated engineering, production, test, and delivery plans. Align technical configurations, dependencies, and readiness criteria with Engineering and Operations leaders.

• Own program financial performance with Finance, including budgets, actual costs, resource forecasts, estimates at completion, and margin risks. Develop recovery plans when performance deviates.

• Serve as the primary point of contact for program execution. Lead customer reviews, communicate progress and risks candidly, and drive resolution of delivery issues.

• Control scope and changes with Contracts and Finance. Assess cost, schedule, resource, and technical impacts and obtain required approvals before changing commitments.

• Coordinate deployment readiness with Operations, including staffing, training, aircraft and equipment availability, subcontractor support, logistics, and sustainment requirements.

• Manage supplier and subcontractor deliverables with functional owners, tracking dependencies, quality, schedule, and corrective actions that affect customer commitments.

• Maintain program risks, issues, decisions, and action plans. Escalate material concerns early with clear options, recommendations, and resource tradeoffs for leadership.

• Track contractual reporting, customer acceptance, and billing milestones. Coordinate applicable security, export, quality, and operational requirements with accountable specialists.

• Build practical program management processes and capture lessons learned. Coordinate handoffs to Client Success and support through the warranty period.

Required qualifications

• Eight or more years of relevant program or project management experience, including at least three years leading complex technical programs across multiple functions.

• Demonstrated delivery of aerospace, defense, unmanned systems, robotics, or comparable hardware and software programs from planning through customer acceptance.

• Experience managing program budgets, forecasts, integrated schedules, contractual deliverables, risks, and changes; able to connect execution decisions to financial outcomes.

• Ability to lead through influence, resolve competing priorities, and secure commitments from functional teams in a growing organization.

• Strong customer-facing communication and executive briefing skills, including the ability to explain technical tradeoffs and escalate issues with actionable recommendations.

• Working knowledge of engineering development, systems integration, verification and validation, manufacturing, and field operations.

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, business, program management, or a related discipline, or equivalent relevant professional or military experience.

Preferred qualifications

• Experience with unmanned aircraft, autonomy, intelligence and surveillance systems, payload integration, or airborne communications.

• Experience supporting U.S. government or international defense customers, including product deliveries and contractor-operated services.

• Familiarity with government contracting, subcontract management, and applicable export or security requirements.

• PMP certification or equivalent training; experience introducing practical program controls and reporting in a scaling company.

What success looks like

• Customer commitments are met against approved scope, schedule, cost, and acceptance criteria.

• Leadership receives accurate forecasts, timely risk escalation, and clear decisions needed to keep programs on track.

• Engineering, Production, and Operations work from coordinated plans with realistic resource requirements and accountable owners.

• Customers receive operationally ready capabilities, responsive issue resolution, and a clear transition into ongoing support.