Program Manager, Production Line Stand-Up

Program Manager, Production Line Stand-Up

Company: Defense-technology company (name shared under NDA)
Location: Remote, with travel to Las Vegas, Nevada and Northern Virginia
Type: Part-time (half-time level of effort)
Compensation: $130,000 to $165,000
Eligibility: U.S. citizenship required

Confidential Search · Defense Technology

Confidential search. The hiring company's identity is shared with candidates under NDA.

About the Client

A founder-led defense technology company building deployable position, navigation, and timing (PNT) hardware for the U.S. Army. The company is moving three product lines out of prototype and onto a production floor of its own in Las Vegas, with engineering based in Northern Virginia. This is a place where the work you own is the work that ships: a small team, real hardware, and fielding timelines that do not move.

About the Role

You are the Task Order Lead for the production line stand-up effort, a two-year period of performance that takes three PNT product lines from a partner-built prototype baseline to a client-owned production capability. You own the schedule, the deliverables, the subcontract coordination, and the risk posture. When the Government asks how the program is doing, you are the answer.

This is a crawl-walk-run transition. In Year 1 the manufacturing partner assembles boards while the Las Vegas manufacturing infrastructure is built out underneath them. In Year 2 the company assumes full-rate production. Your job is to make sure those two tracks converge on schedule.

Responsibilities

• Program launch. Chair the program kickoff within 30 days of contract award. Deliver the Order Management Plan (OMP) and Quality Management Plan (QMP) on PWS timelines.
• The baseline. Build and hold the integrated master schedule across the full two-year period of performance, including Year 1 LRIP milestones for all three product lines.
• Monthly Status Reports. Delivered by the 5th business day of each month, covering production line stand-up progress, subcontract status, design transfer activities, component procurement, supply chain coordination, and risk posture.
• Cross-contractor dependencies. Coordinate directly with the COR and with the board assembly and design-transfer subcontractors on milestones, component delivery schedules, and transfer activities, surfacing and escalating dependencies before they become schedule risk.
• Configuration control. Run the formal Engineering Change Request (ECR) and Engineering Change Notice (ECN) process for every design decision made this fiscal year.
• Risk. Maintain a living risk register that leadership and the customer both actually use.
• Cost and staffing. Manage funds and personnel against assigned tasks, and carry accountability for the quality and on-time delivery of every contract deliverable.

Requirements

Must-Haves

• 10 to 20 years of program or project management experience in a defense engineering environment, at a supervisory level. A master's degree may be required to meet the contract labor category.
• Demonstrated ownership of a DoD task order or contract as the responsible PM, including CDRL and PWS deliverable discipline, IMS ownership, and direct COR interface.
• Experience managing subcontractors and cross-contractor dependencies, where someone else's slip becomes your schedule problem.
• Fluency with engineering change control (ECR and ECN) and configuration management on a hardware program.
• Hardware program experience. You understand long-lead components, procurement lead times, and what a supply chain disruption does to a production schedule.
• U.S. citizenship, and the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government security clearance.

Nice-to-Haves

• Prior experience standing up or transitioning a production line, particularly a prototype-to-production or technology-transfer effort.
• Familiarity with APFIT, OTA, or other rapid-fielding acquisition vehicles.
• Electronics manufacturing background: SMT assembly, test, and first-article processes.
• PMP certification.

Process

• This is a confidential search. An NDA is required before the company's identity and full role details are shared. We screen for interest at a high level first, then read candidates in once an NDA is in place.

This position supports U.S. Government work subject to export control regulations. Applicants must be U.S. persons. The hiring company is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.