Strategic Defence & Aerospace Project Lead

CAE; Montreal; On-site; CAD 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation

Flexible work environment

Career mobility across programs

Job summary

CAE is seeking a seasoned Project Manager to lead defence acquisition, modernization, training, and sustainment projects in Canada. You will oversee scope, schedule, cost, risk, and performance while coordinating engineers, instructional designers, and industry partners across a matrix organization.

You will interact with senior CAE leadership, customers, and government stakeholders, ensuring contractual commitments, Earned Value Management readiness, and timely governance reviews for critical

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field.
• PMP certification.
• 5 to 8 years of project management experience in defence, aerospace, training systems, engineering, technology, infrastructure, or related industries.
• Experience delivering complex technical, training, aviation, infrastructure, or systems integration projects.
• Experience managing customer-facing projects with contractual deliverables.
• Demonstrated ability to lead multidisciplinary teams and coordinate diverse stakeholders.
• Strong understanding of project management disciplines, including scope, schedule, cost, risk, change, stakeholder, and requirements management.
• Experience managing project budgets, forecasting, financial performance, and contractual commitments on complex customer-facing projects.
• Experience working within a matrix organization and collaborating with multidisciplinary technical teams.
• Excellent communication, presentation, stakeholder management, and negotiation skills.
• Strong customer focus and results orientation.
• Ability to obtain and maintain the required Canadian security clearance.
• Ability and willingness to travel as required.

Responsibilities

• Lead the planning, execution, and delivery of defence acquisition, modernization, training, sustainment, and capability development projects.
• Manage activities supporting aircraft fleet modernization initiatives, GBTS, training and learning solutions, aviation and operational support capabilities, digital and IM/IT solutions, and infrastructure projects.
• Support development, integration, implementation, and delivery of complex operational and training capabilities with customers and partners.
• Develop and maintain project plans covering scope, schedule, cost, resources, communications, procurement, and risk management.
• Establish project objectives, milestones, deliverables, and performance metrics.
• Coordinate multidisciplinary teams, including engineers, aviation and training specialists, instructional designers, digital and technology professionals, SMEs, subcontractors, and stakeholders.
• Manage project scope, schedule, cost, quality, risk, and requirements across the lifecycle.
• Ensure compliance with CAE governance processes, PMRs, and customer requirements; support governance reviews.
• Manage budgets, forecasts, revenue milestones, and overall financial performance.
• Provide regular reporting and presentations on project status, risks, opportunities, KPIs, and financial results; support EVM and governance reviews.
• Assess and manage scope changes and their contractual, financial, and schedule impacts.
• Serve as a primary interface with customers and stakeholders.
• Provide leadership to cross-functional teams in a matrix organization.
• Support business growth, proposal development, project mobilization, and continuous improvement initiatives.

Skills

Project management

Leadership

Communication

Stakeholder management

Negotiation

Security clearance

Travel readiness

Education

Bachelor’s degree

PMP certification

Job description

CAE is seeking a seasoned Project Manager to lead defence acquisition, modernization, training, and sustainment projects in Canada. You will oversee scope, schedule, cost, risk, and performance while coordinating engineers, instructional designers, and industry partners across a matrix organization.

You will interact with senior CAE leadership, customers, and government stakeholders, ensuring contractual commitments, Earned Value Management readiness, and timely governance reviews for critical