Defense Space Program Manager: Lead Mission-Critical Systems

Karman Space and Defense; Mukilteo (WA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical Insurance

401(k) with match

Paid Time Off

HSA with company contribution

FSA

Life and AD&D Insurance

Disability Insurance

Job summary

Karman Space & Defense is seeking a Program Manager in Mukilteo, WA to lead defense programs from planning through delivery. You will coordinate across engineering, operations, quality, supply chain, contracts, and finance to meet cost and schedule targets and ensure customer satisfaction.

The role requires a Bachelor’s in engineering or related field with 5+ years in aerospace/defense programs; a Master’s or MBA and DoD program experience are preferred.

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.

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.

Skills

Program management

Cross-functional coordination

Aerospace industry experience

Risk identification

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering or related field

Master’s degree or MBA (preferred)

Tools

EVM (Earned Value Management)

ERP systems

PLM systems

Job description

Karman Space & Defense is seeking a Program Manager in Mukilteo, WA to lead defense programs from planning through delivery. You will coordinate across engineering, operations, quality, supply chain, contracts, and finance to meet cost and schedule targets and ensure customer satisfaction.

The role requires a Bachelor’s in engineering or related field with 5+ years in aerospace/defense programs; a Master’s or MBA and DoD program experience are preferred.