Defense Tech Program Manager: Cross-Functional Delivery

Kraken Kinetics; Pinehurst (NC); On-site; USD 100,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous PTO policy

Comprehensive medical coverage

Vision & dental (company-paid)

Short and long-term disability

Generous 401(k) retirement plan

Company-paid life insurance

Snacks and great teammates

Job summary

Kraken Kinetics is seeking a Technical Program Manager to coordinate defense product development and production-support efforts. This role connects engineering, business development, production, supply chain, quality, and leadership to maintain alignment on priorities.

You will establish project structure, track schedules, identify risks, and help teams navigate fast-moving technical programs without slowing progress. Relocation support to Moore County, NC is available for right candidates.

Qualifications

• Bachelor2s degree in Engineering, Project Management, Business, Operations, or a related discipline; equivalent technical program experience may be considered.
• 3+ years of experience managing technical projects, engineering programs, hardware development efforts, or complex cross-functional initiatives.
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate work across engineering and non-engineering teams.
• Strong organizational skills and ability to manage multiple priorities, schedules, and stakeholders.
• Ability to communicate clearly with technical and non-technical audiences.
• Experience identifying risks, dependencies, and blockers and driving them toward resolution.
• Comfort operating in a fast-paced environment with incomplete information and changing priorities.
• Strong ownership mindset and willingness to create structure where process is still maturing.

Responsibilities

• Lead project kickoff activities in coordination with engineering, business development, production, and leadership.
• Translate customer commitments, internal objectives, and technical workstreams into executable project plans.
• Track schedules, milestones, risks, dependencies, deliverables, and action items across active engineering programs.
• Coordinate cross-functional communication between engineering, production, supply chain, quality, and business stakeholders.
• Help identify resource conflicts, schedule risks, long-lead items, technical blockers, and decision points early.
• Maintain project dashboards, status reports, risk registers, decision logs, and meeting notes.
• Facilitate regular program reviews and ensure follow-up actions are assigned, tracked, and closed.
• Support development and improvement of lightweight program management practices, project templates, and kickoff processes.
• Work with engineering leadership to prioritize work and protect engineering teams from uncontrolled scope growth.
• Support proposal planning, customer updates, and internal leadership briefings as needed.

Skills

Project coordination

Cross-functional collaboration

Stakeholder management

Communication

Agile/PM methodologies

Risk identification

Discipline and structure

Ownership mindset

Education

Bachelor2s degree in Engineering, Project Management, Business, Operations

Tools

Microsoft 365

Teams

Planner

Project

Jira

Smartsheet

Job description

Kraken Kinetics is seeking a Technical Program Manager to coordinate defense product development and production-support efforts. This role connects engineering, business development, production, supply chain, quality, and leadership to maintain alignment on priorities.

You will establish project structure, track schedules, identify risks, and help teams navigate fast-moving technical programs without slowing progress. Relocation support to Moore County, NC is available for right candidates.