Development Program Director

Honeywell Aerospace; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Honeywell Aerospace Defense Systems Division in San Diego, CA seeks a Development Program Director to lead a team of program managers across RF electronics development, iR&D, and production programs with a $100M scope. The role focuses on building strategic relationships with customers and driving proposals, execution, and contracts.

The position emphasizes end-to-end program leadership, budget control, risk management, and collaboration with IPTs to deliver on schedule and within scope for

Qualifications

• Thirteen years of experience in program management in electronics/communications for U.S. DoD or allied governments.
• Ten years of leadership and people management experience.
• Experience leading new development programs with cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead business development proposals and development program initiation to ensure timely reviews, approvals, and submissions.
• Drive program execution, budgeting, technical oversight, and schedule management for development programs.
• Maintain strong customer relationships and align proposals with customer goals.
• Provide regular status updates to leadership and customers on portfolio health and progress.
• Define and ensure program management excellence and collaborate with engineering leadership.

Skills

Program management

Leadership

Budget management

Risk management

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering or related field

Tools

Project management software

Job description

The Development Program Director is a high-visibility leadership role within the Program Management Office (PMO) at Honeywell Aerospace Defense Systems Division located in San Diego, CA site. This position, reporting to the Sr. Director of Program Management, will lead a team of Program Managers responsible for a portfolio of Radio Frequency (RF) electronic components development, iR&D, and production programs for land, air, sea, and space applications. These include design to specifications, development of commercial products, and transition to production (NPI) of roughly $100M. The Development Program Director is expected to actively cultivate strong relationships with key development customers, positioning Honeywell Aerospace to win large-scale production programs.

New Business Proposals & Development Program Initiation:

Partner with BD and proposal management leadership to ensure new business proposals are effectively lead, and orchestrated to achieve timely review, approval, and submission to customers.

Ensure development program manager team conducts thorough reviews of Basis of Estimates (BOEs) for labor, materials, and other program support functions, ensuring the proposals are executable and align with program goals.

Cultivate strong relationships with existing and potential customers, ensuring that proposals align with their needs and long-term strategic goals.

Support proposal negotiations with internal contracts staff and customers, maintaining close engagement with customer representatives to secure favorable terms and alignment on expectations.

Identify follow-on business and growth opportunities through development work that can evolve into larger production contracts.

Program Execution & Development:

Drive program management accountability to create and take ownership of program plans, budget management, technical oversight, financial, and scheduling aspects of development programs.

Manage funds and reallocate resources as needed, ensuring that programs meet financial targets and scope.

Regularly monitor orders, revenue, profit, and cash flow, ensuring alignment with both short-term and long-term program objectives.

Drive risk and opportunity management throughout the program lifecycle, identifying and mitigating risks while capitalizing on opportunities.

Ensure consistent communication and collaboration across the Integrated Product Teams (IPTs), with Program Managers driving weekly meetings to track program progress, resolve issues, and close actions in a timely manner.

Ensure compliance with all applicable government, company, customer, and industry specifications and regulations (e.g., FAR, DFAR, ITAR).

Champion contractual integrity, ensuring that all contracts are adhered to, including compliance with legal and regulatory requirements in proposal submissions and contract execution.

Establish and maintain strategic business relationships with key customers to position Honeywell Aerospace as a trusted partner for long-term development and production contracts.

Customer & Stakeholder Communication:

Be the visible, active, engaged and recognized leader of the Development Program Management team

Build and maintain strong customer relationships that complement customer relationships of your Program Management team.

Provide regular status updates and reports to leadership, functional departments, and customers, ensuring alignment and transparency on health and progress of your portfolio programs.

Identify opportunities to expand customer portfolios, collaborating with business development teams to develop strategies for growing existing accounts and winning new, large production contracts.

Product Management:

Lead Commercial Product Management for the Defense Systems organization.

Individually, and through subordinate product managers as required, create, communicate, sell and manage Research and Development (R&D), customer interaction, and product build plans to new commercial RF products.

Support Business Development in plans to sell commercial products to customers.

Functional Leadership:

Define and insist on program management excellence from your team to achieve near flawless development program execution.

Work collaboratively with Engineering leadership to mature program and engineering management. processes that properly propose and execute engineering development on schedule and within budgets.

Ensure your Program Management staff has the necessary tools and training to ensure their success.

Regularly conduct meetings with direct reports to mentor, coach, develop, and assess talent to establish career development plans.

MUST HAVE:

• Thirteen (13) years of experience in program management, ideally in the electronics/communications sector supporting U.S. DOD or foreign military governments.
• Ten (10) years of leadership and people management experience.
• Experience managing new development programs with a cross-functional team, demonstrating strong leadership and collaboration across tech