Naval Systems Program Lead — Requirements & Capture

First Order Effects; Washington; On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

First Order Effects in the Washington, DC area seeks a seasoned Program Manager, Naval Systems, to own customer requirements and program obligations from capture to delivery. You will coordinate across growth, programs, and engineering, maintain MIL-STD compliance, and manage government stakeholders across the lifecycle of naval systems programs.

This role requires 10+ years in NAVSEA or warfare centers, DoD acquisition fluency, and the ability to translate needs into executable baselines for

Qualifications

• Ten or more years in government acquisition and defense, including NAVSEA or a warfare center.
• Proven end-to-end requirements fluency and ability to derive system requirements and T&E plans.
• Strong MIL-STD knowledge and ability to tailor standards to contracts.
• Existing relationships with government program offices and technical authorities.
• Fluency in DoD acquisition structures and the adaptive acquisition framework.
• Excellent technical writing skills.
• AI-enabled workflow experience to accelerate requirements work.

Responsibilities

• Own the customer requirements thread from capability need to top-level and derived requirements and T&E planning.
• Architect the technical solution during capture and align it with the company's product baseline.
• Produce requirements baselines, verification matrices, and T&E plans recognized by the government.
• Manage MIL-STD and DoD standards compliance strategy.
• Coordinate with program offices, warfare centers, and technical authorities through delivery.
• Bridge growth, programs, and engineering to resolve drift between customer needs and what is built.
• Lead program gate reviews and participate as the customer's proxy in design reviews.

Skills

Government acquisition

MIL-STD knowledge

Technical writing

AI-enabled workflow

Job description

First Order Effects in the Washington, DC area seeks a seasoned Program Manager, Naval Systems, to own customer requirements and program obligations from capture to delivery. You will coordinate across growth, programs, and engineering, maintain MIL-STD compliance, and manage government stakeholders across the lifecycle of naval systems programs.

This role requires 10+ years in NAVSEA or warfare centers, DoD acquisition fluency, and the ability to translate needs into executable baselines for