Onsite Defense R&D Technical Program Manager

Energetics Technology Center; Maryland; On-site; USD 131,000 - 225,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) plan with Safe Harbor match

Job summary

Energetics Technology Center in Indian Head, MD is seeking a full-time Technical Program Manager to guide defense research programs. You will translate customer objectives into technical plans, coordinate multidisciplinary teams, and manage scope, schedule, budget, risks, and quality for government customers.

The role requires an experienced engineer or technical professional, capable of addressing planning, logistics, and resource issues, with frequent customer contact and liaison with ETC

Qualifications

• U.S. citizenship and current possession of, or eligibility to obtain and maintain, a U.S. Secret security clearance.
• Experience managing technical scope, schedules, budgets, deliverables, risks, resources, and customer expectations.
• Ability to lead cross-functional teams and resolve dependencies without direct reporting authority.
• Strong leadership, organization, technical writing, communication, facilitation, and problem solving skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical project planning and execution across multiple concurrent programs.
• Translate customer objectives and contract requirements into technical tasks, milestones, deliverables, staffing plans, and decision points; maintain traceability as work evolves.
• Coordinate technical leads, engineers, analysts, test personnel, and subcontractors; use technical judgment to challenge assumptions, identify dependencies and tradeoffs, and resolve planning, logistical, and resource issues.
• Maintain integrated schedules and track scope, budget, technical progress, risks, and commitments; develop mitigation plans and elevate issues early.
• Lead technical and program reviews, including readiness discussions when applicable; document decisions, assign actions, and verify closure.
• Review technical products for accuracy, completeness, consistency, and alignment with customer requirements before delivery.
• Serve as a primary point of contact for government customers and ETC leadership, communicating program status, technical decisions, tradeoffs, risks, and resource needs clearly.
• Work with technical teams to interpret test results, investigate significant findings, and define corrective actions or follow‑on work when needed.
• Support proposals, statements of work, bases of estimate, staffing plans, customer briefings, and required program reports.
• Promote disciplined configuration management, document control, quality, safety, and security practices throughout program execution.

Skills

Security clearance

Project management

Cross-functional leadership

Technical writing

Communication

Planning and scheduling

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering/Physics/Applied Science

Master's degree preferred

Job description

Energetics Technology Center in Indian Head, MD is seeking a full-time Technical Program Manager to guide defense research programs. You will translate customer objectives into technical plans, coordinate multidisciplinary teams, and manage scope, schedule, budget, risks, and quality for government customers.

The role requires an experienced engineer or technical professional, capable of addressing planning, logistics, and resource issues, with frequent customer contact and liaison with ETC