Program Manager - Aerospace

NWI Aerostructures; Nashville (TN); On-site; USD 85,000 - 115,000; Full time

Job summary

NWI Aerostructures in Nashville, TN is seeking a Program Manager 1 to oversee small to moderate programs during production, collaborating with IPTs to ensure timely delivery within budget. The role demands leadership, clear communication, and effective coordination across engineering, estimating, and sales teams.

Candidates should have a Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience with a track record in program management, strong negotiation skills, and proficiency in MS Office.

Qualifications

• Requires a Bachelor's degree in a related field or 6 years related experience in lieu of degree.
• 3 years' experience in a project or program team environment beyond education.
• PMP certification is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Serve as primary point of contact for external customers and manage small, less complex programs during production.
• Track and manage program costs and ensure budget adherence.
• Coordinate with IPT and internal teams to address bottlenecks and drive on-time delivery.
• Communicate program status to customers, sales, and upper management.
• Assist in contract negotiations and proposal development as needed.
• Travel occasionally as required.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Program management

Negotiation

Multi-tasking

Organization

MS Office

Technical understanding

Interpersonal skills

Education

Bachelor's degree or higher

6 years related experience in lieu of Bachelor's

Associate's degree + 3 years experience

PMP certification (preferred)

Tools

MS Word

Excel

PowerPoint

Project

Job description

NWI Nashville LLC manufactures complex aerostructure components of commercial, business and military aircraft worldwide. We specialize in large structural assemblies, machined components, and chemical processing.

NWI currently has an opening for a Program Manager 1. The Program Manager 1 is the primary point of contact for external customers and is responsible for the execution of small, less complex programs or an assigned subset of a larger and/or more complex program, during the production phase of a project's lifecycle up to delivery of the final unit and closure of any open items.

Duties and Responsibilities (essential functions):

• Responsible for contribution margin and the management of risk of a product(s) during the production phase of a build plan.
• Tracks, manages and reports program-specific non-recurring expenses to operate within budget limits.
• Tracks and reports recurring costs are operating within the quotation parameters to achieve the bid contribution margins of the program(s).
• Responsible for participating with the integrated product team (IPT) in the daily execution of program activities.
• Responsible for understanding and managing the assigned programs to their quoted budget and initiating actions at the site or with the customers as appropriate to achieve the target performance.
• Leads program status meetings and coordinates internal groups to address bottlenecks.
• Sets expectations and facilitates clear and open lines of communication both internally and externally.
• Communicates program status to customers, sales team, and upper management.
• Monitors all field service issues, open action items and the submission of required data to the customer to ensure timely closure.
• Coordinates with customer and internal engineering for technical proposal support.
• As required, provides clarification to RFQ scopes of work during the proposal development process.
• Coordinates with estimating team on pricing package assumptions.
• Teams with estimating team and/or salesperson on developing and presenting proposals.
• Follows-up on proposal submissions with customer and/or sales team.
• Participates in contract negotiations as required.
• Performs other duties as assigned.
• Occasional travel is expected.

Job Requirements

• Knowledge and Skills:
  • Demonstrated effective leadership and timely communication skills.
  • Must have the skills and experience to effectively interact with senior managers and external customers.
  • In-depth knowledge of program management and relationships between line functions.
  • Must have excellent negotiating skills and be very comfortable in adversarial business environments.
  • Ability to quickly comprehend technical customer and engineering topics preferred.
  • Must be well organized with solid judgement; able to multi-task and adjust to changing priorities.
  • Must have a very good working knowledge of the standard suite of office software products (MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Project, et al.)
• Education and Experience:
  • Requires a Bachelor's degree in a related business management or related engineering discipline OR 6 years related experience in lieu of Bachelor's level degree to meet the education requirement OR an Associate's degree in a related business management or related engineering discipline and 3 years related experience in lieu of Bachelor's level degree to meet the education requirement.
  • In addition to meeting the education requirement, requires 3 years' experience in a project or program team environment.
  • PMP certification is preferred.
• Acts in accordance with company values and related competencies.
• Communication Skills:
  • Must have the ability to generate written communication and to operate required office equipment. Ability to read and review written communication. Speech and hearing abilities that allow individual to communicate clearly and distinctly.
• Reasoning Ability:
  • Ability to solve problems and think strategically.
• Physical Demands:
  • This position requires extended periods of sitting while working with computers and viewing computer monitors and other office equipment. Finger dexterity needed in using miscellaneous office equipment such as telephone, computer and copy machine, etc. Bending, stooping, reaching, and lifting up to approximately twenty pounds are required during tasks related to the job.

NWI Aerostructures provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.