PROGRAM MANAGER

Ghost Robotics; Philadelphia (Philadelphia County); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Ghost Robotics is seeking a Program Manager to lead capture, proposal development, and program execution across government and commercial opportunities. You will coordinate with Business Development, Engineering, Operations, and Finance to shape opportunities and translate requirements into actionable plans.

In this fast-moving role, you will manage RFIs/RFPs/RFQs, develop schedules, risk registers, and SOWs, and serve as the programmatic interface with customers and partners.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in government, military, defense, national security, aerospace, robotics, technology, or related field.
• Proven experience managing complex, cross-functional programs, projects, or customer engagements.
• Experience developing or supporting government proposals (RFIs/RFPs/RFQs) and similar responses.
• Ability to translate complex requirements into clear, executable plans and deliverables.
• Experience with government customers, prime contractors, resellers, or strategic partners.
• Ability to operate in ambiguous environments and drive execution with limited direction.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; strong proposal writing/editing skills.
• Strong organizational, analytical, planning, and problem-solving abilities.
• Ability to build relationships across technical, business, customer, and executive stakeholders.
• Experience with defense acquisition or government contracting preferred.
• Experience with robotics/autonomous systems preferred.
• PMP or similar certification preferred.

Responsibilities

• Partner with Business Development to respond to RFIs, RFPs, RFQs, tenders, and other opportunities.
• Lead or support proposals, white papers, SOWs, schedules, and compliance matrices.
• Translate customer requirements into executable program approaches with scope, milestones, and dependencies.
• Coordinate inputs from Engineering, Operations, Finance, Supply Chain, and other functions.
• Work with technical teams to develop credible technical approaches, estimates, and commitments.
• Support opportunity shaping through customer engagements and strategy discussions.
• Identify and communicate risks and develop mitigation plans.
• Serve as a key interface with government customers, resellers, primes, and partners.
• Support domestic and international partners through capture, proposal development, contracting, and execution.
• Establish clear roles, responsibilities, schedules, and communication mechanisms.
• Coordinate internal resources and commitments in support of partner-led programs.

Skills

Cross-functional

Proposal writing

Communication

Program execution

Stakeholder mgmt

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Microsoft Office

Job description

Ghost Robotics is the industry leader in legged robotic systems that help our customers solve complex operational, national security, and technical challenges to save lives, reduce harm, and improve outcomes.

The Program Manager reports to the VP, Program Management Office (PMO) and works closely with Business Development, Engineering, Operations, Finance, and other teams across Ghost Robotics.

This is a highly cross-functional role spanning opportunity shaping, capture and proposal development, partner and customer engagement, and program execution. The successful candidate will be comfortable operating in a fast-moving environment where requirements, acquisition strategies, contracting mechanisms, and program structures may not yet be fully defined.

In the near term, the role will focus heavily on supporting and leading major RFI/RFP/RFQ responses, proposals, white papers, and strategic partner opportunities. As opportunities transition to contract award, the Program Manager will assume increasing responsibility for program execution, delivery, customer/partner coordination, risk management, and cross-functional execution.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Capture & Proposal Development

• Partner with Business Development to develop and execute responses to RFIs, RFPs, RFQs, tenders, and other government and commercial opportunities.
• Lead or support development of proposals, white papers, management approaches, statements of work, schedules, compliance matrices, and other customer-facing materials.
• Translate customer requirements into executable program approaches, including scope, schedule, milestones, deliverables, resources, risks, assumptions, and dependencies.
• Coordinate inputs from Engineering, Operations, Finance, Supply Chain, and other functions.
• Work with technical teams to develop credible technical approaches, estimates, schedules, and commitments.
• Support opportunity shaping through customer engagements, requirements development, solution development, demonstrations, and acquisition strategy discussions.
• Identify and communicate programmatic and execution risks associated with prospective opportunities.
• Serve as a key programmatic interface with government customers, resellers, prime contractors, and strategic partners.
• Support domestic and international partners through capture, proposal development, contracting, delivery planning, and program execution.
• Establish clear roles, responsibilities, schedules, deliverables, and communication mechanisms across Ghost and external organizations.
• Coordinate Ghost's internal resources and commitments in support of partner-led programs.

Program Execution

• Lead assigned programs from contract award through delivery, acceptance, training, fielding, and sustainment as required.
• Manage program scope, cost, schedule, resources, risks, dependencies, and contractual/customer deliverables.
• Establish and maintain program schedules, milestones, action-item tracking, risk and issue registers, and other program-management artifacts.
• Coordinate cross-functional execution and drive accountability for commitments.
• Maintain regular communication with customers, partners, and leadership regarding program status, risks, issues, and decisions.
• Identify potential delays or execution issues and develop mitigation and recovery plans.
• Support transition from capture and proposal through contract award and execution, ensuring commitments made during the proposal process are understood and actionable by the execution team.

QUALIFICATIONS

• 5+ years of experience in government, military, defense, national security, aerospace, robotics, technology, critical infrastructure, or a related industry.
• Proven experience managing complex, cross-functional programs, projects, proposals, or customer engagements.
• Demonstrated experience developing or supporting government proposals, RFIs, RFPs, RFQs, tenders, white papers, or similar acquisition responses.
• Strong ability to translate complex requirements and diverse stakeholder inputs into clear, executable plans and customer-facing deliverables.
• Experience working with government customers, military organizations, prime contractors, resellers, or strategic partners.
• Ability to operate effectively in ambiguous, rapidly changing environments and drive execution with limited direction.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including strong proposal-writing and editing abilities.
• Strong organizational, analytical, planning, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to build effective relationships across technical, business, customer, and executive stakeholders.
• Experience with defense acquisition, government contracting, or government program management strongly preferred.
• Experience with robotics, autonomous systems, unmanned systems, defense technology, or related technical domains strongly preferred.
• PMP or other recognized program/project management certification is preferred.

Requirements

• Must be able to pass a standard employment background check.
• Ability to obtain security clearances based on customer and program requirements.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office / Microsoft 365 and common program-management and collaboration tools.
• Ability to travel domestically and internationally as required for customers, partners, proposals, demonstrations, testing, delivery, and program activities.
• Ability to travel on short notice and for periods ranging from a few days to more than a week.

EDUCATION

Bachelor's degree in business, engineering, project/program management, national security, a technical discipline, or related field. Equivalent professional experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.

LOCATION & TRAVEL

Philadelphia, PA preferred. Remote or hybrid arrangements may be considered for an exceptional candidate, with regular travel to Ghost facilities, customers, partners, and other program locations as required.

Approximately 25-40% travel, depending on program and business requirements.

WHAT WE OFFER

Competitive base salary, full benefits, and a highly motivating equity incentive package. Flexible time-off policy and a collaborative, mission-focused environment working at the forefront of autonomous robotic systems.