Program Manager, Aircraft

Swarm Aero; Oregon; Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Salary

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

401k

PTO

Sick leave

Wellness stipend

Office lunch

Parental leave

Job summary

Swarm Aero seeks a seasoned Program Manager to lead and own the Group 5 and research aircraft programs. You will manage cost, schedule, risk, and customer relationships, reporting to the Director of PMO. This role requires coordinating with engineering, manufacturing, and contracts teams to ensure successful delivery and milestones.

You will drive bid plans, manage IMS, and oversee reporting, ensuring government deliverables and test campaigns stay on track. A U.S.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of program management experience
• Experience owning cost, schedule, and technical performance on aerospace hardware
• Direct experience managing DoD research and development contracts (S&T, prototype, 6.2/6.3)
• Hands-on with IMS development and budget tracking
• Ability to run multiple efforts and set priorities
• Clear, direct communicator to engineers, executives, and government PMs
• U.S. person status per ITAR and ability to obtain security clearance

Responsibilities

• Own research programs end to end as primary point of contact for government program managers
• Drive program execution from design reviews through fabrication, integration, ground test, and flight test
• Build and maintain the integrated master schedule (IMS) tied to contract milestones and test events
• Own budgets and burn, track funding, flag variance with recovery plan
• Deliver contract requirements on time: CDRLs, status and financial reports, technical reports
• Run program cadence: weekly reviews, milestone reviews, status to leadership
• Manage risk, issues, and opportunities with mitigations
• Coordinate across engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, quality, and flight test
• Manage scope changes and follow-on work with contracts and BD teams
• Build PMO tools and processes for new aircraft programs

Skills

Program management

DoD contracting

Cost & schedule mgmt

IMS development

EVM concepts

Communication

U.S. person ITAR status

MS Project

Primavera

Smartsheet

Tools

MS Project

Primavera

Smartsheet

Job description

Swarm Aero is redefining air power, building the largest swarming UAV and the most versatile swarming aircraft network in the world. The company is moving quickly to launch the first aircraft designed specifically for swarming, as well as the Command & Control software to mobilize swarms of thousands of heterogeneous autonomous assets and empower human operators to achieve superhuman results.

The team has created and exited multiple startups, negotiated defense deals worth billions of dollars, and designed and built 30+ novel aircraft, with aerospace experience from Scaled Composites, Airbus, Archer Aviation, Blue Origin, and Boom Supersonic.

Our aircraft work is scaling fast. Our Group 5 aircraft program runs alongside a growing set of research programs, with design, build, supply chain, and test all moving in parallel. We need one strong Program Manager to lead program management across all of it.

You will join our Program Management Office, reporting to the Director of PMO. You will take full ownership of our research programs and partner with the Director to run the aircraft program, owning cost, schedule, scope, risk, and the customer relationship. You will be the person who knows where every aircraft effort actually stands on any given day.

What you’ll do

• Own our research programs end to end as the primary point of contact for government program managers and contracting teams
• Drive program execution on our aircraft program with the Director of PMO, from design reviews through fabrication, integration, ground test, and flight test
• Build and maintain the integrated master schedule (IMS) across both efforts, tied to contract milestones and test events
• Own budgets and burn, track against funding, and flag variance early with a recovery plan
• Deliver contract requirements on time: CDRLs, monthly status and financial reports, technical reports, and final deliverables
• Run the program cadence: weekly reviews, technical interchange meetings, milestone reviews (PDR, CDR, TRR), and status to leadership and customers
• Run the risk, issue, and opportunity process and drive mitigations to closure
• Coordinate engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, quality, and flight test, and deconflict shared people, hardware, and test assets between efforts
• Manage scope changes, contract modifications, and follow-on work with our contracts and business development teams
• Build the PMO tools and processes we will need as we add aircraft programs

What you bring

• 7+ years of program management, with at least 4 years owning cost, schedule, and technical performance on aircraft, UAS, or other aerospace and defense hardware programs
• Direct experience managing DoD research and development contracts (S&T, prototype, or 6.2/6.3 efforts)
• Track record taking aircraft or aerospace hardware through build and test, ideally to first flight
• Working knowledge of government contract execution: CDRLs, funded vs. ceiling value, modifications, and customer reporting
• Hands-on with IMS development (MS Project, Primavera, Smartsheet or similar), budget tracking, and EVM concepts
• Ability to run several efforts at once and make clear priority calls when they compete
• Clear, direct communicator who can brief an engineer, an executive, and a government program manager
• U.S. person status as defined by ITAR, and ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance

Nice to have

• Experience working with DoD research labs and innovation organizations
• Program experience on Group 3 to Group 5 UAS, collaborative autonomy, or experimental aircraft
• Experience with OTA, SBIR/STTR, or other rapid acquisition contract vehicles
• Familiarity with airworthiness and flight test planning
• Background at a startup or fast-scaling hardware company
• Active Secret clearance or higher
• PMP or DAWIA Program Management certification

Location and details

Remote (U.S.), with regular travel to Oxnard, CA, customer sites, suppliers, and test sites.

Reports to

Director of PMO

Export control

This role requires access to information subject to ITAR. Candidates must be U.S. persons as defined by 22 CFR 120.62.ITAR requirementTo conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Swarm Aero is an equal opportunity employer. We value diverse backgrounds and experiences and make employment decisions without regard to race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, or disability.

What We Offer

• Meaningful equity in a high-growth defense technology company
• Competitive base salary commensurate with experience
• Medical, dental, vision, and 401k
• PTO and paid sick leave
• Monthly wellness stipend
• Daily catered lunch (office)
• Paid parental leave
• Direct impact on a critical national security mission
• A world-class team of engineers and operators solving genuinely hard problems