Project Leader

Fairbanks Morse, LLC; Salem (MA); On-site; USD 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Fairbanks Morse Defense's Hunt Valve program seeks an entry-level Program Manager - HV to oversee customer relationships and valve programs at the Salem, OH site. You'll partner with engineering, procurement, and production to keep schedules, ensure on-time deliveries, and act as the voice of the customer with shipyards and US government accounts.

This role emphasizes hands-on exposure to scheduling, finance, and contract activities, with growth opportunities into broader program leadership

Qualifications

• High School Diploma or GED required; Bachelor's preferred.
• PM/ops experience and planning skills required or preferred.
• Strong customer-facing and communication abilities.

Responsibilities

• Support customer service strategy with scheduling, manufacturing and program peers.
• Develop relationships with customer procurement departments.
• Manage updates on active contracts including schedules and invoicing.
• Drive issues to resolution and address inquiries promptly.
• Monitor customer satisfaction and identify improvements.
• Collaborate across Hunt Valve to exceed customer expectations.
• Conduct reviews and communicate corrective actions.

Skills

Project management

Customer service

Negotiations

Problem solving

Contracts

Finance

MS Project

Excel

Word

PowerPoint

Interpersonal skills

Timely customer support

Attention to detail

Education

High School Diploma or GED

Bachelor's Degree in Science or Business

PMP certification

Tools

MS Project

Excel

Word

PowerPoint

Job description

Program Manager - HV

is an entry-level, career-launching opportunity designed for a motivated professional who wants to build a long-term career in program management, customer relationships, and operations within the defense industry. This role provides hands‑on exposure to customers, engineering, procurement, manufacturing, scheduling, finance, and other key functions, creating a strong foundation for future growth and advancement within Hunt Valve and Fairbanks Morse Defense.

The Program Manager drives all aspects of Hunt Valve's customer service relationship with designated shipyard customers, including US government entities such as Defense Logistics Agency & NAVSUP, which support US Navy and Coast Guard vessel deployment.

By interfacing with engineering, procurement, and shop floor operations, the Program Manager - HV will support the management of valve programs. Internal job functions include driving schedule adherence and on-time delivery to customers by managing across functional teams of personnel including scheduling, planning, and other key functions.

Essential Job Functions and Responsibilities:

• Support the customer service strategy for Hunt Valve by working closely with scheduling, manufacturing, operations, and program management peers, acting as the voice of the customer primarily within the Salem, OH facility.
• Develop relationships within the procurement departments of assigned customers with emphasis on customer buy assigned to the Hunt Valve account. Ensure the necessary Hunt Valve employees at all levels of the organization are engaged and active with customers as required to exceed customer expectations.
• Manage updates and tracking with customers on active contracts including but not limited to creation and management of project schedules, engineering documentation, material availability and project invoicing.
• Drive program issues to resolution by tracking and ensuring that all customer inquiries are addressed in a timely manner.
• Monitor customer satisfaction and proactively identify areas of improvement.
• Work across boundaries within Hunt Valve to ensure that Hunt Valve is going above and beyond for its customers.
• Conduct reviews that drill down into challenges that arise, develop corrective actions, and communicate impacts and corrective actions.

Required Qualifications and Traits:

• A minimum of 1-3 years of experience in project management or operations management.
• Project management skills, which includes the ability to track performance, develop, implement, and execute project plans are required.
• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to build long lasting, trusting relationships with customers.
• Passionate, customer-focused mentality to achieve a high level of internal and external customer satisfaction.
• Able to provide timely customer support in a consistent, complete, and correct manner.
• Extreme attention to detail and the ability to manage multiple tasks simultaneously.
• Excellent organizational skills.
• Proactive in management of projects and tasks.
• Skills in customer service, project management, negotiations, problem solving, contracts, and finance.
• Ability to communicate issues, impacts, and corrective actions on projects to internal and external representatives.
• Ability to develop strong working relationships with team members by generating trust, confidence, and credibility.
• Ability to absorb and constructively utilize feedback from leaders, customers, and peers.
• Ability to create and deliver executive level communications: internal and external.
• Effective contributor both as an individual and as part of a project group.
• Excellent professionalism and ethical behavior.
• Solid grasp of information technology fundamentals, and ability to leverage technical analysis, presentation, project management, and financial tools.
• Working Knowledge of MS Project, Excel, Word, Power-Point.
• Ability to travel domestically up to 10% of the time.
• Ability to work in an office and production environment.

Education Requirements:

• High School Diploma or GED required.
• Bachelor's Degree in a Science or Business-related field from an accredited institution is preferred.
• PMP certification is preferred.

Note: This position requires access or potential access to Unclassified Naval Nuclear Propulsion Information, which is Not Releasable to Foreign Nationals (NOFORN) data. Therefore, to meet NOFORN requirement, you will have to provide proof of US Citizenship and attest that you do not have dual citizenship. Acceptable proof of US Citizenship is a US Passport, US Birth Certificate or Naturalization Certificate.

This specification is intended to indicate the kinds of tasks and levels of work difficulty that will be required of positions that will be given this title and shall not be construed as declaring what the specific duties and responsibilities of any particular position shall be. It is not intended to limit or in any way modify the right of any supervisor to assign, direct, and control the work of employees under his/her supervision. Ability to competently perform all the essential duties of the position, with or without reasonable accommodation, demonstrated commitment to effective customer service delivery, and the ability to work productively as a member of a team or work group are basic requirements of all positions at Fairbanks Morse Defense.