Project Manager III - Additive Manufacturing

Blue Origin; Kent (WA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

401(k) with company match

Paid Time Off

Education Support Program

Job summary

Blue Origin in Kent, WA is seeking a seasoned Project Manager for Additive Manufacturing within the Integrated Supply Chain. You will lead a portfolio of concurrent projects, justify new capital assets, and balance demand across internal customers while driving for timely, data-driven decisions.

Responsibilities include establishing scope, schedule, and success criteria, coordinating with facilities, engineering, and quality, and delivering executive-ready reporting.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of project management experience in manufacturing, aerospace, or another complex technical environment
• Technical foundation demonstrated through a degree in engineering or related field, an associate degree or technical certificate, military technical training, skilled trade or apprenticeship experience, or equivalent hands-on experience with complex engineered systems
• Demonstrated ability to drive deliverables to completion through managers and senior leaders
• Experience building capacity models and doing demand-to-capacity analyses across labor, equipment, and facility constraints
• Knowledge of AI-based systems and ability to apply them in planning and reporting

Responsibilities

• Manage a portfolio of concurrent projects with varying size and duration
• Assess and plan new assets including business case development and capital planning
• Balance load across internal customers by building capacity models and driving demand-versus-capacity analysis
• Own the operating rhythm with recurring reporting and executive-level narratives
• Report and improve by building metrics, dashboards, and AI-enabled workflows
• Apply Lean and continuous improvement to reduce cycle time and non-value-added work

Skills

Project management

Communication

Cross-functional collaboration

Problem solving

Education

Engineering degree or related field

Associate degree or technical certificate

Tools

MS Project

Jira

Confluence

Tableau

Smartsheet

Job description

At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We're working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety and collaboration. Join our team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight!

This role sits within Additive Manufacturing (AM), part of Blue Origin's Integrated Supply Chain organization. AM produces flight hardware for Blue's engine and launch vehicle programs across laser powder bed fusion, post-processing, and machining operations.

This is a broad, hands-on project management role rather than a single-program assignment. You will run several concurrent projects, assess and justify new equipment, and balance production load across the internal program customers competing for a finite amount of capacity. You will also own the organization's reporting and review cadence, which means driving deliverables to completion through managers and senior leaders who do not report to you. Bias for action, strong communication, and the ability to operate with minimal direction are required.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

Manage a Portfolio of Projects

• Own several concurrent projects of varying size and duration, reprioritizing across them as demand shifts
• Establish scope, schedule, deliverables, and success criteria for each, sized to the project rather than applying heavyweight process to everything
• Bring new projects to a clean start: clarify the ask, identify stakeholders, stand up the minimum tracking needed
• Track progress, surface variances early, and drive recovery plans to closure

Assess and Plan New Assets

• Lead assessments for new equipment and capital assets, from initial need through justification, selection, and activation
• Build the business case: cost, throughput impact, alternatives considered, and payback
• Support the annual operating plan and capital planning cycle with quantified analysis and a prioritized set of asset requests
• Coordinate install, qualification, and activation across facilities, maintenance, engineering, and quality so new assets come online on schedule
• Track long lead items and vendor commitments that drive activation critical path

Balance Load Across Internal Customers

• Serve as the planning interface to internal program customers, translating their demand into what the organization can actually deliver
• Build and maintain capacity models spanning labor, equipment, and floor space, and run demand-versus-capacity analysis to identify the constraint
• Allocate and rebalance load across work centers and shifts as priorities change, making the tradeoffs visible to the programs competing for capacity
• Negotiate need dates and sequencing with program stakeholders, escalating conflicts with a recommendation rather than only the problem
• Conduct time studies, cycle time and takt analysis, and line balancing to validate throughput assumptions and establish standard work

Own the Operating Rhythm

• Own the organization's recurring reporting and review cadence, including weekly and monthly business reviews and leadership status packages
• Drive inputs and deliverables to completion from managers and senior stakeholders outside your reporting line
• Track actions and commitments out of reviews and staff meetings through to actual closure
• Turn scattered inputs into one clear picture for leadership and program forums, and coordinate planning events such as offsites and quarterly planning
• Write decision memos and narrative documents that frame the problem, lay out the options and tradeoffs, and carry a clear recommendation a senior audience can act on without a briefing

Report and Improve

• Build metrics and dashboards that let leadership see the constraint and decide quickly
• Apply AI-based and data tools to streamline planning, analysis, and reporting
• Apply Lean and continuous improvement methods to reduce cycle time, WIP, and non-value-added work
• Define and improve project management and planning process as the organization matures

Minimum Qualifications

• 4+ years of project management experience in manufacturing, aerospace, or another complex technical environment
• Technical foundation demonstrated through a degree in engineering or a related field, an associate degree or technical certificate, military technical training, skilled trade or apprenticeship experience, or equivalent hands‑on experience with complex engineered systems. Relevant work experience is counted in place of formal education.
• Demonstrated ability to set and drive long-range objectives independently without established precedent, including standing up planning, capacity, or project structure where little exists today
• Demonstrated ability to drive deliverables to completion through people who do not report to you, including managers and senior leaders
• Experience managing multiple concurrent projects against competing priorities and shifting demand
• Capacity planning experience: building demand-to-capacity models across labor, equipment, and facility constraints, and turning them into defensible staffing and capital plans
• Working knowledge of industrial engineering fundamentals, including time studies, standard work, cycle time and takt analysis, line balancing, and throughput modeling
• Experience building a business case or cost justification for equipment or capital investment
• Ability to build schedules and estimates with limited historical data, with proficiency in MS Project or equivalent scheduling tools
• Knowledge of AI-based systems and proven ability to apply them in your work, along with comfort working with data and building metrics
• Strong written and verbal communication and presentation skills, paired with attention to detail, organizational skills, and a knack for troubleshooting
• Demonstrated business writing ability, including drafting decision memos, business cases, or narrative recommendation documents for a senior audience
• Ability to earn trust, maintain positive and professional relationships, and contribute to a culture of safety
• Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum

Preferred Qualifications

• Degree or coursework in Industrial Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, or Operations Research
• Experience in a production or machine shop environment, including additive manufacturing, CNC machining, or post‑processing operations
• Experience supporting an annual operating plan or capital planning cycle
• Lean Six Sigma certification (Green Belt or above), including value stream mapping and kaizen facilitation
• Experience developing labor standards and forecasting direct and indirect labor across a production ramp
• Experience acting as a planning or business operations interface between a production organization and its internal customers
• Experience writing executive‑level decision memos or narrative recommendation documents in a written‑first decision culture, including capital and investment justifications
• Experience with Jira, Confluence, Tableau, Smartsheet, or Agile/Scrum
• Experience building or deploying AI-enabled workflows or analytics tools, including SQL or other coding ability
• Program Management Professional (PMP) certification or equivalent credential

Export Control Regulations

Applicants for employment at Blue Origin must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (i.e. current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.

• Required for all positions: Blue's Standard Background Check
• Required for certain job profiles: Defense Biometric Identification System (DBIDS) background check if at any time the role requires one to be on a military installation
• Medical, dental, vision, basic and supplemental life insurance, paid parental leave, short and long‑term disability, 401(k) with a company match of up to 5%, and an Education Support Program
• Stock options for all regular employees (working at least 20 hours/week)
• Paid Time Off: up to four (4) weeks per year based on weekly scheduled hours, and up to 14 company‑paid holidays
• Dependent on role type and job level, employees may be eligible for benefits and bonuses. Bonus amounts and eligibility are not guaranteed and are subject to change and cancellation.