Senior Aerospace TPM: Production & Flight-Test Leader

Lever, Inc.; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 220,000 - 350,000; Full time

Job summary

Shield AI seeks a Principal Technical Program Manager to lead the MMA aircraft development program for the U.S. Air Force, translating objectives into an integrated plan spanning concept, aircraft and mission systems integration, prototype demonstrations, flight tests, and production readiness.

The role partners with the program leader, Chief Engineer, engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, and government stakeholders to balance technical, schedule, and cost commitments while maintaining

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or related technical discipline, or equivalent experience.
• 10+ years of aerospace engineering, technical program management, or complex hardware/software development.
• Experience leading a major aircraft, unmanned system, or complex aerospace program through milestones.
• Technical breadth to evaluate integration dependencies and tradeoffs across disciplines.
• Ownership of integrated schedules, budgets, risks, and cross-functional delivery.
• Experience with government customers or aerospace partners on requirements and reviews.
• Ability to lead through influence and make decisions with incomplete information.
• Clear written and verbal communication, including executive briefings and customer-facing discussions.

Responsibilities

• Own integrated program execution from baseline to milestones.
• Translate customer needs into executable plans with defined success criteria.
• Drive multidisciplinary coordination across air vehicle, propulsion, avionics, flight controls, autonomy, mission systems, and ground systems.
• Keep affordability and production at the center of execution and planning.
• Manage customer and partner commitments; lead reviews with government stakeholders.
• Anticipate and retire risk by identifying critical-path threats and resource gaps.
• Build the path to production with tooling, procurement, and manufacturing readiness.
• Provide clear executive visibility of milestone confidence, financial progress, and technical status.

Skills

Leadership by influence

Executive communication

Program ownership

Cross-disciplinary coordination

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering or related field

Job description

Shield AI seeks a Principal Technical Program Manager to lead the MMA aircraft development program for the U.S. Air Force, translating objectives into an integrated plan spanning concept, aircraft and mission systems integration, prototype demonstrations, flight tests, and production readiness.

The role partners with the program leader, Chief Engineer, engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, and government stakeholders to balance technical, schedule, and cost commitments while maintaining