Program Manager Defense Jobs in Franklin, MA (NOW HIRING)

The Seabed Sentry team is responsible for Maritime Domain Awareness providing subsea autonomous sensing and communication across critical commercial and defense mission sets. You'll operate in a fast-paced environment where small empowered teams move with urgency to deliver cutting-edge maritime capabilities from concept to deployment in months, not years. We bias toward action, embrace ambiguity, and expect technical program managers to drive execution with minimal bureaucracy - because the mission and the warfighter can't wait. 

We are looking for a Technical Program Manager to join our rapidly growing team in Quincy, MA. In this role, you will be responsible for driving the execution, demonstration, and fielding of a Maritime Domain Awareness solution for autonomous underwater vehicles - owning everything from software product roadmap to on-the-water customer demos. You will serve as the connective tissue between software, firmware, and hardware teams while acting as the primary company representative in front of defense customers during field events, exercises, and operational engagements. This will require working knowledge of acoustic communications, mesh networking, and underwater systems, as well as experience managing software backlogs, release planning, and complex field logistics across hardware and software dependencies. If you are someone who thrives operating independently in ambiguous, fast-moving environments - making real-time decisions on scope, priorities, and troubleshooting without waiting for direction - and who can credibly bridge the gap between deeply technical engineering teams and operational end users, then this role is for you. 

• Work within a team of multidisciplinary engineers and specialists throughout the life of AUV through integration, test, verification, and demonstration efforts.
• Ensure successful execution of programs in accordance with desired requirements, on schedule, and on budget.
• Software Product Management: Own the product backlog and near-term roadmap for software/application layers of the acoustic mesh networking solution. Prioritize features, fixes, and technical debt based on customer feedback, field results, and demonstration objectives. Drive release planning tied to field schedules-ensure what ships to the water works in the water. Maintain a tight feedback loop: every field event generates inputs that improve the next build
• Demonstration Planning & Product Readiness: Own the demonstration roadmap: define what we show, when, and why it matters to the customer's mission and acquisition timeline. Drive product readiness for field events-coordinate feature prioritization, system configuration, and release timing across hardware and software teams. Manage all field event logistics: scheduling, range/vessel coordination, equipment staging, and go/no-go readiness decisions. Build repeatable playbooks while maintaining flexibility to adapt to rapid timelines and shifting customer needs.
• Onsite Customer Support & Field Troubleshooting: Serve as the primary onsite representative during demonstrations, exercises, and customer engagements-often the only company face in the room. Troubleshoot system-level issues in real time (network behavior, acoustic links, software/UI), coordinating with remote engineering when needed. Manage customer expectations transparently; provide operational guidance, walkthroughs, and workarounds under pressure.
• Customer & Stakeholder Engagement: Build trusted relationships with defense customers, fleet units, and operators. Align demonstration activities to customer decision points and operational exercises for maximum impact. Support proposals and capture efforts with technical content, demonstration results, and capability narratives.
• Technical Coordination: Serve as connective tissue between software, firmware, acoustic hardware, and systems integration teams. Maintain working knowledge of acoustic communications, mesh networking, and underwater sensing to credibly represent the product and triage field issues.
• Autonomous Execution & Decision Authority: Operate with a high degree of independence in the field and across program activities-making real-time decisions on scope, priorities, and resource allocation without requiring constant escalation. Exercise sound judgment to act on behalf of the program and the company in ambiguous, fast-moving situations where waiting for direction is not an option.
• Regular travel to support customer sites, ranges, and fleet locations (including OCONUS/shipboard) approximately 40%-60% of the time.

• Bachelor of Science degree in Systems Engineering or related field and a passion for hardware development.
• 5+ years of robotics experience, specifically in technical project management and/or systems engineering, or related project management and/or systems engineering experience in a relevant industry.
• Experience leading or executing product development of any type of system from TRL 3-8.
• Must be able to translate system test, integration and troubleshooting.
• Understanding of government contract structure and reporting.
• Extremely organized and detail oriented.
• Exceptional communication skills.
• Eligible to obtain and maintain an active U.S. Top Secret security clearance.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Mission-first mindset: urgency matters, good enough today beats perfect next quarter.
• Experience interfacing with DoD/USN customers.
• Experience integrating subsea sensors.
• Currently possesses and is able to maintain an active U.S. Top Secret security clearance.