Programs Manager Jobs in Pasadena, CA (NOW HIRING)

Hadrian is building autonomous factories that help aerospace and defense companies manufacture rockets, satellites, jets, and ships up to 10x faster and up to 2x cheaper. By combining advanced software, robotics, and full-stack manufacturing, we are reinventing how America produces its most critical parts.

We’re accelerating our mission with the launch of Factory 3 in Mesa, Arizona, a 290,000-square-foot facility creating 350 new jobs. We are expanding rapidly to support thousands of future hires, launching Hadrian Maritime to expand into naval production, and introducing a Factory-as-a-Service model that delivers complete systems instead of individual parts.

Hadrian is backed by leading investors including T. Rowe Price, Lux Capital, Founders Fund, and Andreessen Horowitz, our fast-growing team is united around reindustrializing American manufacturing for the 21st century and beyond.

The Role

Hadrian is building the most advanced manufacturing platform in the world. As we win new programs and stand up new factories, the workforce question gets decided early, usually before a contract is signed and almost always before anyone has validated whether the labor assumptions hold. Getting that wrong means delayed milestones, unmet contractual obligations, and a workforce that cannot ramp to meet production. Getting it right is a prerequisite for every program we take on.

We are looking for a Workforce Programs Manager to own the scoping of workforce for new Hadrian programs end to end. This is the person who sits with the sales and federal teams while a deal is still being shaped, reads the statement of work, and translates it into a labor model, a headcount plan, a training strategy, and a clear build-versus-partner decision. It is a new function. You are the first hire in it, and it is tied directly to our program and factory expansion roadmap.

You will build the labor models that tell us what a program actually costs in people. You will design the training strategy for capabilities we have never run before, including regulated programs like NAVSEA-compliant welder workmanship and new NDT certification tracks. You will own the framework for what Hadrian builds internally versus what we source through partners, and you will manage the institutional partnerships that follow from that decision. You will be the forward-looking input to the Workforce Development organization, working with the team on what is coming so they can scale ahead of demand instead of reacting to it.

The right person has been in the room where program commitments are made and understands what those commitments mean for the workforce before anyone else does. They are equally comfortable in a business development review with a prime contractor, building a headcount model in a spreadsheet, and walking a community college president through what a partnership would require. They default to building capability internally and treat partnerships as a deliberate tool, not a first response.

What You'll Do

Program Workforce Scoping

• Embed with the sales and federal teams during program pursuit to scope workforce requirements before commitments are finalized

• Read and interpret statements of work, contract terms, and program milestones, and translate them into executable workforce plans

• Identify the labor, training, and certification obligations a program creates, and surface the risks and gaps while there is still time to address them

Labor Modeling and Headcount Planning

• Build labor models and headcount plans for new programs and capability expansions, covering Factory Technician, Weld Technician, and NDT Technician roles as well as the indirect and support headcount programs require

• Validate that labor assumptions in deal and operational models are internally consistent and flow through to real headcount outputs

• Own the workforce-cost view of a program and defend it to finance, operations, and program leadership

Training Strategy for New Capabilities

• Design the training and certification strategy for capabilities Hadrian has not run before, including regulated programs such as NAVSEA welder workmanship and new NDT method tracks

• Map external certification and audit requirements into the training plan so compliance is built in from the start

• Define cohort timing, trainer ratios, and lead times from hire to certified, working backward from program readiness dates

Build-versus-Partner Strategy and Partnerships

• Own the framework for determining whether a workforce need is best met by building internally or sourcing through an external partner, with a default toward insourcing

• Manage the portfolio of institutional partnerships that follow from that decision, including community colleges, trade schools, universities, veteran programs, and high school pathways

• Represent Hadrian in partner negotiations, MOU development, and ongoing relationship management, and hold partners to defined quality and output standards

• Treat partnerships as foundational pre-employment pipeline tools, not a substitute for building Hadrian's own capability

Workforce Org Readiness

• Work closely with the Director of Workforce Development to ensure the Workforce organization is staffed and structured to scale with the program portfolio

• Provide the forward-looking inputs the WFD org needs to hire, build curriculum, and stand up training operations ahead of program demand

• Maintain visibility for internal stakeholders into the workforce pipeline across all active and pursued programs

What We're Looking For

• 7+ years in workforce planning, labor modeling, program management, or business development, with demonstrated experience translating program or contract requirements into operational workforce plans

• Background in or strong familiarity with manufacturing, defense, or government contracting environments

• Track record of building headcount or labor models for new programs or capability expansions, where the output was an executable plan rather than a strategy document

• Experience in customer-facing or federal program work, including interpreting a government SOW and presenting a workforce plan to a customer

• A business and commercial mindset: you understand what Hadrian is signing up for when a deal closes, and you can quantify it

• Strong cross-functional communication, with the ability to represent workforce realities to program and factory leadership and translate them back to institutional partners

• Comfort operating where the playbook is still being written

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Engineering, Workforce Development, Public Policy, or a related field; advanced degree a plus; equivalent experience considered

What Will Set You Apart

• Defense business development or proposal development experience with a workforce or labor component

• Familiarity with NAVSEA, SUBSAFE, or similar regulated certification and audit frameworks

• Experience standing up training programs in regulated manufacturing environments

• Background in advanced or precision manufacturing

• Experience with workforce development grants, government funding programs, or public-private partnerships

• Familiarity with community college systems and dual-enrollment or early college program design

• A genuine point of view on what manufacturing workforce development should look like for the next generation, grounded in what programs actually require rather than how it has always been done

• Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans for employees

• 401k

• Relocation support may be provided for certain situations, based on business need.

• Flexible vacation policy

• Equity

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you 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. Learn more about the ITAR here.

It is the Company’s policy to provide equal employment opportunity for all applicants and employees. The Company does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race inclusive of traits historically associated with race (including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles, such as braids, locks and twists), color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, national origin (including, in California, possession of a drivers license), ancestry, citizenship, age, physical or mental disability, height or weight, medical condition, family care status, military or veteran status, marital status, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, genetic information, exercise of reproductive rights, any other basis protected by local, state, or federal laws, or any combination of the above characteristics. When necessary, the Company also makes reasonable accommodations for disabled candidates and employees, including for candidates or employees who are disabled by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.

Compensation Range: $150K - $225K