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Senior Program Manager – Defense & Strategic Programs

Location: Gwinnett County, Georgia

Job Type: Full-time

Reports To: Chief Commercial Officer

Role Overview

My client is seeking a high-caliber, commercially minded Senior Program Manager to lead their defense and strategic programs portfolio. This is a high-visibility, senior leadership role with direct exposure to the executive team and the Board of Directors.

Instead of managing contracts in isolation, the Senior Program Manager will run the defense sector as an integrated portfolio. You will personally own the day-to-day execution of the flagship, largest defense program while providing operational, financial, and strategic oversight across the remaining defense contracts.

A primary objective of this role is to break down legacy silos, unify the program operating model, and deploy modern, AI-enabled workflows to scale execution. Additionally, you will help transfer defense-grade discipline to selected commercial programs to improve delivery predictability and margin control across the organization.

Core Responsibilities

1. Defense Portfolio Leadership & Program Execution

• Own direct execution of the largest defense program, including scope, schedule, cost, quality, deliverables, and issue resolution.
• Provide portfolio-level oversight across other defense programs, ensuring a consistent operational cadence, reporting structure, and risk management framework.
• Create a common program operating model to leverage shared requirements, customer knowledge, technical solutions, and support resources.
• Maintain integrated schedules, action registers, risk logs, and work breakdown structures across assigned programs.

2. Financial Management & Program Controls

• Drive full P&L and financial performance across assigned programs, including bookings, backlog, revenue, cost, margin, cash timing, and Estimate at Completion (EAC) performance.
• Partner with Finance to improve program cost accounting, revenue forecasting, contract profitability analysis, and billing visibility.
• Identify and implement profitability improvements through strict scope control, change-order discipline, and resource optimization.
• Maintain decision-ready program dashboards to allow leadership to identify risks and corrective actions early.

3. Customer Interface, Contract Stewardship & Growth

• Serve as the senior customer interface for government agencies, defense primes, contracting officers, and end users.
• Protect and grow existing contract revenue through re-competes, modifications, option exercises, sole-source extensions, and expanded scope.
• Support capture and proposal activity by contributing to technical narratives, management approaches, past performance content, pricing inputs, and win strategies.

4. Modern Tools & Process Improvement

• Utilize modern program management tools and AI-enabled productivity resources to automate repetitive tasks and improve forecasting accuracy.
• Help build scalable, reusable processes (e.g., standardized risk reviews, financial templates, and proposal libraries) across both defense and commercial programs.
• Partner with Engineering, Software, Supply Chain, Operations, and Quality to ensure program resource requirements are visible and executable.

5. Compliance, Governance & Risk Management

• Ensure strict compliance with FAR, DFARS, ITAR, EAR, cybersecurity, export control, and customer-specific government contracting requirements.
• Maintain audit readiness for DCMA, DCAA, customer audits, and internal governance reviews.

Key Success Metrics (KPIs)

• Revenue Delivery: Achieved >= 98% of approved annual revenue plan across assigned programs.
• Milestone Execution: On-time delivery >= 95% against committed program milestones.
• Portfolio Visibility: Successful implementation of unified dashboards covering schedule, cost, margin, and risk.
• Margin Performance: Maintenance of EAC performance within agreed tolerances; zero unplanned margin erosion.

Profile & Experience Required

• Experience: 10+ years of experience in government, defense, aerospace, or mission-critical program management.
• Scale: Proven track record managing single or multiple government programs/portfolios in excess of $20M+ annually.
• Contractual Expertise: Deep working knowledge of FAR, DFARS, ITAR/EAR, DCMA/DCAA processes, and contract types (FFP, CPFF, T&M, IDIQ).
• Financial Acumen: Strong financial ownership of programs, including revenue recognition, EAC forecasting, and margin management.
• Domain Knowledge: Experience with software, SCADA, industrial automation, instrumentation, fueling systems, logistics, or government systems of record is highly preferred.
• Technical Savvy: Comfort with modern PM tools and a strong interest in implementing AI-enabled productivity workflows or process automation.
• Education: Minimum of a Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited college or university in Engineering, Computer Science, Program Management, or a related field.
• Credentials: PMP certification or equivalent program management credential is preferred. DAU certifications are a plus.
• Clearance: Active or obtainable U.S. security clearance is preferred. U.S. citizenship is required.

Leadership Characteristics

• Operates with urgency, total ownership, and commercial judgment.
• Balances defense-grade compliance and rigor with the speed, pragmatism, and growth mindset of a private-equity-backed industrial platform.
• Communicates with extreme clarity, ensuring bad news is surfaced early alongside data-driven options and recommendations.
• Actively mentors team members and builds a collaborative, "one-company" operating culture.