Test Program Manager Jobs in Wayzata, MN (NOW HIRING)

Bachelor's degree or equivalent relevant experience, plus minimum 5 years of relevant experience; or Master's degree, plus minimum 3 years of relevant experience

CLEARANCE REQUIREMENTS:
Ability to obtain a Department of Defense Secret security clearance is required at time of hire. Applicants selected will be subject to a U.S. Government security investigation and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information. Due to the nature of work performed within our facilities, U.S. Citizenship is required. 

Duties and Tasks:

• Serve as the manufacturing lead on the program, responsible for overall technical execution including cost and schedule management of the operations team, building to a customer-controlled Technical Data Package (TDP)
• Review customer contracts against the RFP/RFQ, including SOW, PWS, Terms & Conditions, and FAR/DFAR/CDRL requirements, and allocate SOW requirements and budgets to the appropriate departments
• Ensure faithful, verifiable conformance to the customer-furnished design — drawings, specifications, and TDP — as the controlling authority for all manufacturing execution
• Develop and maintain the top-level Integrated Master Schedule (IMS); track deliverables, milestones, and On-Time-Delivery (OTD) performance
• Lead program kickoff with key stakeholders, ensure Program Authorization (PA) is established and released, and set up the program document/repository structure
• Represent manufacturing operations in design and production readiness reviews and Change Control Boards (CCB); identify producibility, assembly, and test improvements and submit recommended changes (ECPs/RFDs) to the customer design authority for disposition rather than altering the baseline unilaterally
• Manage configuration control and change incorporation — flow customer-directed engineering changes, deviations, and waivers into work instructions, tooling, and the build with full traceability
• Perform make/buy analysis and oversee prototype and first-article builds, including First Article Inspection (FAI) to the customer TDP, through to production readiness
• Monitor material costs and budgets (including Design-to-Unit-Production-Cost / DTUPC) and perform Cost-to-Complete (CTC/EAC) analyses at least semi-annually
• Establish, own, and maintain the Manufacturing Risk Register, driving mitigation across cost, schedule, and technical risk
• Partner with Manufacturing Engineering to translate the customer design into robust, repeatable processes, tooling, and work instructions that maximize producibility, yield, and throughput without deviating from the controlled baseline
• Coordinate across Program Management, Engineering, Supply Chain, Quality, and Test to ensure manufacturing and contractual requirements are met on cost and schedule
• Lead and develop the operations team; define roles and responsibilities, run effective meetings, and hold the team accountable to program commitments
• Champion continuous-improvement initiatives and capture/document lessons learned for reuse across programs
• Identifies opportunities to apply AI for continuous improvement and innovation

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• A Bachelor's degree in Manufacturing or Industrial Engineering, or a related Science / Engineering field, is preferred.
• Demonstrated experience in manufacturing engineering and operations, including electronics/electro-mechanical assembly, process development, and production execution in a regulated (aerospace/defense) environment
• Proven ability to execute build-to-print programs to a customer-controlled Technical Data Package, where the customer is the design authority and conformance to the baseline is paramount
• Strong working knowledge of design for manufacturability, assembly, and test (DFMAT) applied within a customer-controlled configuration — able to identify producibility and cost improvements and formally recommend them to the design authority through the change process
• Working knowledge of configuration management and change control (ECPs, deviations, waivers) and disciplined incorporation of customer-directed changes with full traceability
• Familiarity with First Article Inspection (FAI), drawing/specification interpretation, and verification of build conformance to controlled data
• Proficiency in manufacturing cost and schedule management, including IMS development, DTUPC/EAC/CTC analysis, and budget allocation and control
• Working knowledge of Earned Value Management (EVM) principles and program financial metrics
• Familiarity with contract, SOW/PWS, and FAR/DFAR/CDRL requirements and how they flow down into manufacturing execution
• Experience with make/buy analysis, prototype and first-article builds, and transition from development to sustained production
• Competence in risk management — identifying, quantifying, and mitigating manufacturing cost, schedule, and technical risk
• Proven leadership and accountability: clearly communicating expectations, defining roles, running effective meetings, and making data-informed decisions
• Strong organization, follow-through, and cross-functional collaboration across Engineering, Supply Chain, Quality, Test, and Program Management
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills suited to both shop-floor teams and program/executive stakeholders

#LI

General Dynamics Mission Systems (GDMS) engineers a diverse portfolio of high technology solutions, products and services that enable customers to successfully execute missions across all domains of operation. With a global team of 12,000+ top professionals, we partner with the best in industry to expand the bounds of innovation in the defense and scientific arenas. Given the nature of our work and who we are, we value trust, honesty, alignment and transparency. We offer highly competitive benefits and pride ourselves in being a great place to work with a shared sense of purpose. You will also enjoy a flexible work environment where contributions are recognized and rewarded. If who we are and what we do resonates with you, we invite you to join our high-performance team!

Equal Opportunity Employer / Individuals with Disabilities / Protected Veterans