Contract Program Manager

Astrion•Bedford, MA

4d•Hybrid

About The Position

Astrion has an exciting opportunity for a CONTRACT PROGRAM MANAGER to provide senior leadership for a major Air Force business-unit program supporting the Department of War customer located at HANSCOM AFB, MA. This role is accountable for overall contract delivery, operational execution, financial performance, customer satisfaction, compliance, and growth across a program of approximately 300 full-time employees. The Program Manager serves as a primary leader for contract performance and customer relationship management, balancing strategic oversight with hands-on operational leadership. The position is responsible for meeting technical, schedule, quality, staffing, and financial commitments while maintaining strong relationships with contracting officers, contracting officer representatives, program stakeholders, subcontractors, and internal Astrion leadership.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in business, management, engineering, or a related field; equivalent relevant experience may be considered where permitted by contract and company policy.
10+ years of progressive government contracting experience, including experience supporting Department of Defense, Department of War, Air Force, or comparable federal customers.
5+ years of senior program management, portfolio management, or P&L leadership experience with responsibility for financial performance, customer delivery, and contract outcomes.
Demonstrated experience managing contracts, programs, or task orders, preferably within a portfolio of approximately $15M to $50M+ in annual revenue.
Experience leading large, geographically or functionally distributed teams, preferably 75+ personnel and/or multiple subordinate managers or task leads.
Strong working knowledge of federal contract execution, FAR and DFARS requirements, contract types such as CPFF, CPIF, FFP, and T&M, and government performance reporting expectations.
Proven ability to manage staffing, subcontractor performance, cost control, schedule commitments, risk management, customer communications, and contract deliverables.
Demonstrated record of achieving financial targets, maintaining strong customer relationships, and supporting favorable contract performance outcomes.
U.S. citizenship is required due to government contract requirements.
Active Secret or Top Secret security clearance, or ability to meet the clearance requirement specified by the contract; final clearance level to be confirmed by the program.
Ability to travel as needed to support customer meetings, program reviews, site leadership, capture activities, and contract execution requirements.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree in business, management, engineering, public administration, national security, or a related field.
Prior Air Force program leadership experience, especially in a GovCon environment supporting acquisition, sustainment, operations, engineering, cyber, IT, or mission-support programs.
PMP, PgMP, DAWIA/Back-to-Basics, or comparable program, project, or acquisition management certification.
Experience leading recompetes, capture activities, proposal development, pricing strategy, oral presentations, and customer shaping for DoD opportunities.
Experience managing programs with CPARS, award-fee, quality assurance, staffing, security, and subcontractor-management performance drivers.
Demonstrated ability to lead through change, stand up new work, stabilize challenged programs, and create repeatable operating rhythms across complex portfolios.

Responsibilities

Own program-level profit and loss performance, including revenue, margin, cash flow, and financial commitments for assigned Department of War contract(s).
Develop, execute, and monitor annual operating plans, budgets, forecasts, resource plans, and financial performance indicators in partnership with financial lead and program cost analysts.
Monitor direct and indirect costs, labor utilization, subcontractor performance, funding status, and burn rates to support targeted profitability and contract performance.
Partner with finance, contracts, pricing, business development, HR and operations leaders to evaluate recompetes, expansions, task orders, and adjacent growth opportunities.
Lead successful delivery of services across the assigned program in accordance with contract requirements, statement of work commitments, quality standards, and Astrion policies.
Ensure contracts meet or exceed technical, schedule, staffing, reporting, and quality performance requirements.
Maintain trusted working relationships with government contracting officers, CORs, senior program stakeholders, and mission partners.
Lead program reviews, customer briefings, performance reporting, CPARS support, award-fee inputs, and other contract governance activities.
Ensure compliance with applicable contract terms, FAR and DFARS clauses, security requirements, labor commitments, and company procedures in partnership with contracts leads and representatives.
Provide strategic direction and operating cadence for subordinate task leads and functional leaders across the program.
Manage staffing plans, resource allocation, surge support, workforce transitions, and subcontractor integration to meet customer and contract needs.
Drive process improvement, standardization, innovation, and operational discipline across program to improve quality, efficiency, and customer outcomes.
Identify program risks, issues, and dependencies; lead mitigation plans, corrective actions, and executive-level escalation when needed.
Support audits, internal reviews, investigations, and corrective action plans with timely, accurate, and compliant program information.
Recruit, develop, retain, and lead high-performing teams in support of customer mission requirements and Astrion business objectives in partnership with talent acquisition lead and dedicated recruiters.
Provide leadership, coaching, performance feedback, and career-development support for direct and indirect reports in partnership with HR business partner.
Support workforce planning, succession planning, employee engagement, and retention strategies across the program.
Apply Astrion policies and applicable employment practices consistently and fairly in hiring, promotion, performance management, and separation actions.
Identify and qualify new opportunities within the Air Force and Department of War customer base, including organic growth, recompetes, and new task-order opportunities.
Support capture and proposal activities, including solution development, pricing strategy, win themes, staffing approaches, and customer engagement plans.
Coordinate with business development, capture, proposal, contracts, pricing, and technical teams to expand the program in a compliant and customer-aligned manner.