Program Manager - Construction

Firefly Aerospace•Briggs, TX

22d

About The Position

Firefly Aerospace is hiring a Program Manager to own construction and facilities project portfolios across its campuses. The role oversees projects from approval and scope development through design, procurement, construction, commissioning, turnover, and closeout. The Program Manager establishes consistent project delivery methods and leads concurrent projects, coordinating schedules, budgets, risks, resources, and operational requirements around active manufacturing, production, testing, and engineering activities. As the primary owner’s representative for major construction projects, the Program Manager works with internal stakeholders and external contractors to deliver projects safely, on schedule, within budget, and to approved scope and quality standards. The role covers estimating, integrated scheduling, cost and cash-flow control, risk management, permitting and code compliance, contractor and contract management, commissioning, and project governance. It also maintains portfolio financial and schedule reporting, presents exceptions and recommendations to the Director of Facilities and executive leadership, and leads closeout reviews and lessons learned.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Construction Management, Engineering, Architecture, or a related technical discipline; an equivalent combination of education and directly relevant experience is considered.
10 or more years of progressive experience managing construction programs, capital projects, or major facilities projects, including ownership of projects exceeding $5 million.
Demonstrated experience managing multiple concurrent construction projects and/or a complex capital project portfolio.
Required experience delivering projects in an active manufacturing, industrial, aerospace, semiconductor, or similarly complex operational environment.
Demonstrated experience as an owner’s representative managing general contractors, construction managers, design professionals, and specialty contractors.
Expertise in construction estimating, including scope development, quantity takeoffs, bid leveling, contingency, escalation, and cost validation.
Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Project or equivalent scheduling software, including schedule baselining, critical-path analysis, resource loading, and multi-project portfolio management.
Experience managing project budgets, spend plans, cash-flow forecasts, commitments, actuals, and cost-to-complete analysis.
Experience with formal construction risk management, including risk registers, probability and impact assessments, mitigation planning, and contingency management.
Experience managing contracts, change orders, claims, contractor performance, and commercial issues.
Working knowledge of building codes, permitting, AHJ requirements, life-safety systems, and construction regulatory requirements.
Experience coordinating MEP systems, commissioning, construction turnover, and operational readiness.
Experience producing project and portfolio reporting for senior and executive leadership, including cost, schedule, risk, and variance analysis.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to influence stakeholders, resolve complex project issues, and communicate effectively with executive leadership.
Must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain required U.S. Department of State authorizations, to conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations including ITAR.

Nice To Haves

Experience in space, aerospace, defense, semiconductor, advanced manufacturing, or other highly regulated industrial environments.
PMP certification, PE license, CCM certification, or another relevant professional certification.
Experience delivering high-bay manufacturing facilities, cleanrooms, test facilities, test stands, hazardous systems, propellant facilities, or other technically complex infrastructure.
Experience with pre-engineered metal building (PEMB) delivery and greenfield site development.
Experience with complex mechanical, electrical, plumbing, controls, utilities, and industrial systems.
Experience leading commissioning, startup, turnover, and operational readiness activities.
Experience managing design-build and other alternative project delivery methods.
Experience managing construction projects across multiple geographic locations.
Familiarity with CMMS, CAFM, IWMS, project controls, or capital project management systems.
Working knowledge of capital accounting practices, including capitalization thresholds, construction-in-progress (CIP), and asset placed-in-service timing.
Experience establishing construction standards, processes, project controls, and governance frameworks in a rapidly scaling organization.

Responsibilities

Own end-to-end execution of assigned construction and facilities project portfolios, from approval and scope development through design, procurement, construction, commissioning, turnover, and closeout.
Establish and maintain construction project delivery methods, including project phases, stage gates, deliverables, documentation, and handoff criteria.
Lead multiple concurrent construction projects, balancing resources, priorities, schedule, risk, funding, and operational requirements across campuses.
Develop integrated construction plans that sequence work around active operations and minimize disruption to mission-critical activities.
Partner with Facilities, Production, Test, Engineering, EHS, Security, IT, Finance, and other stakeholders to define project requirements, manage operational impacts, and ensure readiness.
Serve as owner’s representative for major construction projects and ensure delivery against safety, schedule, budget, scope, and quality requirements.
Establish execution strategies for design-bid-build, design-build, construction manager, general contractor, and specialty-trade delivery methods.
Develop and validate conceptual through definitive construction estimates, including takeoffs, labor and material assumptions, contingency, escalation, and allowances.
Develop project budgets, schedules, cash-flow forecasts, and execution plans for capital approval and annual planning.
Build, baseline, and maintain integrated project schedules using Microsoft Project or equivalent tools, including critical-path analysis, resource loading, milestone tracking, and recovery planning.
Manage project spend plans and cash-flow forecasts, tracking commitments, expenditures, forecast at completion, contingency, and budget variance.
Provide estimating, schedule, risk, and constructability input for capital approval packages, governance reviews, and funding decisions.
Coordinate with Finance on capital-versus-expense classification and compliance with capitalization policies, construction-in-progress accounting, and asset placed-in-service requirements.
Administer formal change management, including evaluating, pricing, documenting, negotiating, approving, and tracking changes and change orders.
Identify cost and schedule trends and develop corrective actions to protect project commitments.
Establish and maintain project risk registers covering cost, schedule, safety, technical, operational, permitting, procurement, and construction risks.
Quantify risk exposure and develop mitigation and contingency strategies with clear ownership and trigger conditions.
Escalate material risks, issues, and decisions with recommended actions and quantified impacts.
Ensure compliance with building codes, permits, AHJ approvals, life-safety and environmental requirements, and Firefly standards.
Partner with EHS to ensure contractors implement site-specific safety plans and comply with applicable requirements for high-risk construction activities.
Establish and enforce construction quality expectations, inspections, punch-list management, commissioning readiness, and final turnover criteria.
Prepare and present project status, financial and schedule performance, risks, and decision requests to the Director of Facilities and executive leadership.
Lead contractor and vendor selection, including scopes of work, RFPs, bid walks, bid leveling, technical evaluations, and award recommendations.
Manage general contractors, construction managers, design-build partners, architects, engineers, and specialty trades against contracted scope, schedule, cost, safety, and quality requirements.
Administer construction contracts and purchase orders within approved authority, coordinating with Supply Chain, Finance, and Legal as appropriate.
Review contractor pay applications, validate percent complete and installed quantities, and manage retention, lien releases, and supporting documentation.
Negotiate and manage change orders, claims, schedule impacts, and contractor performance issues.
Develop and maintain a qualified contractor and specialty-trade network for current and future campus construction requirements.
Provide recurring program reporting on project cost, schedule, risk, safety, quality, and operational readiness.
Maintain project financial reporting on approved budgets, commitments, actuals, forecasts at completion, variances, and remaining contingency.
Track schedule performance against approved baselines and identify schedule variance and critical-path impacts.
Present exceptions, trends, business impacts, and corrective actions rather than raw status updates.
Maintain a centralized portfolio view of active projects, including scope, budget, schedule, risk, and status.
Reconcile project financial information with Finance’s system of record and resolve discrepancies before reporting.
Prepare executive- and governance-level reporting packages for capital requests, funding decisions, project reviews, and portfolio prioritization.
Notify stakeholders promptly of material cost, schedule, safety, quality, or operational impacts between formal reporting cycles.
Conduct project closeout reviews and capture lessons learned to improve construction delivery processes.