Program Manager

York Spaces Systems•Greenwood Village, CO

10d•Onsite

About The Position

The Program Manager owns execution for a single mission or small constellation, leading cross‑functional teams through the full lifecycle from proposal and design through build, test, launch, and operations. The PM maintains the contract baseline, manages customer expectations, and makes day‑to‑day tradeoffs to deliver on scope, schedule, and cost. This role requires hands‑on leadership, strong technical fluency, and the ability to prove experience across real‑world program events and gate reviews.

Requirements

Clear experience in managing customer expectations on FFP (Firm Fixed Price) contracts with the USG.
Consistently managing contract updates for additional scope requests and maintaining program milestone payments.
Leveraging the contractual documents to facilitate difficult discussions with the customer that protect the program from unnecessary scope growth.
Manage customer expectations through clear, proactive communication and evidence‑based options when issues arise.
Communicate crisply with York executives on strategy/execution.
Communicate clearly with customer leadership on: Agreements and decisions, Addressing vague requirement language, Deliverable expectations, Payment criteria on all milestones.
Clearly defined deadlines and priorities for all key program suppliers.
Experience in working strategically with small company executive leadership for beneficial solutions.
Strong experience in understanding security governance and documentation for execution on a program.
Clearly demonstrates the ability to provide guidance and processes for managing access and handling data transfers.
Ability to proactively identify security concerns in non-York facilities for testing and integration.
Ability to work with the security team to protect the program and company from security violations.
Lead full lifecycle execution for a single mission or small constellation, managing scope, schedule, budget, risks, and deliverables.
Execute key lifecycle events: SRR, PDR, CDR, PSR, and O&S; lead recovery plans for resets/redesigns and NRE.
Own the FFP baseline: track performance to plan, manage changes for added scope/revenue, and leverage contract documents in difficult customer conversations.
Experience maturing technology from TRL4→TRL7/9 and integrating new payload capabilities.
Drive agile, data‑driven program rhythms (dashboards, metrics) to maintain program health and de‑risk execution early.
Coordinate integrated teams (engineering, production, supply chain, finance, operations) and influence progress without relying on a large support org.
Experience in high-autonomy, high-complexity environments.
Driven to ensure the ball won’t drop – experience in working outside your swim lane or standard work background.
Ability to find innovative and low cost solutions to internal issues as they arise across the life of the program.
Bachelor’s degree in engineering, technical discipline, or related field.
5+ years leading complex hardware/software programs; proven product/system delivery.
Prior experience in cleared environments and TS/SCI eligibility.
Ability to work full‑time onsite in Greenwood Village, CO.

Nice To Haves

Experience in high-autonomy, high-complexity environments (aircraft/aerospace manufacturing, oil & gas operations, high-reliability industrial systems).
Experience in agile methodologies applied to hardware development (Scrum, SAFe).
Master’s degree in engineering or management.
Experience in high-growth startup environments.

Responsibilities

Own execution for a single mission or small constellation, leading cross‑functional teams through the full lifecycle from proposal and design through build, test, launch, and operations.
Maintain the contract baseline, manage customer expectations, and make day‑to‑day tradeoffs to deliver on scope, schedule, and cost.
Manage customer expectations on FFP (Firm Fixed Price) contracts with the USG.
Consistently manage contract updates for additional scope requests and maintain program milestone payments.
Leverage contractual documents to facilitate difficult discussions with the customer that protect the program from unnecessary scope growth.
Manage customer expectations through clear, proactive communication and evidence‑based options when issues arise.
Communicate crisply with York executives on strategy/execution.
Communicate clearly with customer leadership on agreements and decisions, addressing vague requirement language, deliverable expectations, payment criteria on all milestones, and clearly defined deadlines and priorities for all key program suppliers.
Experience in working strategically with small company executive leadership for beneficial solutions.
Understand security governance and documentation for execution on a classified program.
Provide guidance and processes for managing access and handling data transfers.
Proactively identify security concerns in non-York facilities for testing and integration.
Work with the security team to protect the program and company from security violations.
Lead full lifecycle execution for a single mission or small constellation, managing scope, schedule, budget, risks, and deliverables.
Execute key lifecycle events: SRR, PDR, CDR, PSR, and O&S; lead recovery plans for resets/redesigns and NRE.
Own the FFP baseline: track performance to plan, manage changes for added scope/revenue, and leverage contract documents in difficult customer conversations.
Experience maturing technology from TRL4→TRL7/9 and integrating new payload capabilities.
Drive agile, data‑driven program rhythms (dashboards, metrics) to maintain program health and de‑risk execution early.
Coordinate integrated teams (engineering, production, supply chain, finance, operations) and influence progress without relying on a large support org.
Ensure the ball won’t drop – experience in working outside your swim lane or standard work background.
Find innovative and low cost solutions to internal issues as they arise across the life of the program.