Senior Program Manager

Viasat, Inc.•Carlsbad, CA

18d•$138,000 - $218,000

About The Position

Drive operational excellence across our portfolio. In this dual "Player-Coach" role, you will personally manage complex, high-value government contracts while providing functional leadership to other Program Managers. Your primary focus will not be on the engineering details, but on the financial health, supply chain resilience, contract compliance, and production velocity. You will be the authority on how we execute, ensuring every program under your watch meets its EAC targets and revenue goals.

Requirements

8+ years of Operations and/or Program Management experience in the Defense industry, with a consistent track record of leading fixed-price and cost-plus contracts
Deep expertise in program finance, including EACs, variance analysis, revenue recognition, and forecasting
Experience leading hardware production runs, logistics, and supply chain coordination
Strong command of Earned Value Management (EVM) principles and Integrated Master Schedule (IMS) development (Microsoft Project or Primavera)
Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Finance, Operations Management, or related field
PMP (Project Management Professional) within first 6-months
US Government position. US Citizenship required
Active DoD Secret clearance or ability to obtain when administratively feasible
Ability to travel up to 20%

Nice To Haves

None

Responsibilities

Financial Management & Budget Planning
Manage full Profit & Loss responsibility for assigned programs, conducting rigorous monthly EAC (Estimate at Completion) reviews to forecast variance and protect margin
Implement and oversee EVMS principles to track schedule and cost performance indices (SPI/CPI), ensuring early identification of deviations.
Lead the preparation for Business Implementation Reviews (BIR) and quarterly financial look-aheads, ensuring accurate revenue recognition and cash flow planning
Operations, Production & Supply Chain
Actively handle bills of material (BOMs) and long-lead procurement strategies to mitigate supply chain risks and component shortages
Collaborate with Operations and Manufacturing leads to align production slots with contractual delivery dates (DD250s), running inventory flow and logistics
Supervise key subcontractors and hardware vendors, ensuring they meet flow-down requirements, quality standards, and delivery timelines
Contract Management & Compliance
Rigorously lead the program baseline; identify "scope creep" immediately and drive the Engineering Change Proposal (ECP) process to gain additional value
Ensure strict adherence to FAR/DFARS clauses, limitation of funds (LOF) notifications, and CDRL/SDRL delivery schedules
Maintain a live Risk & Opportunity register, quantifying financial exposure and accomplishing burn-down plans for programmatic risks
Leadership & Process Standardization
Coach junior and mid-level PMs on the "hard skills" of program management—specifically financial modeling, schedule logic (Critical Path Method), and contractual writing
Work with functional leads to budget and book resources, optimizing utilization rates across the Integrated Solutions portfolio