Sr. A&D Program Manager

Fathom Mfg • Hartland, WI

3d

About The Position

Fathom is seeking an experienced Senior Aerospace & Defense Program Manager to lead complex, multi-year manufacturing programs from pre-award planning and customer onboarding through qualification, production launch, ramp, and sustained delivery. The role is the single point of accountability for program performance, aligning customer commitments with execution across Fathom manufacturing sites and approved suppliers.

The Senior Program Manager owns integrated plans, financial performance, delivery commitments, risk management, and customer communications. The role coordinates Applications Engineering, Sales, Operations, Quality, Supply Chain, and Finance to manage programs involving multiple part families, interdependent workstreams, contractual milestones, and recurring production requirements. Success involves anticipating dependencies, managing priorities, protecting profitability, and building customer confidence.

Fathom is a digital manufacturing platform with more than 90 industrial-grade 3D printing machines and over 500,000 square feet of manufacturing capacity across 10 facilities. Its capabilities include plastic and metal additive manufacturing, CNC machining, injection molding and tooling, urethane casting, sheet metal fabrication, and design and engineering. The company serves technology, defense, aerospace, medical, automotive, and IoT sectors, and holds certifications including ISO 9001:2015, ISO 9001:2015 Design, ISO 13485:2016, AS9100:2016, NIST 800-171, and ITAR.

Requirements

• At least 10 years of progressive experience in aerospace and defense program management or closely related manufacturing leadership, including at least five years directly accountable for complex, multi-year manufacturing programs.
• Proven record leading programmatic work involving multiple part families, phased releases, interdependent projects, qualification requirements, and recurring production commitments.
• Experience leading programs end-to-end across pre-award planning, contract review, new product introduction, qualification, production ramp, and sustained delivery.
• Hands-on experience developing integrated schedules, work breakdown structures, resource plans, budgets, financial forecasts, risk registers, and executive scorecards.
• Ability to identify critical-path exposure and turn complex dependencies into actionable execution plans.
• Demonstrated ability to manage program economics, explain performance against budget, forecast cost and margin exposure, and lead recovery actions.
• Experience with nonrecurring engineering, tooling investments, long-term agreements, and customer change management.
• Strong working knowledge of precision CNC machining, complex assemblies, outside processing, and production qualification.
• Ability to understand engineering drawings, GD&T, material and finish requirements, and manufacturing constraints well enough to challenge assumptions and coordinate decisions with technical experts.
• Working knowledge of AS9100 quality-system expectations, ITAR-controlled work, customer-specific quality requirements, traceability, configuration management, and first-article inspection.
• Experience serving as the primary program interface for aerospace OEMs, defense primes, or major tier suppliers.
• Ability to communicate clearly with engineering, procurement, quality, operations, and executive audiences, including during difficult performance discussions.
• Demonstrated ability to align cross-functional teams without direct reporting authority, resolve competing priorities, hold owners accountable, and escalate with clear recommendations.
• Proactive, structured approach to problem-solving and decision-making.
• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, manufacturing, business, or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience.
• Proficiency with program scheduling, ERP/MRP, CRM, and reporting tools.

Nice To Haves

• Experience managing programs across multiple facilities or external manufacturing partners.
• Exposure to additive manufacturing, sheet metal, and molding.
• Familiarity with Nadcap-accredited special processes.
• PMP or PgMP certification.
• Experience mentoring other program managers.

Responsibilities

• Lead assigned A&D programs from opportunity qualification and pre-award planning through onboarding, development, qualification, production ramp, and ongoing execution.
• Establish and manage program scope, work breakdown structures, integrated schedules, budgets, resource requirements, and customer milestones.
• Coordinate dependencies across engineering, material procurement, tooling, outside processing, first-article inspection, and production to protect the critical path.
• Serve as the primary customer program leader, build relationships with customer program management, engineering, procurement, and quality stakeholders, and lead program reviews and performance communications.
• Communicate emerging risks, manage customer expectations, and present recovery plans when commitments are at risk.
• Coordinate cross-functional customer teams across Sales, Applications Engineering, Operations, Quality, Supply Chain, and Finance, and align manufacturing sites and approved suppliers around a common plan.
• Lead through influence in a matrixed organization, with clear responsibilities, decision rights, and escalation paths.
• Manage program budgets, revenue and margin forecasts, cost-to-complete estimates, and financial risks with Finance and Operations.
• Track nonrecurring engineering, tooling, launch costs, and production performance against approved assumptions; drive corrective actions and support recovery of authorized customer-driven changes.
• Partner with Sales, Applications Engineering, and estimating to develop executable proposals based on realistic capacity, lead times, qualification requirements, and delivery plans.
• Identify program risks, resource needs, assumptions, and dependencies before commitments are made, and lead the transition from award to execution.
• Coordinate contract and requirements reviews; maintain visibility into drawing revisions, specification changes, quality clauses, and scope changes.
• Ensure cost, schedule, qualification, and delivery impacts of changes are assessed and approved before implementation.
• Maintain an actionable risk and issue register covering technical, quality, schedule, financial, capacity, and supply-chain exposures; assign owners, establish mitigation plans, and escalate decisions early.
• Lead cross-functional recovery efforts with defined actions, dates, and customer communications.
• Translate customer forecasts, contractual milestones, and production releases into coordinated demand and capacity plans.
• Partner with Operations and Supply Chain to address long-lead materials, constrained processes, supplier readiness, and manufacturing transfers.
• Coordinate with Quality and Compliance to obtain required approvals for execution paths and information sharing.
• Lead internal execution reviews, customer program reviews, and executive escalations at an appropriate cadence; maintain dashboards covering delivery, quality, financial performance, customer satisfaction, and open risks.
• Document decisions, commitments, and corrective actions and ensure they are closed.
• Partner with Sales and Applications Engineering to identify follow-on opportunities, additional part families, and program expansion.
• Mentor program managers and contribute onboarding playbooks, governance templates, lessons learned, and best practices.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• Company-paid life insurance.
• Short-term and long-term disability insurance.
• Paid time off.
• Floating holidays.
• Volunteer time off.
• Sick time off, depending on state of employment.
• 401(k) plan.
• Discounts on products and services. The description does not specify the discount program.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior