Engineering Program Manager Huntington , California,

Huntington Beach, California, United States

Founded in 2023, Mach Industries is a rapidly growing defense technology company focused on developing next-generation autonomous defense platforms. At the core of our mission is the commitment to delivering scalable, decentralized defense systems that enhance the strategic capabilities of the United States and its allies. With a workforce of approximately 350 employees, we operate with startup agility and ambition.

Our vision is to redefine the future of warfare through cutting-edge manufacturing, innovation at speed, and unwavering focus on national security. We are dedicated to solving the next generation of warfare with lethal systems that deter kinetic conflict and protect global security.

We are seeking an Engineering Program Manager (EPM) to own the programmatic mechanics of a vehicle program — schedule tracking, risk and issue management, review cadence, and cross-functional coordination — so that the Chief Engineer's time stays focused on technical authority rather than schedule bookkeeping. You will act as the Chief Engineer's execution counterpart: surfacing schedule and resourcing risk before it becomes a problem, keeping Department Heads and the Capability Development Manager (CDM) in sync with program status, and ensuring that commitments made to leadership and the customer are grounded in what the schedule and risk register actually show.

• Own the day-to-day program mechanics of a vehicle: schedule tracking, the risk/issue register, review cadence, and cross-functional coordination logistics.
• Own how the program tracks and reports schedule, risk, and dependencies, along with key metrics and KPIs.
• Own the timeline for SRR, CODR, PDR, and CDR — content ownership of each review stays with the Chief Engineer and Responsible Engineers; the EPM owns how the program tracks and reports against that timeline.
• Track overall program cost and budget alongside Finance.
• Surface schedule and resourcing risk to the Chief Engineer and relevant Department Heads as soon as it becomes visible in the tracking data, rather than at the next scheduled review.
• Coordinate cross-functionally between Engineering, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Finance, and Staffing on behalf of a given vehicle program.
• Provide consolidated, accurate program status updates to company leadership, Growth team, and customers.
• Coordinate closely with the Capability Development Manager (CDM) to keep customer-facing commitments and internal schedule tracking in sync.
• Route scope changes or additional resourcing requests to the relevant Department Head for review before they're reflected in the schedule.
• Jointly elevate, alongside the Chief Engineer and Department Head, any schedule or resourcing risk that can't be resolved between them — providing the supporting data for that escalation.

• Experience in a program or project management role on a hardware, engineering, or technical product — ideally one with multiple concurrent work streams and cross-functional dependencies.
• Demonstrated ability to build and maintain schedule, risk, and dependency tracking that technical leadership actually trusts and uses.
• Comfort surfacing bad news early — flagging schedule slip or risk as soon as it's visible rather than smoothing it over until a review forces the conversation.
• Strong cross-functional coordination skills, with experience working across engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, and finance stakeholders.
• Clear written and verbal communication, with the ability to translate program-tracking detail into a concise status narrative for leadership.

• Background in aerospace, defense, or another regulated…