Director, Program Management

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Full Time Corporate VP Los Alamitos, CA, US

3 days ago Requisition

Salary Range: $ To $ Annually

Applied Composites (AC) is seeking a Director, Program Management to lead the Program Management function for a business or group of businesses and provide strategic and operational leadership across the assigned program portfolio. This role oversees multiple programs from program award through production, delivery, and closeout, ensuring alignment with customer commitments and AC's business objectives.

The Director is accountable for program execution, schedule, cost, labor performance, gross margin, customer satisfaction, and contractual performance. This role establishes program management standards, drives key performance indicators (KPIs), and provides leadership and accountability across the Program Management organization.

A critical responsibility is ensuring program performance remains aligned with the original bid assumptions, including labor hours and gross profit margin. The Director will monitor Bid Hours vs. Actual/Forecast Hours and Bid Gross Margin vs. Forecast/Actual Gross Margin, identify gaps early, and establish and drive corrective action plans to close performance gaps before program completion.

The Director partners closely with Operations, Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, Finance, Sales, and other functions to ensure successful program execution and serves as a senior-level interface with customers and executive leadership.

Come and join the Applied Composites team. We are a leading provider of complex composite components, assemblies, engineering and tooling to the aerospace, defense and space system markets. Our employees are treated with respect and given the support, knowledge, and resources they need to thrive. If you are looking for a company that values and develops its employees while offering engaging work, Applied Composites may be the place for you.

• Lead the Program Management function across the assigned business or group of businesses.
• Provide strategic oversight of the entire program portfolio from program award through delivery and closeout.
• Ensure programs achieve customer and business objectives for scope, schedule, cost, quality, technical performance, and financial performance.
• Establish program priorities and ensure appropriate resources are aligned to business and customer requirements.
• Develop, implement, and continuously improve program management policies, processes, tools, and best practices.
• Establish effective program governance, review cadence, reporting, and escalation processes.
• Lead recovery actions for programs at risk of missing customer, schedule, cost, or financial commitments.
• Drive accountability for program financial performance in partnership with Finance and functional leadership.
• Monitor revenue, labor hours, material costs, subcontract costs, gross profit, gross margin, and cash conversion across the program portfolio.
• Establish and maintain disciplined management of Bid Hours vs. Actual and Forecast Hours.
• Ensure Program Managers identify unfavorable labor-hour trends early and take corrective action.
• Maintain program gross margins as close as possible to approved bid gross margins.
• Identify financial and labor-hour gaps and establish documented recovery plans.
• Ensure recovery actions are implemented early enough to close gaps before program completion.
• Partner with Finance to improve program forecasting accuracy and financial visibility.
• Identify opportunities to prevent gross-margin leakage and improve program profitability.

• Ensure programs achieve contractual delivery dates and customer milestones.
• Develop and maintain integrated program schedules and milestone plans.
• Monitor program performance against contractual requirements and internal commitments.
• Identify schedule risks and establish timely recovery plans.
• Drive opportunities to pull in customer deliveries ahead of contractual commitments when appropriate.
• Ensure effective transition of new programs from award through production and delivery.
• Ensure changes to scope, schedule, technical requirements, or customer commitments are appropriately managed.

• Develop and maintain strong relationships with key customers and strategic accounts.
• Serve as a…