Program Manager

This Sr. Program Manager role leads complex customer programs for a precision sheet metal fabrication manufacturing organization that serves a wide range of industries, from early-stage startups to large enterprises. You will own customer programs from initial award through steady-state production, acting as the primary point of contact for assigned accounts and as the internal advocate who keeps engineering, quality, and production aligned to schedule, cost, and scope commitments.

This position is ideal for someone who takes pride in their craft, thrives in disciplined operations, and wants to help build a long-lasting, high-performing organization.

Job Title: Sr. Program Manager

• Own overall program outcomes against schedule, cost, and scope, ensuring on-time delivery, adherence to budget, and conformance to specifications while proactively minimizing future program risk.
• Serve as the primary point of contact and internal advocate for assigned customer accounts, building trusted relationships that support long-term account growth and repeat business.
• Lead customer-facing program reviews, providing clear and accurate status updates on deliverables, open issues, risks, and mitigation plans.
• Manage new program launches from quote through first article and into steady-state production, ensuring smooth transitions between each phase of the program lifecycle.
• Translate customer requirements into clear internal action plans that align engineering, quality, and production priorities with program objectives.
• Interface daily with engineering, quality, production planning, procurement, and shop floor leadership to keep assigned programs moving efficiently and on plan.
• Coordinate engineering changes, first article inspections, and corrective actions with the appropriate functional owners to maintain quality and schedule integrity.
• Partner with production planning and scheduling to align capacity, tooling, and material availability with program timelines and customer commitments.
• Support supplier and vendor coordination for outsourced processes, purchased components, and outside services to ensure they meet program requirements.
• Represent program needs and constraints in internal operations reviews and capacity planning discussions, advocating for resources and prioritization as needed.
• Maintain program schedules, action item logs, and open issue trackers, ensuring cross-functional teams and customers remain aligned on status and next steps.
• Monitor program cost performance against budget, identifying, escalating, and resolving variances before they impact delivery or profitability.
• Identify program risks early, develop mitigation plans, and drive execution of those plans in partnership with engineering and operations leadership.
• Track and report key program metrics, including on-time delivery, quality performance, and cost, to leadership to support data-driven decision-making.
• Maintain documentation discipline appropriate to regulated or compliance-driven customer requirements, ensuring records are complete, accurate, and audit-ready.
• Operate effectively across a matrixed organization without formal authority over every function, using influence, communication, and follow-through to drive results.
• Adapt communication style and program management approach to meet the needs of both startup and corporate customers, ensuring a high level of customer-facing professionalism.

• Bachelor's degree.
• 5 or more years of demonstrable program or project management experience in a relevant field.
• Direct experience with physical product development, product testing, or manufacturing new product introduction.
• Proven ability to lead technical program execution from within a cross-functional team without formal authority over all involved functions.
• Experience managing programs that span engineering, quality, production, and supply chain activities.
• Strong program management skills, including schedule development, cost tracking, risk management, and status reporting.
• Customer-facing professionalism suitable for serving as the program-level point of contact for key accounts.
• Ability to operate effectively in both startup and corporate environments to support a diverse customer base.
• Comfort working in a fast-growing, fast-moving company with evolving tools, processes, and systems.
• High level of detail orientation with strong organizational skills and disciplined follow-through on schedules, action items, and deliverables.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills to collaborate across engineering, quality, production planning, procurement, and shop floor leadership.

• Working knowledge of ERP or MRP systems used for production scheduling and program tracking.
• PMP certification or equivalent formal program management training.
• Experience with regulated, compliance-driven, or documentation-heavy product environments, such as aerospace, defense, or medical device manufacturing.
• Experience coordinating…