Program Director

Auria is seeking an experienced Program Director to lead a complex U.S. Space Force ground architecture framework & integration effort. This individual will be responsible for the successful execution and continued evolution of an enterprise ground integration framework that brings together Government, commercial, and satellite operations services, Ground Entry Points (GEPs), space vehicle providers, mission applications, infrastructure, and other ground capabilities into a cohesive and interoperable enterprise.

The Program Director will serve as a primary interface with the Government and provide overall leadership across program execution, technical integration, cost, schedule, staffing, risk, subcontractor/partner performance, and customer engagement. The successful candidate must understand how modern cloud-based systems are designed, deployed, secured, integrated, and operated, as well as how satellite ground systems support mission planning, command and control, telemetry, tracking, communications, and space vehicle operations.

The Program Director will work closely with the program's Chief Engineer or principal software architect to achieve this; however, the individual must possess sufficient technical depth and systems-level understanding to lead a highly technical integration program, challenge assumptions, understand architectural and interface dependencies, evaluate technical and programmatic tradeoffs, and translate Government mission objectives into executable plans. This is a contingent position out of Washington, DC / Northern Virginia;

remote considered for highly qualified candidates.

• Serve as a primary Government interface and accountable program leader, establishing trusted relationships with customer leadership, mission stakeholders, technical organizations, industry partners, and vendors.
• Lead end-to-end program execution, maintaining accountability for scope, technical performance, cost, schedule, staffing, quality, contractual commitments, and mission outcomes.
• Establish and maintain an integrated program baseline, including the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), Integrated Master Schedule (IMS), milestones, dependencies, deliverables, staffing/resource plans, and cost forecasts, ensuring traceability from contractual requirements through technical execution and delivery.
• Integrate program management and systems engineering activities so that requirements, architecture, technical dependencies, schedule, cost, risk, and verification activities remain synchronized throughout execution.
• Lead execution of a complex system-of-systems integration environment involving Government and commercial satellite operations services, GEPs, space vehicle vendors, mission applications, cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity capabilities, networks, and other third-party systems.
• Possess sufficient technical understanding of satellite ground systems and mission operations to evaluate how mission planning, scheduling, command and control, telemetry, communications, network services, ground infrastructure, and space vehicle interfaces collectively support end-to-end mission threads.
• Understand modern cloud-native architectures and deployment models, including cloud infrastructure, containerized applications and microservices, APIs, CI/CD and Dev Sec Ops  pipelines, data services, identity/access management, observability, resiliency, and deployment across multiple security environments.
• Work closely with the Chief Engineer, systems engineering, software, cloud/platform, cybersecurity, integration/test, and operations leads to ensure technical decisions are translated into executable plans, schedules, resource requirements, risks, and customer decisions.
• Drive an open, modular integration strategy based on MOSA principles, open standards, reusable interfaces, and API-driven integration to reduce vendor lock-in and enable rapid onboarding, replacement, and evolution of third-party capabilities.
• Establish disciplined processes for third-party integration and onboarding, including interface definition, dependency management, integration readiness, verification, configuration management, and identification of technical or contractual blockers.
• Lead risk and opportunity management, identifying technical, programmatic, contractual, staffing, integration, cybersecurity, and schedule risks early; establish mitigation plans and elevate issues requiring Government or corporate decisions before they impact mission delivery.
• Maintain strong cost and schedule discipline, using credible program data and leading indicators to identify trends, forecast outcomes, assess impacts of proposed changes, and provide management and the Government with actionable recommendations rather than status reporting alone.
• Manage contractual scope and change, ensuring new requirements, Government direction, technical changes, and evolving mission needs are evaluated for cost, schedule, staffing, technical, and contractual impacts…