Senior Program Manager

SSI is seeking a Senior Program Manager for a role in El Segundo, CA.

You will serve as a critical embedded member of the Government applying advanced project management principles to shape and deliver the next generation capability. The role emphasizes leveraging tailored, rapid acquisition frameworks while integrating space, ground, and mission segments. Your management expertise will be instrumental in driving program planning, risk mitigation, financial oversight, and execution excellence in alignment with the evolving Warfighting Acquisition System (WAS) philosophy.

Role and Responsibilities include:

• Support the Government Program Manager guiding acquisition strategies, program schedules, resource allocation, contracting actions, and budgeting to align with mission objectives and priorities.
• Oversee all aspects of program execution, including delivery milestones, risk management, testing, system integration, and contractor management.
• Drive cross-functional communication to ensure seamless integration of government and contractor teams across space, ground, and communication segments.
• Organize and execute periodic technical interchange meetings (TIMs) and staff meetings to track progress, identify risks, and course-correct as necessary.
• Apply advanced configuration and change management practices to ensure consistency and traceability across all program artifacts, including Interface Control Documents (ICDs), Performance Goals, and milestones.
• Evaluate contractor system designs and milestone reviews, providing timely assessments of technical progress, risks, and the ability to achieve mission requirements.
• Manage independent technical and programmatic reviews to validate system effectiveness.
• Provide expert guidance on funding commitments, obligations, and expenditures, ensuring effective utilization of resources with a focus on on-time project delivery.
• Advocate for deliberate risk-taking, speed in delivery execution, and adherence to the Warfighting Acquisition System (WAS) for rapid capability fielding.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelors and fifteen (15) years or more of related experience; Masters and thirteen (13) years or more experience.
• Program Management or leadership experience on complex systems.
• Demonstrated leadership skills in the Aerospace or DoD working across space, ground segment organizations to coordinate and identify system integration requirements that ensure end-to-end mission performance requirements are met.
• Experience serving as a team, project or program manager on performance-based contracts for the U.S. Government, experience developing cost and schedule deliverables and managing to baseline costs and schedules to include the identification and management of risks, demonstrated experience working with Air Force/DoD customers in an acquisition environment, with space and/or ground systems.
• Experience writing and delivering documents and briefings.
• Demonstrated interpersonal skills to enable working, interfacing, and interrelating with diverse personnel and dynamic teams.
• Active TS clearance with in-scope T5/SSBI is required, along with SCI eligibility and participation in Continuous Evaluation.
• Must meet all requirements for SCI and SAP access and be willing to undergo a polygraph examination.
• Travel is 25%.