Program Manager

Company: Quest Defense
Location: East Hartford
Posted on: May 12, 2022

Job Description:

Program Manager- E. Hartford, CT

The Team
We are an innovative & fast paced engineering team. Always eager to learn and to solve new problems, we look to stay ahead of industry trends and work closely with our partners to come up with novel solutions. You will help to continue this rich history and will work to push us even further down an innovative path. You will work closely with current and new customers and are encouraged to help develop new solutions to engineering challenges. All employees are empowered to make decisions and take ownership of their teams and customer relationships. We are never satisfied with the status quo, and relentlessly seek out better and more efficient ways of solving problems.

The Role
The successful candidate will draw upon their past experience to take ownership of new multi-discipline engineering outsourcing program and grow it via new engagements. Mentorship and a forward-thinking approach are important to ensure the team remains the supplier of choice for our customers. You will be the face of QuEST to your customers and to the wider industry. Through listening to customer challenges, and building on your previous experiences, you will find creative approaches that will solve their most difficult engineering problems.
We are seeking a full time Program Manager who will help design solutions and build teams as required to meet the needs of our customers and achieve business goals. The program manager will oversee engineers performing various services such as, mechanical design, mechanical design engineering, engineering analysis such as FEA, heat transfer, and CFD, and potentially many more.
As a leader, you will be on the front lines helping establish the next big team for QuEST. Experienced managers in Delivery will be supporting you and the new team as we launch our unique Engineering Services model to help them deliver world-class aerospace and defense products. You may at times be involved with multiple projects across all phases of development, and as a result, you can expect plenty of variety and a well-rounded workload.
One of the most critical aspects to the role is ability to adapt to changing requirements and priorities, collaborate with teammates and customers, and communicate effectively with QuEST and customer stakeholders. Successful candidates will be proactive in overcoming obstacles, providing answers to questions, leading program governance and KPI tracking, and always looking for ways to improve. It's important to be communicating clearly and often to all stakeholders within the customer and QuEST.

Potential Job Functions
Personnel management of a team of 15-50 indirect and 6-10 direct employees
Manage and develop a customer-focused program of engineers with a wide range of experience and expertise
Build and manage customer relationships to ensure workload pipeline is full, develop and execute strategies for team growth
Follow all QuEST policies and procedures to ensure proper employee performance and development (metrics, performance reviews, training plans, etc.)
Coordinate growth strategy planning and execution with customer specific account management team(s)
Develop innovative ideas to improve cost on customer products / parts (redesign / process improvements)
Monitor and improve program health governance structure
Manage recruitment initiatives with hiring managers on the team, participate in interviews and onboarding
Support proposal development of new tasks (solution development, cost structure, schedule, and scope)
Develop internal processes and procedures based on best practices and lessons learned, where applicable
Collaborate with resource managers internally and externally to staff projects and ensure workload continuity
Contribute and present in technical and program reviews
Apply technical principles, theories, and concepts to solve a wide range of challenging engineering problems.
This position description is not intended to be all-inclusive and employee will also perform other tasks as assigned.
Qualifications

The successful candidate is detail-oriented and highly collaborative. There will be a significant amount of interaction with the customer's teams. Listening to the customer's issues and offering proactive solutions is critical to building a strong relationship with this new customer.
- 7-15 years of experience in the engineering industry with strong team leadership/relationship management/account management experience.
- Bachelor's Degree in related field, or equivalent military/professional experience
- Personnel and project management experience are required
- Experience managing business of $2 - $5+ Million account is desirable
- Strong foundation / experience in engineering services.
- Hands-on experience with solving technical problems and leading cross functional teams (CFT's).
- Strong leadership, interpersonal, communication and presentation skills
- Effective in executive management presentations
- Excellent networking and relationship building skills
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Ability to forge relationships and build trust both within and external to organization
- Demonstrated ability to quickly learn new methods, techniques, and approaches
- Demonstrated communication skills
- Preferred skills:
Experienced in design requirements of both metallic and composite structures
Experienced with working on military aircraft/aero-engines and associated standards
MBA or advanced training in Account Management preferred
Gas Turbine and Defense industry preferred.
Experienced with Design and Analysis of gas turbine components using CAE tools and hand calculations preferred
Work well in a team-oriented, collaborative environment
Are meticulously detail-oriented
Enjoy people and dynamic teams with diverse experiences. We have fun together!
Physical Requirements & Work Environment
Mostly office environments
Heavily regulated industries with strict adherence to procedures
Existing DoD Secret clearance or Secret Clearance within the last 5 years.

Keywords: Quest Defense, East Hartford , Program Manager, Executive , East Hartford, Connecticut