Head of Program Management

Role Overview

PacSci EMC is seeking a Head of Program Management to lead the Program Management Office (PMO) responsible for sustaining programs within a complex, highly engineered defense environment. This role is accountable for ensuring strong, consistent execution across cost, schedule, quality, and customer commitments, while serving as a key connector across engineering, operations, quality, and supply chain.

This is a leadership role with broad ownership, operating with a business mindset across program execution and organizational capability. You will lead a distributed team of program managers while strengthening an established PMO framework, elevating execution rigor, and driving alignment across a highly matrixed environment where success depends on both direct leadership and influence.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end execution of sustaining programs from contract award through delivery, ensuring performance across cost, schedule, quality, and customer commitments 
• Operate with a business ownership mindset, taking accountability for program performance, customer outcomes, and execution tradeoffs 
• Translate contract requirements into executable program plans, schedules, and delivery frameworks 
• Lead, develop, and elevate a team of ~14 program managers across multiple sites, setting clear expectations and raising the bar on performance 
• Assess and strengthen an existing PMO framework to improve scalability, consistency, and execution discipline 
• Build organizational capability through talent assessment, coaching, onboarding, training, and continuous improvement 
• Drive cross-functional alignment across engineering, operations, quality, supply chain, and finance, ensuring coordinated execution 
• Influence without authority in a matrixed environment, establishing accountability and clarity across teams that do not directly report to you 
• Introduce and scale performance metrics, dashboards, and reporting to improve visibility into program health, risks, and outcomes 
• Ensure execution aligns with contractual and regulatory requirements, supporting disciplined and predictable delivery 

Qualifications

• Significant experience in defense or government contracting environments, with strong understanding of contract execution and customer expectations 
• Background in prime or sub-prime defense organizations strongly preferred 
• Proven leadership of program management or PMO functions, including direct team leadership 
• Demonstrated experience leading teams while influencing cross-functional stakeholders without direct authority 
• Track record of building or elevating organizational capability (teams, processes, systems, training) 
• Experience improving or scaling execution in growing or evolving environments, with measurable impact 
• Demonstrated business ownership mindset, including managing performance, tradeoffs, and outcomes tied to programs 
• Technical credibility through experience in engineering, manufacturing, quality, or similarly complex environments 
• Experience with program controls (e.g., EVM, IMS, or similar frameworks) in defense or highly regulated environments 

• Thrives in fast-paced, high-accountability environments with competing priorities and ambiguity

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