• Senior Project Manager

    Crystal Group (Hiawatha, IA)


    Job Description:

    The Senior Project Manager (Sr. PM) is accountable for leading Crystal Group’s most complex, strategic, and high-visibility programs across their full lifecycle:

     

    + Opportunity pursuit

    + Program capture

    + Executing design, development, and validation activities

    + Transitioning to and sustaining full-rate production

     

    The Sr. PM is directly accountable to the Crystal Group Senior Leadership Team (SLT) comprised of Vice Presidents and Directors for Sales, Business Development, Operations, Engineering, and Finance.

     

    The Sr. PM leads large-scale Integrated Product Teams (IPTs), coordinating cross-functional contributions from Engineering, Operations, Quality, Supply Chain, Sales, Business Development, and other stakeholders. Programs under Sr. PM leadership will often include critical defense initiatives, major international accounts, and technically demanding projects requiring advanced risk and opportunity management.

    Essential Functions

    Program Leadership

     

    + Provides strategic leadership to large, cross-functional IPTs delivering high-priority commercial and defense programs.

    + Owns program plans, integrated master schedules (IMS), cost baselines, and key performance metrics, ensuring program delivery aligns with customer and business objectives.

    + Proactively identifies and manages program risks and opportunities, including strategic mitigations and enterprise-level harvest plans.

    + Ensures seamless integration across business units, resolving cross-team dependencies and conflicts.

    + Builds and sustains long-term customer relationships, often serving as the primary customer interface for strategic programs.

    + Coaches, mentors, and develops mid-level Project Managers and program staff, raising organizational capability.

    + Applies judgment and discernment to complex technical, business, and contractual situations.

     

    Technical Project Management

     

    + Leads pursuit and capture phases for high-value programs, including technical solution validation, architecture trade-offs, and cost/schedule strategy development.

    + Accountable for successful design, development, integration, and verification of advanced systems.

    + Ensures compliance with rigorous defense, aerospace, and industry standards.

    + Oversees configuration management and large-scale change control processes with enterprise-level impacts.

     

    Operations & Production Project Management

     

    + Partners with Operations leadership to implement robust production transition strategies.

    + Ensures designs achieve manufacturability, testability, maintainability, and scalability objectives.

    + Champions cross-functional design reviews and production readiness assessments.

     

    Subcontract & Supplier Management

     

    + Provides leadership and oversight for strategic subcontractors and suppliers, including those supporting international defense or high-complexity projects.

    + Negotiates subcontract performance requirements in collaboration with Contracts and Supply Chain teams.

    + Ensures subcontractor integration into Crystal Group’s IMS, risk management, and compliance framework.

     

    Stakeholder Management

     

    + Engages at the executive level internally and externally, representing program health, risks, and business impact.

    + Leads internal governance forums, executive program reviews, and customer-facing reviews.

    + Influences Crystal Group portfolio strategy through insights from key programs and customer engagements.

     

    Quality and Compliance

     

    + Ensures programs meet all Crystal Group, customer, and regulatory quality standards.

    + Accountable for compliance with complex defense and international export regulations (ITAR, EAR, DFARS, etc.).

    + Champions continuous improvement and lessons-learned integration across programs.

     

    Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

     

    + Proven ability to manage project cost, schedule, and technical performance using earned value management (EVM) and advanced program controls.

    + Strong systems engineering background, with experience leading hardware/software integration at scale.

    + Deep understanding of full product lifecycle, from concept pursuit through development, production, sustainment, and end-of-life.

    + Expertise in government contracting, compliance frameworks, and export control regulations.

    + Demonstrated ability to lead at the enterprise level, influencing across matrixed organizations.

    + Skilled at executive-level communication and negotiation with customers, partners, and suppliers.

    + Proficiency with Microsoft Project and advanced program management tools.

    + Recognized ability to coach, mentor, and elevate program management maturity within an organization.

    Required Qualification

    + Must be a US Person (US Citizen, person granted US Permanent Resident Card or any individual who is granted status as a "protected person”).

     

    Preferred Qualification

     

    + 10+ years demonstrated success leading large, complex technical programs in defense, aerospace, energy, or high-reliability industries.

     

    Working Conditions

     

    Work is primarily performed in an office environment. Occasional exposure to manufacturing floor and testing environments. May require lifting up to 25 lbs, standing for extended periods during product testing.

     

    Offer Contingency

     

    All job offers are contingent on the applicant successfully completing the background check, physical assessment and drug screen.

     

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