Archer is an aerospace company based in San Jose, California building an all-electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft with a mission to advance the benefits of sustainable air mobility. We are designing, manufacturing, and operating an all-electric aircraft that can carry four passengers for 100 miles at speeds of up to 150 mph while producing minimal noise.
Our sights are set high and our problems are hard, and we believe that diversity in the workplace is what makes us smarter, drives better insights, and will ultimately lift us all to success. We are dedicated to cultivating an equitable and inclusive environment that embraces our differences, and supports and celebrates all of our team members.
What you’ll do:
As the Program Manager for Airframe you will be responsible and accountable for the performance of a significant program, critical to the success of the Archer business and our eVTOL aircraft.
- The primary deliverables for this role are the successful development, verification, certification, and production of the airframe.
- You will lead and manage the planning, coordination, risk management, and liaison with these, but not limited to, functions: Engineering, Test, Certification, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Sourcing and Quality for supporting the development, certification and production of Archer’s airframe.
- The airframe scope includes the fuselage, wings, control surfaces, booms, materials and processes (M&P), structural analysis and test.
- The scope of this PM role includes management of the Cost, Schedule and Technical Performance to program requirements and milestones for the Airframe and M&P teams, leading new product development, Risk and Opportunity management, Integrated Schedule Management, and other Program Management practices.
- You will additionally be deployed to support other areas across the organization, based on program needs.
- The Program Manager will
- Openly collaborate with the Airframe Engineering Leadership to ensure the functional capabilities of these disciplines effectively enable the aircraft design, development, test and certification of our inaugural aircraft platform is successful.
- Define, launch, and drive mission-critical technical and business initiatives to ensure program success and will be expected to resolve a wide range of issues in imaginative as well as practical ways.
- Develop strong relationships across Archer, inclusive of suppliers, and lead a multidisciplinary team to execute complex development programs within schedule and budget.
- Build program task-based schedules, lead program kickoff and / or gate meetings, and track milestone progress against the program management plan.
- Identify and manage program Risks, Issues and Opportunities to closure.
- Utilize configuration control and change management to maintain technical discipline of the program.
- Provide clear priorities for all areas of a project and develop steps to oversee their timely execution
- Be proactive about challenges or constraints within a project and seek to manage them accordingly, including driving process improvements across the organization. In collaboration with Program Managers and Engineering leaders, define, acquire, and allocate budget, staff, and other resources necessary to accomplish the goals and/or objective.
- Work alongside product management teams to successfully monitor progress and implementation of initiatives
- Establish milestones for necessary contributions from departments and facilitate their collaboration
- Exercise judgment and delegate authority for planning, directing, coordinating, administering, and executing many routine and complex projects/programs.
What You Need:
- Bachelor Degree in Engineering, Mathematics, Physics or a related field.
- Understanding of aircraft design, development, test and production.
- Experience as a program manager and knowledge of the program management best practices.
- Experience in one or more aviation engineering disciplines
- Knowledge of Agile methodologies and Jira software systems.
- A minimum of 10 years of Technical product and program leadership experience.
- Strong interpersonal skills especially in team building/maintenance and customer relationships.
- Must be able to act independently and make decisions on administrative and operational issues affecting the success of this organization.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
- Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with a focus on process optimization.
Bonus Qualifications:
- Experience with all phases of civil aircraft certification programs
- A bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Systems Engineering, Computer Engineering, or Computer Science are preferred (or equivalent),
- A master's degree in one of these same academic disciplines is desirable,
- Thorough understanding of engineering product development including design phases, manufacturing business processes and supply chain management knowledge
