The Development Program Director is a high-visibility leadership role within the Program Management Office (PMO) at Honeywell Aerospace Defense Systems Division located in San Diego, CA site. This position, reporting to the Sr. Director of Program Management, will lead a team of Program Managers responsible for a portfolio of Radio Frequency (RF) electronic components development, iR&D, and production programs for land, air, sea, and space applications. These include design to specifications, development of commercial products, and transition to production (NPI) of roughly $100M. The Development Program Director is expected to actively cultivate strong relationships with key development customers, positioning Honeywell Aerospace to win large-scale production programs.
ResponsibilitiesNew Business Proposals & Development Program Initiation:
- Partner with BD and proposal management leadership to ensure new business proposals are effectively lead, and orchestrated to achieve timely review, approval, and submission to customers.
- Ensure development program manager team conducts thorough reviews of Basis of Estimates (BOEs) for labor, materials, and other program support functions, ensuring the proposals are executable and align with program goals.
- Cultivate strong relationships with existing and potential customers, ensuring that proposals align with their needs and long-term strategic goals.
- Support proposal negotiations with internal contracts staff and customers, maintaining close engagement with customer representatives to secure favorable terms and alignment on expectations.
- Identify follow-on business and growth opportunities through development work that can evolve into larger production contracts.
Program Execution & Development:
- Drive program management accountability to create and take ownership of program plans, budget management, technical oversight, financial, and scheduling aspects of development programs.
- Manage funds and reallocate resources as needed, ensuring that programs meet financial targets and scope.
- Regularly monitor orders, revenue, profit, and cash flow, ensuring alignment with both short-term and long-term program objectives.
- Drive risk and opportunity management throughout the program lifecycle, identifying and mitigating risks while capitalizing on opportunities.
- Ensure consistent communication and collaboration across the Integrated Product Teams (IPTs), with Program Managers driving weekly meetings to track program progress, resolve issues, and close actions in a timely manner.
- Ensure compliance with all applicable government, company, customer, and industry specifications and regulations (e.g., FAR, DFAR, ITAR).
- Champion contractual integrity, ensuring that all contracts are adhered to, including compliance with legal and regulatory requirements in proposal submissions and contract execution.
- Establish and maintain strategic business relationships with key customers to position Honeywell Aerospace as a trusted partner for long-term development and production contracts.
Customer & Stakeholder Communication:
- Be the visible, active, engaged and recognized leader of the Development Program Management team
- Build and maintain strong customer relationships that complement customer relationships of your Program Management team.
- Provide regular status updates and reports to leadership, functional departments, and customers, ensuring alignment and transparency on health and progress of your portfolio programs.
- Identify opportunities to expand customer portfolios, collaborating with business development teams to develop strategies for growing existing accounts and winning new, large production contracts.
Product Management:
- Lead Commercial Product Management for the Defense Systems organization.
- Individually, and through subordinate product managers as required, create, communicate, sell and manage Research and Development (R&D), customer interaction, and product build plans to new commercial RF products.
- Support Business Development in plans to sell commercial products to customers.
Functional Leadership:
- Define and insist on program management excellence from your team to achieve near flawless development program execution.
- Work collaboratively with Engineering leadership to mature program and engineering management. processes that properly propose and execute engineering development on schedule and within budgets.
- Ensure your Program Management staff has the necessary tools and training to ensure their success.
- Regularly conduct meetings with direct reports to mentor, coach, develop, and assess talent to establish career development plans.
MUST HAVE:
- Thirteen (13) years of experience in program management, ideally in the electronics/communications sector supporting U.S. DOD or foreign military governments.
- Ten (10) years of leadership and people management experience.
- Experience managing new development programs with a cross-functional team, demonstrating strong leadership and collaboration across technical, financial, and operational functions.
- Experience managing complex programs with >$10M in annual revenue
- Demonstrated ability to manage A&D P&L including achieving monthly, quarterly, yearly targets for orders, revenue, gross margin, and cash
- Experience leading and developing multiple direct reporting Program Managers
- Ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance.
US PERSON REQUIREMENTS
Due to compliance with U.S. export control laws and regulations, candidate must be a U.S. person, which is defined as, a U.S. citizen, a U.S. permanent
WE VALUE:
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Technology, Math, Science or Business Administration.
- Master’s Degree
- PMP Certification or similar project management qualifications.
- Experience in the Aerospace and Defense industries, particularly with electronic hardware development programs, RF/Microwave Products, or manufacturing electronic products.
- Experience managing complex development programs or serving in a deputy capacity for large, high-risk programs.
- Strong background in new business development, particularly in growing customer portfolios and winning large production contracts.
- Background in management of commercial product development and market introduction.
- Proven success in building relationships with key customers and transitioning from development to large-scale production programs.
- Effective communicator, both orally and in writing.
- Excellent attention to detail and strong analytical, reasoning, and problem-solving skills.
The annual base salary range for this position is $224,800-$280,000. Please note that this salary information serves as a general guideline. Honeywell considers various factors when extending an offer, including but not limited to the scope and responsibilities of the position, the candidate's work experience, education and training, key skills, as well as market and business considerations.
This position is incentive eligible
Join a company that's reintroducing itself to the aviation community we've helped advance for more than a century. At Honeywell Aerospace (NASDAQ: HONA), we're launching as an independent, publicly traded aerospace and defense company built on a legacy of operational excellence and mission-focused execution.
Our new brand identity pairs that heritage with real momentum, as we build technology that helps pilots navigate with confidence, aircraft operate more efficiently, and operators stay ahead of change. With our systems on board 90% of the world's aircraft, your work here has reach that's rare to find anywhere else.
Focusing on our customers, investing in innovation, and building a culture of accountability and performance is how we're shaping what comes next.
Every horizon. Every mission. Every day.
Benefits:
Beyond a performance-driven salary, you'll work alongside dedicated experts on technology that's advancing aviation. As a Honeywell Aerospace employee, you're eligible for a comprehensive benefits package that includes:
- Employer-subsidized medical, dental, vision and life insurance
- Short-term and long-term disability coverage
- 401(k) match, flexible spending accounts and health savings accounts
- Employee assistance program and educational assistance
- Parental leave and 12 paid holidays
- Paid time off for vacation, personal and sick time
Explore your benefits: https://honeywellaerospacebenefits.com/
POSTING TIMELINE
The application period for the job is estimated to be 40 days from the job posting date; however, this may be shortened or extended depending on business needs and the availability of qualified candidates.
Honeywell Aerospace products and services are found on aircraft across commercial aviation, defense and space. We operate through three business areas:
- Electronic Solutions develops the avionics, navigation systems, sensors and electromagnetic defense technology on board 90% of the world's aircraft
- Engines & Power Systems provides the propulsion, auxiliary power and electrical systems that keep those aircraft flying
- Control Systems supplies the thermal and motion control systems that support takeoff, landing and the safety of everyone on board
With approximately 58,000 employees worldwide and net sales of $17.4B in 2025, we are also advancing systems for autonomous and supersonic platforms — bringing the same focus on safety and efficiency to the next era of flight. Explore our businesses: https://www.honeywellaerospace.com
Skills Required
- Thirteen years of program management experience, ideally in electronics or communications supporting U.S. Department of Defense or foreign military governments
- Ten years of leadership and people management experience
- Experience managing new development programs with cross-functional teams
- Experience managing complex programs with more than $10 million in annual revenue
- Demonstrated ability to manage aerospace and defense P&L, including orders, revenue, gross margin, and cash targets
- Experience leading and developing multiple direct-reporting Program Managers
- Ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance
- U.S. person status, defined as a U.S. citizen or U.S. permanent resident, due to export control requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Technology, Mathematics, Science, or Business Administration
- Master's degree
- PMP certification or similar project management qualification
- Experience in aerospace and defense, electronic hardware development, RF/Microwave products, or electronic manufacturing
- Experience managing complex development programs or serving as deputy for large, high-risk programs
- Strong background in business development, customer portfolio growth, and winning large production contracts
- Experience managing commercial product development and market introduction
- Proven success building customer relationships and transitioning development programs to large-scale production
- Strong oral and written communication skills
- Excellent attention to detail, analytical reasoning, and problem-solving skills
The Aerospace Corporation Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about The Aerospace Corporation and has not been reviewed or approved by The Aerospace Corporation.
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Retirement Support — The 401(k) plan provides a company‑paid contribution of 8–12% based on years of service with immediate eligibility and vesting, and eligible employees can access retiree medical benefits.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Paid time off includes 15 vacation days (rising to 20 after five years), nine paid holidays, and unlimited sick time for exempt employees with accruals for non‑exempt staff.
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Flexible Benefits — Flexible work models include a 9/80 schedule with alternating Fridays off, supported by backup care services, an EAP, relocation assistance, and home‑office stipends where applicable.
The Aerospace Corporation Insights
What We Do
The space enterprise has been transformed by rapid change and growth. New vehicles for national security space, a more rapid launch cadence, proliferated satellite constellations, the pursuit of interplanetary exploration, and thriving commercial ventures are changing the nature of the space industry. The Aerospace Corporation (Aerospace) is a leading architect for U.S. space programs, shaping efforts to outpace threats to our national security while cultivating the technologies needed to further this new era of space commercialization and exploration. Aerospace works across the space enterprise in service of the public interest. In addition to supporting the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community, our customers include NASA, NOAA, numerous federal agencies, and commercial space — all of whom benefit from our deep technical knowledge. We only pursue business related to the space mission and complementary fields, operating as the nation’s trusted partner to solve the toughest challenges and develop reliable and innovative technologies. Innovation in space occurs when people have the freedom to imagine and do. At Aerospace, we take pride in our readiness to solve some of the most complex challenges in the space enterprise.
Why Work With Us
We are a non-profit corporation chartered by the government to work on the hardest problems in space. We employ technical experts in every discipline of space-related science and engineering who touch every part of the US space program. Come join us as we make an impact bigger than ourselves.
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