Technical Program Manager

Technical Program Manager
Energetics Technology Center (ETC)
Location: 4445 Indian Head Highway, Indian Head, MD 20640

The Energetics Technology Center (ETC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit research and engineering organization founded in 2006 and headquartered in Indian Head, Maryland. ETC advances research, innovation, and workforce development in support of defense and national security missions. Working with government agencies, industry, universities, and regional partners, ETC helps strengthen the U.S. industrial base, mature and test critical technologies, and accelerate their transition into use. Its capabilities span energetic materials, warheads and fuzing, propulsion, modeling and simulation, data and digital engineering, test and evaluation, and manufacturing automation and modernization.

ETC is seeking a full-time Technical Program Manager to guide the execution of multiple defense research and engineering programs. This role translates customer objectives into technical plans, coordinates multidisciplinary teams, and is accountable for scope, schedule, budget, risk, and delivery of quality technical products to the government customer.

The position calls for an experienced engineer or technical professional who is able to apply relevant technical experience to challenge assumptions, identify dependencies and tradeoffs, and help teams resolve difficult planning, logistical or resource issues. The manager serves as a primary point of contact for customers and ETC leadership while working closely with technical leads, test personnel, analysts, and subcontractors.

This is a full-time onsite position based at ETC's Indian Head office and customer locations as program needs require. Occasional travel and work outside normal business hours may be necessary to support customer meetings, technical reviews, and test events, and limited remote flexibility may be available based on program and customer requirements.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead technical project planning and execution from scope definition through project execution across multiple concurrent programs.
• Translate customer objectives and contract requirements into technical tasks, milestones, deliverables, staffing plans, and decision points; maintain traceability as work evolves.
• Coordinate technical leads, engineers, analysts, test personnel, and subcontractors; use technical judgment to challenge assumptions, identify dependencies and tradeoffs, and resolve planning, logistical, and resource issues.
• Maintain integrated schedules and track scope, budget, technical progress, risks, and commitments; develop mitigation plans and elevate issues early.
• Lead technical and program reviews, including readiness discussions when applicable; document decisions, assign actions, and verify closure.
• Review technical products for accuracy, completeness, consistency, and alignment with customer requirements before delivery.
• Serve as a primary point of contact for government customers and ETC leadership, communicating program status, technical decisions, tradeoffs, risks, and resource needs clearly.
• Work with technical teams to interpret test results, investigate significant findings, and define corrective actions or follow-on work when needed.
• Support proposals, statements of work, bases of estimate, staffing plans, customer briefings, and required program reports.
• Promote disciplined configuration management, document control, quality, safety, and security practices throughout program execution.

Required Education: Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Physics, Applied Science, or a related technical field. A master's degree in a relevant engineering, technical, or management discipline is preferred.

Experience Level: Approximately 8 or more years of engineering or technical experience, including leadership of projects, teams, or major technical workstreams.

Required Skills and Qualifications:

• U.S. citizenship and current possession of, or eligibility to obtain and maintain, a U.S. Secret security clearance.
• Demonstrated experience managing technical scope, schedules, budgets, deliverables, risks, resources, and customer expectations.
• Ability to understand multidisciplinary engineering work, assess technical risk, and make sound decisions with incomplete or evolving information.
• Experience translating customer requirements into executable plans and reviewing technical deliverables against those requirements.
• Experience preparing project plans, technical reports, status briefings, and customer-facing deliverables.
• Ability to lead cross-functional teams and resolve dependencies without relying solely on direct reporting authority.
• Strong leadership, organization, technical writing, communication, facilitation, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and maintain accountability for decisions, actions, and deadlines.

Desired Skills and Qualifications:

• Experience supporting Department of War, federal R&D, test and evaluation, energetics, or weapons programs.
• Experience with customer technical reviews, risk and opportunity management, configuration control, schedule and resource management and budget/execution tracking.
• Project Management Professional (PMP) certification or comparable program-management training.

What We Offer: Hands-on technical leadership across defense R&D programs, along with flexible work schedules, generous paid time off and holidays, employer-paid medical, dental, and vision options, tuition assistance, life and disability coverage, and a 401(k) plan with an immediate Safe Harbor employer match.

Compensation: Compensation at ETC is determined by various factors, including but not limited to, the combination of education, certifications, knowledge, skills, competencies, experience, internal and external equity, location, clearance level, as well as contract-specific affordability, and applicable employment laws. The estimated salary range for this position is based on full time status.

Estimated Salary Range
USD $131,000.00 - USD $225,000.00 /Yr