KaleidEO - Senior Project Manager - Earth Observation Payloads

Role Overview:

Work with the brightest minds, including ex-ISRO scientists and global space industry experts, at one of the select few companies in the country pioneering cutting edge EO payloads. We are looking for a Senior Project Manager to assist and manage projects for our high-resolution Earth Observation payloads at KaleidEO. This role involves close collaboration with diverse stakeholders, including clients, advisors, and cross-functional engineering teams to ensure alignment with mission-critical requirements.

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Own end-to-end project execution for Earth Observation payload and satellite system development projects, from project initiation, requirements and planning through design, development, integration, testing, qualification, and delivery, ensuring alignment with scope, schedule, budget, quality, and technical objectives.

• Develop and manage integrated project plans and schedules, including milestones, work breakdown structures, resource plans, dependencies, and critical paths. Monitor project progress, identify delays and bottlenecks, and drive corrective actions to ensure timely delivery.

• Lead cross-functional project teams across systems engineering, optics, electronics, mechanical, software, QA/QC, supply chain, manufacturing, and operations. Drive alignment, resource prioritization, accountability, and timely closure of actions and dependencies.

• Coordinate technical program execution by working closely with engineering and systems teams on requirements, design reviews, integration, AIT, calibration, environmental testing, verification and validation, and qualification activities.

• Manage customers and key stakeholders, including senior management, technical advisors, partners, vendors, and external agencies. Lead project reviews, communicate project status and key decisions, manage expectations, and ensure clear alignment on requirements and deliverables.

• Drive risk, issue, and change management by maintaining project risks and dependencies, developing mitigation and contingency plans, managing escalations, and assessing the impact of changes on scope, schedule, cost, resources, and technical objectives.

• Coordinate quality, supply chain, procurement, and vendor activities to ensure timely availability of materials, components, services, and test facilities while maintaining required quality and compliance standards.

• Track project budgets, resources, and overall project health, working with functional and finance teams to monitor expenditure, resource utilization, forecasts, and potential cost or schedule risks.

• Establish project governance and reporting, including project dashboards, management reports, progress reviews, decision logs, action trackers, and risk registers, providing clear visibility of project health to senior management.

• Drive continuous improvement and project excellence through lessons learned, process improvements, effective project management practices, and standardization of tools and methodologies across projects.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's or Master's Degree in Engineering.

• 8+ years of experience in project management, program coordination, or engineering project execution, preferably in aerospace, space systems, electro-optical systems, or high-reliability hardware industries.

• Proven experience in leading multidisciplinary engineering projects from planning through execution and delivery.

• Demonstrated experience in managing project schedules, risks, dependencies, and stakeholder communication.

• Experience coordinating engineering, QA/QC, Supply Chain, Operations, and external vendors or partners.

Preferred Candidate will have:

• Strong understanding of project management principles, tools, and methodologies.

• Experience with project planning, scheduling, tracking, and reporting tools such as MS Project, Jira, Confluence, or equivalent.

• Proven experience in cross-functional team leadership and project execution.

• Strong understanding of systems engineering concepts, including requirements management, system integration, testing, verification, and validation.

• Ability to analyze project performance, budgets, schedules, and resource requirements.

• Experience managing project risks, issues, dependencies, and change requests.

• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to work effectively with senior management, clients, technical teams, and external partners.

• Strong organizational, analytical, and problem-solving skills with attention to detail.

• Ability to manage multiple priorities and deliver under challenging timelines.

• Proficiency in MS Office, particularly Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.

Good to have:

• Experience in aerospace, satellite systems, Earth Observation payloads, or space hardware development.

• Understanding of optical and multispectral payloads, imaging sensors, calibration, electronics, and payload subsystems.

• Exposure to AIT, environmental testing, qualification, and acceptance testing of space hardware.

• Familiarity with aerospace standards, mission constraints, and high-reliability engineering environments.

• Experience working with international customers, engineering teams, vendors, and testing facilities.

• Exposure to space industry organizations and ecosystems, including ISRO or other international space agencies.

• Certification or formal coursework in project management, such as PMP, CAPM, PRINCE2, or equivalent.

• Experience with project performance metrics, Earned Value Management (EVM), or equivalent project control practices.

• Willingness to travel (10 - 20%) if required.

Benefits:

• Medical Health Cover for you and your family including unlimited online doctor consultations.

• We believe family comes first. That's why we offer Maternity, Paternity, Marriage and Bereavement Leave, so you can be there when it matters most.

• We ensure every member of the team gets an opportunity to participate at international events and conferences.

• Access to mental health experts for you and your family.

• Dedicated allowances for learning and skill development.

Interview Process:

• Introductory call

• Interview rounds (up to 3 rounds)

• Culture Round / HR round