Program Director 1 - Product Lead

Job Description

About the Role

The Integrated Survivability Solutions Product Line is seeking a Program Director to lead the development and growth of a next-generation, long-range EO/IR threat warning sensor being developed as a common product for multiple customers and platforms.

This role will serve as the internal product owner, leading an integrated cross-functional team across engineering, operations, supply chain, quality, finance, contracts, business development, and program management. The Program Director will be responsible for establishing the product operating model and governance necessary to mature a common sensor architecture while successfully executing customer-specific applications and commitments.

The successful candidate will bring strong program leadership, business acumen, and product-level thinking—balancing near-term execution with the long-term health, scalability, and competitiveness of the product.

Key Expectations of the Role

• Own the product: Serve as the accountable business leader for the common EO/IR sensor product, its performance, maturity, roadmap, and overall business success.
• Lead cross-functional execution: Build and lead the integrated team responsible for delivering the product from development through qualification, production, and fielding.
• Establish product governance: Define decision rights, operating cadence, configuration governance, and change-control processes across common and customer-specific product requirements.
• Protect commonality: Drive disciplined management of the core product baseline, balancing customer needs with reuse, affordability, scalability, and lifecycle considerations.
• Drive program performance: Own cost, schedule, technical execution, risk and opportunity management, and achievement of key product and customer milestones.
• Shape the product roadmap: Partner with Engineering and Business Development to define future capabilities, investments, technology insertion, and next-generation growth opportunities.
• Develop the business: Support customer engagement, captures, proposals, and business cases that expand adoption of the common product across multiple platforms and customers.
• Enable production readiness: Drive early alignment across design, supply chain, manufacturing, test, quality, and supplier readiness to support a successful transition to production.
• Provide executive-level visibility: Clearly communicate product health, key decisions, risks, investment needs, and business outlook to Product Area and Product Line leadership.

Leadership Profile

The ideal candidate is a systems-oriented leader who can operate across technical, programmatic, and business boundaries. They should be comfortable making decisions in an evolving development environment, creating structure where it does not yet exist, and aligning multiple stakeholders around a common product strategy.

Success in this role will require the ability to simultaneously execute today’s development commitments, establish a scalable product framework, and position the sensor for adoption across multiple future customers and platforms.Required Education, Experience, & Skills

• Leadership of complex defense electronics, sensor, EO/IR, or similarly integrated development programs
• Experience transitioning advanced technology from development through qualification and production
• Demonstrated leadership of large, cross-functional integrated teams
• Strong understanding of program financials, risk and opportunity management, and business planning
• Experience managing common product architectures across multiple customers, platforms, or configurations
• Customer-facing experience supporting captures, proposals, negotiations, and program execution
• Experience developing product roadmaps and shaping internal investment strategies
• Experience building complex business cases and leading discussions with senior leadership

Preferred Education, Experience, & Skills

• Successfully demonstrated leading teams through the transition to a common product build mentality
• Successfully took a product through development, introduction, and commerciality

Pay Information

Full-Time Salary Range: $153377 - $260743

Please note: This range is based on our market pay structures. However, individual salaries are determined by a variety of factors including, but not limited to: business considerations, local market conditions, and internal equity, as well as candidate qualifications, such as skills, education, and experience.

Employee Benefits: At BAE Systems, we support our employees in all aspects of their life, including their health and financial well-being. Regular employees scheduled to work 20+ hours per week are offered: health, dental, and vision insurance; health savings accounts; a 401(k) savings plan; disability coverage; and life and accident insurance. We also have an employee assistance program, a legal plan, and other perks including discounts on things like home, auto, and pet insurance. Our leave programs include paid time off, paid holidays, as well as other types of leave, including paid parental, military, bereavement, and any applicable federal and state sick leave. Employees may participate in the company recognition program to receive monetary or non-monetary recognition awards. Other incentives may be available based on position level and/or job specifics.
About BAE Systems, Inc.BAE Systems, Inc. is a defense, aerospace, and security company headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, with more than 40,000 employees worldwide. We serve, supply, and protect those who protect us. As one of the most geographically diverse international defense companies, we deliver a full range of products and services spanning air, land, maritime, space, and cyber, including advanced electronics, intelligence solutions, and dedicated customer support.

Our culture is performance-driven and values-led, built on curiosity, creativity, and collaboration. Purpose isn't a tagline here. It's what drives us. We're developing breakthrough technologies that defend national security and make a lasting impact on our communities and our planet. When you join BAE Systems, you're not just building a career. You're contributing to a mission that truly matters.

This position will be posted for at least 5 calendar days. The posting will remain active until the position is filled, or a qualified pool of candidates is identified.