Senior Director, Radar Technical Program Management

Why LeoLabs?

At LeoLabs, we’re building the living map of activity in space. Through our proprietary global radar network and AI-enabled analytics platform, we collect millions of measurements daily on more than 25,000 objects in low Earth orbit (LEO). Our radar-powered intelligence protects billions in assets, monitors adversarial behavior, and ensures safe operations for commercial and government missions.

We’re not just building technology, we are redefining global security, safety, and transparency in space. As orbital activity accelerates and threats grow more complex, LeoLabs is a trusted partner for Space Domain Awareness, Space Traffic Management, and Satellite Operations for top-tier space operators and allied defense organizations.

If you're looking to work on mission-critical challenges at the forefront of aerospace, national security, and AI, your impact starts here.

LeoLabs is seeking a Senior Director, Radar Technical Program Management to lead the integrated technical execution of our most complex radar, hardware, production, and infrastructure programs.

This role is a senior technical leadership role responsible for coalescing the entire Radar organization around a single, credible execution plan which will be visible across the enterprise. The role operates across the Radar organization, spanning radar systems engineering, RF and electromechanical engineering, software and embedded systems, supply chain, manufacturing, EHS, site development, integration, test, operations, and maintenance.

You will also partner closely with Product, customer-facing Program Management, Finance, and other cross-functional teams. You will translate product objectives and customer commitments into credible engineering plans, identify system-level dependencies, resolve blockers, and own the integrated execution plan of record from development through operational deployment.

You will initially lead several high-priority initiatives and, as the portfolio grows, build and lead a small team of technically credible program leaders.

Success in this role requires technical depth, engineering judgment, systems thinking, practical hardware-development experience, and the ability to engage credibly with senior engineers while driving complex programs to measurable outcomes.

Key Responsibilities

Lead Complex Technical Programs

Lead multidisciplinary radar, hardware, manufacturing, deployment, and operational-readiness programs from definition through completion.

Translate product requirements, technical objectives, customer commitments, and operational needs into program definitions with clear scope, success criteria, major milestones, interfaces, dependencies, and decision points.

Drive execution through ambiguity, evolving requirements, incomplete information, and aggressive schedules while maintaining accountability for overall program outcomes.

Own the Radar Program Plan of Record

Coordinate execution across Radar Systems, Hardware Engineering, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Global Infrastructure, Radar Operations, Product, and customer-facing Program Management.

Own the integrated technical program baseline and cross-functional commitments for scope, schedule, cost, readiness, and risk. Establish change control and drive escalation and recovery, and ensure decisions are made by appropriate functional authority. Product retains roadmap and prioritization authority while engineering leaders retain technical design authority.

Build schedules that reflect engineering maturity, critical paths, long-lead materials, supplier and site dependencies, resource contention, and schedule risk.

Assess the downstream schedule and resource effects of architecture changes, component substitutions, test failures, supplier delays, and scope changes, and update the plan of record accordingly.

Lead Technical Readiness, Risk, and Change Management

Define and lead technical and deployment readiness reviews across the product lifecycle, from requirements and architecture through design release, prototype builds, verification and validation, product readiness, site integration, acceptance, and operational handoff.

Establish entry and exit criteria and ensure reviews evaluate technical and deployment maturity, test evidence, configuration status, documentation, and residual risk.

Partner with the responsible engineers and functional leaders to ensure technical decisions and changes are evidence-based and made by the appropriate authority.

Manage technical risks, issues, assumptions, dependencies, changes, and decisions; surface material problems early and drive root-cause analysis and recovery planning.

Partner with customer-facing Program Management to maintain traceability from contractual milestones and customer acceptance criteria to technical baselines, verification requirements and evidence, and executable delivery plans.

Support Prototype Development, Production, and Deployment

Coordinate the transition of radar and hardware products from engineering development into repeatable production.

Integrate design release, materials, DfX, tooling, test equipment, calibration, quality, labor, capacity, yield, and cost targets into credible production plans.

Partner with Supply Chain to incorporate supplier capability, lead times, material availability, obsolescence, and alternate-source readiness into program schedules and risk assessments.

Coordinate technical resolution of issues discovered during prototype, pilot, and production builds, and incorporate lessons into subsequent design and program baselines.

Integrate site development, regulatory dependencies, logistics, installation, system integration, acceptance testing, and operational readiness into deployment schedules.

Define clear handoff criteria for Radar Operations and Maintenance teams and establish feedback loops that inform sustaining-engineering priorities.

Provide Technical Program Leadership

Provide concise, forward-looking program reviews to the SVP and other members of LeoLabs’ extended leadership team, including milestone confidence, critical-path changes, key dependencies, resource conflicts, and recovery options.

Present the technical, schedule, cost, and operational consequences of major decisions and identify the decision or support required from leadership.

Maintain a portfolio-level view of major milestones, dependencies, risks, and capacity constraints.

Partner with Radar team business operations and FP&A to connect scope and schedule changes to budget, cost, and margin impacts.

Ensure external commitments are backed by credible technical execution plans.

Build and lead a scalable technical program management function that enables engineering and functional leaders to focus on technical quality, organization capacity, and functional execution.

Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate is a technically credible, detail-oriented program leader who has operated at the intersection of engineering, hardware development, manufacturing, and deployment. You bring enough technical depth to challenge assumptions and understand system-level tradeoffs, combined with the organizational judgement to drive execution across teams without direct authority. You are comfortable operating at both the executive and engineering levels and know how to turn ambiguity into clear decisions, accountable plans, and measurable outcomes.

Required Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in engineering, physics, computer science, or another relevant technical discipline, or equivalent technical experience.

12+ years of experience in engineering, systems engineering, technical program management, hardware program leadership, or a related field.

Demonstrated success leading multidisciplinary systems from concept through development, prototype builds, verification, production readiness, integration, deployment, and operational use.

Experience with complex el