Senior Manager, Government Programs

Engineering teams in aerospace, defense, and industrial turbomachinery are still limited by tools designed for a different era. Tools that weren't built for the complexity of today's programs, force engineers to guess rather than explore, and slow down development cycles that the market no longer has patience for. nTop exists to change that, giving engineers the ability to explore thousands of design variants in parallel using AI-driven optimization. The result: programs that used to take years compress into months, and products that weren't physically possible before now get built and flown. We're at an inflection point: our software is proven with the most rigorous customers on earth, and now we're scaling the business to match. The Role We are building a meaningful pipeline of direct government programs and teaming engagements across defense, aerospace, and adjacent agencies. When those programs land, nTop will be on the hook to deliver software and engineering services that produce real outcomes for the customer. At its core, this is a program management and delivery role. When nTop wins a government contract as a prime, a subcontractor, or a named technology partner on a teaming agreement, this person is responsible for executing it. In the near term, you will be the program manager: the person in the room, managing the customer relationship, delivering the CDRLs, and building the team around you as programs land. This role reports directly to the CRO, and works closely with field engineering, product, and the government-facing BD team. This hire doesn’t need to be the most technically deep person on every program, but will need enough technical fluency to evaluate the engineers you’re hiring, understand what your team is building, and hold a substantive conversation with a government program office or prime contractor technical lead. What You’ll Own Program delivery . Own execution on nTop’s U.S. government programs, as prime, subcontractor, or named technology partner, including scope, schedule, cost, and the post-award relationship with government program offices and prime contractor counterparts. Software and services delivery . Manage programs where the deliverable is a combination of nTop software and hands-on engineering services. Understand what ‘done’ looks like for a government customer and make sure the team delivers it. Customer relationship management . Be the primary point of contact for government customers and prime partners post-award. Show up to program reviews, manage expectations, flag risk early, and build the kind of trust that makes customers want to work with nTop again. Staffing and team-building . Identify what engineering talent each program requires, hire and onboard field engineers to staff them, and manage those engineers through delivery. Define the roles, source the candidates, and develop the people once they’re in. Pipeline translation . Work with the CRO and BD team to convert incoming opportunities into staffing plans and resourcing strategies before programs are awarded, not after. The goal is to be ready to execute the day a contract lands, not scrambling to figure it out. Operational foundation . As the portfolio grows, build the delivery model, program management standards, and operating cadence that nTop’s government programs business will run on. This is a longer-term build that happens alongside the day-to-day program work, not instead of it. Proposal support . Serve as the voice of execution during capture and proposal activity: scoping what is achievable, contributing to technical volume development, and making sure every proposal reflects what nTop can actually deliver. Metrics and visibility . Create a reporting structure that gives nTop leadership a clear line of sight into program health, staffing, delivery risk, and portfolio growth. Required Experience 5+ years demonstrated experience managing U.S. government programs post-award. You have owned scope, schedule, and cost on an active government contract and been accountable to a program office or prime contractor for the outcomes. Direct experience hiring, onboarding, and managing technical staff. You have made hiring decisions under time pressure, evaluated engineering talent, and managed people through delivery on a real program. Technical background sufficient to evaluate engineering talent, assess technical risk, and engage substantively with government customers and contractor technical leads. You don’t need to be a simulation or CAD practitioner, but you need to understand what your engineers are building. Familiarity with U.S. government contracting vehicles and program structures: OTAs, SBIRs, IDIQs, CRADAs, fixed-price, and cost-plus. You understand the contractual environment you’re operating in. Clearance-eligible. Active clearance is a meaningful plus. Comfortable operating without established infrastructure. The processes and frameworks that will eventually govern this function don’t fully exist yet — building them, gradually and pragmatically, is part of the job. Preferred Experience Experience managing programs at a software or defense-tech company where the primary deliverable was software or a digital engineering capability, not just hardware or traditional defense contracting. You understand what it means to deliver software-enabled services to a government customer and how to navigate that interface. Experience as a technical program manager on programs where the work involved computational tools, digital engineering, simulation, or advanced manufacturing either as a practitioner or as the person responsible for a team doing that work. A career trajectory that includes at least one experience building something from scratch, rather than inheriting something that already existed. Background in management consulting, particularly in a defense, aerospace, or technology practice. The combination of structured problem-solving, customer-facing communication, and comfort with ambiguity tends to translate well into this kind of role. Some exposure to a high-growth or scaling technology company, even if most of your experience has been in larger or more established organizations. You understand what it means to operate with limited resources and without a lot of overhead. Military background with a transition into program management or operational roles in the defense or technology sector. What Success Looks Like Near-term : the first government programs nTop lands are being executed on scope, schedule, and cost. Government customers and prime partners know your name and have confidence that when nTop commits to something, it happens. The engineers staffed on those programs are the right ones, hired and onboarded before the work needed to start. Over time : you are managing a portfolio, not just a program. A small team is executing with you, and a staffing and delivery model is in place that runs ahead of the award cycle rather than reacting to it. nTop has a track record of government delivery that makes customers and partners want to work with us again. Long-term : nTop’s government programs business is a well-run, scaled operation with its own team and growing portfolio. The function you built is the reason nTop can take on larger and more complex programs with confidence. The real measure : the programs nTop wins get delivered. The customers come back. The team you built is the reason. Compensation The base pay range for this role is $160,000–$190,000. This is a fixed salary role with no variable compensation.