Program Manager
Michigan Technological University is an R1 technological research university founded in 1885 in Houghton. Our rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's scenic Upper Peninsula and is home to nearly 7,500 students from more than 60 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, Michigan’s flagship technological university offers more than 185 undergraduate and graduate degree programs. Research focus areas include defense, health, energy, automotive, environment, and aerospace.
The area’s waters, forests, and snowfall support year-round recreation, including skiing, snowboarding, hiking, biking, and paddling. The University is an integral part of the region, supported by a friendly and welcoming community that takes pride in being a true college town. We embrace our size, climate, sense of adventure, and originality.
Summary
Michigan Technological University is seeking a Program Manager for our Michigan Tech Research Institute (MTRI) department. Candidates for this position may opt to work in either Ann Arbor, MI or Dayton, OH. At MTRI, we develop advanced technologies that help our nation better understand, sense, and operate within complex natural and humanmade environments. Our work spans multidisciplinary research and applied development, advancing ideas from foundational concepts to mission-relevant prototypes. We are seeking a Program Manager to support and scale advanced research and development efforts in a DoD-focused R&D environment. This role operates at the intersection of science, engineering, mission application, and is responsible for translating sponsor-driven research into structured execution and delivered outcomes.
This role is responsible for:
- Owning end-to-end planning and execution of R&D programs aligned with DoD sponsor objectives
- Translating sponsor requirements into executable plans, milestones, and deliverables
- Coordinating cross-functional teams across science, engineering, product, and operations
- Managing schedules, dependencies, resources, budgets, and program risks across multiple efforts
- Communicating program status, risks, tradeoffs, and decisions to leadership and sponsors
- Supporting proposal development and capture activities for new research opportunities
Responsibilities and Essential Duties
- Develop and maintain program roadmaps, integrated master schedules, and dependency maps aligned with sponsor objectives and contractual requirements
- Translate ambiguous or exploratory research efforts into structured execution plans, including milestones, deliverables, decision points, and readiness criteria
- Manage program risks, issues, and tradeoffs, and drive resolution through structured processes and data-informed decision-making
- Lead program reviews, technical interchange meetings (TIMs), and milestone assessments aligned with sponsor expectations
- Coordinate execution across multidisciplinary teams including scientists, engineers, analysts, and external collaborators
- Prepare clear, concise sponsor-facing communications, including status reports, technical summaries, risk assessments, and decision briefs
- Coordinate with external stakeholders including government program managers, research labs, academia, and industry partners
- Support program execution activities such as resource planning, labor forecasting, and delivery of required program artifacts (e.g., reports, briefings, deliverables)
- Commit to learning about continuous improvement strategies and applying them to everyday work. Actively engage in University continuous improvement initiatives
- Apply safety-related knowledge, skills, and practices to everyday work
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