Senior Program Manager

Description XTEND is looking for an experienced Program Manager. This is a high-impact, hands-on role, managing active U.S. defense programs from inception to delivaries. You will report directly to the US GM and serve as the operational backbone connecting program management, engineering, and procurement across our Israel and U.S. offices. Key responsibilities including: Serve as the Israel-based program management lead supporting U.S. customer programs, ensuring alignment between U.S. Program Management, Israel Engineering, R&D, Operations, and technical subject-matter experts. Partner closely with the U.S. Program Manager, who retains full program ownership and serves as the primary customer interface, to translate customer requirements, schedules, and priorities into actionable execution plans for Israel-based teams. Drive Israel engineering and technical teams to meet U.S. program timelines, deliverables, product milestones, and quality expectations. Act as the in-country representative of the U.S. GM within Israel R&D, engineering, and product development processes, ensuring U.S. business priorities are clearly understood and executed. Proactively identify, escalate, and help resolve risks related to schedule, cost, technical performance, resource availability, product readiness, and customer commitments. Provide clear and timely communication to the U.S. team regarding engineering progress, technical blockers, design changes, scope changes, and any developments that may impact program execution. Coordinate cross-functional technical reviews, milestone tracking, action-item closure, and decision-making between U.S. and Israel stakeholders. Ensure engineering changes, product updates, and technical decisions are properly communicated, documented, and assessed for impact on U.S. customer commitments. Maintain disciplined follow-up with Israel-based teams to ensure accountability, execution velocity, and transparency across all active U.S. programs. Support the U.S. team in preparing program updates, technical inputs, customer-facing materials, and internal executive briefings as required. Requirements Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Systems Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field. 5+ years of experience in technical program management, engineering program management, product development, or systems integration, preferably in aerospace, defense, robotics, autonomous systems, or unmanned systems. Strong technical background with the ability to understand engineering tradeoffs, product requirements, system-level dependencies, and technical risks. Proven ability to manage cross-functional execution across engineering, R&D, product, operations, and program management teams. Experience supporting customer-driven programs with defined schedules, deliverables, milestones, and performance requirements. Demonstrated ability to drive accountability across technical teams and ensure delivery against committed timelines. Strong understanding of aerospace, defense, UAS, autonomous systems, or related technical markets. Excellent communication skills, with the ability to clearly translate technical issues, risks, and decisions between engineering teams and business/program stakeholders. Exceptional organizational, follow-up, and project management skills, including action tracking, milestone management, risk escalation, and executive reporting. Ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, high-growth environment with shifting priorities and tight customer-driven deadlines. Preferred Skills: PMP, systems engineering certification, or equivalent program management certification. Experience working with U.S. government, defense, or aerospace customers Background in unmanned systems, robotics, autonomy, electro-mechanical systems, communications, sensors, or mission systems