Technical Project Manager - Hardware

The Product Realization Team is Kepler's hardware execution team. We turn product architectures into qualified, integration-ready, and repeatable producible flight hardware.

We are seeking a Technical Project Manager – Hardware to lead the realization and delivery of spacecraft hardware products. As the clear point of accountability for your assigned products, you will lead an Integrated Product Team (IPT) and own the end-to-end execution required to deliver hardware that meets its technical and programmatic requirements.

The ideal candidate combines a strong engineering foundation with a bias for action and a high degree of ownership. You are comfortable leading multidisciplinary teams, navigating technical and programmatic challenges, making decisions, and finding creative ways around obstacles to deliver results.

This position will primarily support RF and communications hardware, including radios and antennas. Experience developing electrical, electronic, RF, or communications hardware is particularly valuable.

Key Responsibilities 

Product Ownership & Delivery

• Own the successful realization and delivery of assigned spacecraft hardware products from definition through qualification and production

• Lead the Integrated Product Team responsible for product development, build, integration, verification, and delivery

• Own product scope, schedule, cost, risk, and completion status, identifying divergence early and driving recovery actions where required

• Balance technical performance, quality, schedule, cost, manufacturability, and risk to achieve successful product outcomes

• Ensure product readiness and delivery decisions are supported by appropriate engineering and verification evidence

Integrated Execution

• Bring together the people, plans, suppliers, builds, and verification activities required to deliver the product

• Coordinate priorities, interfaces, dependencies, and decisions across engineering and supporting functions

• Identify and burn down product risks, drive issues to closure, and remove obstacles to execution

• Work with Architects and technical leads to turn product requirements and technical direction into executable development plans

• Lead product activities through development milestones and readiness reviews

• Communicate product status, risks, challenges, and recovery plans clearly across technical and program stakeholders

Team & Execution Excellence

• Build alignment and drive outcomes across multidisciplinary teams without relying on direct reporting authority

• Promote a culture of ownership, accountability, collaboration, and bias for action within the IPT

• Drive adherence to Kepler's product development, engineering, configuration management, quality, and verification processes

• Capture lessons learned and contribute to improving how Kepler develops and delivers spacecraft hardware

Required Skills & Qualifications 

• Bachelor's degree in engineering or another relevant technical discipline

• 4+ years of experience in hardware development, project engineering, technical leadership, or a related engineering role

• Experience developing and delivering complex hardware through multiple stages of the product lifecycle

• Technical depth in at least one hardware discipline sufficient to understand designs, interrogate engineering evidence, and reach independent conclusions

• Strong understanding of hardware architecture, development, manufacturing, integration, verification, qualification, and test

• Demonstrated ability to lead multidisciplinary teams and drive outcomes across organizational boundaries

• Experience managing schedule, priorities, dependencies, risk, and completion of complex technical work

• Strong communication, problem-solving, organization, and engineering judgment

Bonus Points

• Electrical or electronics engineering background

• Experience developing RF, radio, communications, or antenna hardware

• Experience developing spacecraft, aerospace, or other mission-critical hardware

• Experience managing external suppliers through development and delivery

• Experience transitioning hardware from development into repeatable production