Senior Project Manager

Senior Project Manager
The Panther Group is seeking an experienced Senior Project Manager to lead execution of a high-priority additive manufacturing initiative supporting the U.S. Navy. This is a hands-on project leadership opportunity for someone who excels at coordinating complex, cross-functional technical programs, managing competing priorities, and turning evolving objectives into clear execution plans.

The Senior Project Manager will oversee day-to-day project execution, coordinate technical teams and stakeholders, manage schedules and deliverables, track risks and dependencies, and provide clear status reporting to leadership. The ideal candidate brings strong project controls, exceptional organizational skills, and the ability to take initiative while keeping stakeholders aligned and the project moving forward.

Additive manufacturing experience is a plus, but not required. We are particularly interested in project leaders with experience managing technically complex programs in defense, federal government, aerospace, engineering, advanced manufacturing, or similar environments.
What You’ll Do

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  Lead day-to-day execution of a complex, cross-functional technical project supporting the U.S. Navy.
  
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  Translate project objectives and technical scope into an actionable execution plan with defined milestones, owners, dependencies, and deliverables.
  
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  Develop, maintain, and communicate detailed project schedules to ensure work remains on track.
  
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  Coordinate cross-functional teams, technical experts, government stakeholders, external partners, and senior leadership.
  
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  Track project scope, schedule, deliverables, resources, budget, risks, issues, and dependencies.
  
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  Identify potential roadblocks, resolve issues proactively, and escalate decisions or risks when needed.
  
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  Monitor progress against project milestones and ensure stakeholders have timely, accurate status updates.
  
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  Facilitate meetings, document decisions and action items, and follow through to ensure accountability.
  
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  Manage changing priorities and evolving requirements while maintaining project momentum.
  
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  Provide clear project status reports, recommendations, and updates to DIBI leadership.
  
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  Take direction from the project lead while independently anticipating needs, identifying gaps, and driving next steps.
  
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  Support effective communication, decision-making, and coordination across all project participants.
  

Required Qualifications

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  5+ years of relevant project or program management experience, ideally managing complex technical initiatives.
  
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  Demonstrated success coordinating cross-functional projects with multiple stakeholders, competing priorities, and interdependent deliverables.
  
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  Strong project scheduling and planning skills, including milestone tracking, dependencies, and execution timelines.
  
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  Experience managing project controls such as scope, schedule, budget, risks, issues, resources, and deliverables.
  
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  Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, including the ability to communicate effectively with senior leaders and technical teams.
  
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  Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
  
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  Ability to take an evolving or ambiguous objective and translate it into a structured execution plan.
  
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  Demonstrated initiative, sound judgment, responsiveness to direction, and consistent follow-through.
  
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  Ability to identify problems, facilitate decisions, and keep projects moving without constant supervision.
  
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  Experience with project management tools such as Smartsheet, Microsoft Project, Salesforce, Jira, Monday.com, or comparable platforms.
  
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  Strong written and verbal communication skills.
  
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  U.S. citizenship required.
  
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  Ability to work a schedule aligned with Eastern Time and travel domestically as needed.
  

Preferred Qualifications

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  Experience working with federal government customers, particularly the Department of Defense (DoD) or U.S. Navy.
  
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  Experience in defense, aerospace, engineering, advanced manufacturing, or another technically complex environment.
  
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  PMP certification strongly preferred.
  
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  Agile or Scrum project management experience.
  
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  Familiarity with additive manufacturing or advanced manufacturing technologies.
  
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  Experience coordinating technical specialists, external partners, and government stakeholders.
  
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  Experience presenting project status, risks, and recommendations to senior leadership.
  

Who Will Thrive in This Role?
The ideal candidate is a proactive, hands-on project leader who can bring structure to a fast-moving initiative, maintain visibility across multiple workstreams, and keep teams accountable for commitments. You should be comfortable balancing strategic oversight with detailed project coordination, communicating clearly with diverse stakeholders, and taking action when priorities shift or challenges arise.
Pay up to $79 per hour DOE