Senior Project Manager - Manufacturing & Engineering

Senior Project Manager – Manufacturing & Engineering
Location: Arlington, VA or Boston, MA
Pay: Up to $79.00 per hour, depending on experience
Schedule: Monday–Friday, 8:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Eastern Time; 40 hours per week
Work Arrangement: Remote work with onsite attendance based on project needs
Travel: Approximately 30% domestic travel
Assignment: Temporary, with potential for extension based on project needs and available funding
About the Opportunity
The Panther Group is seeking an experienced Senior Project Manager to lead day-to-day execution of an additive manufacturing initiative supporting the U.S. Navy.

This opportunity focuses on coordinating manufacturing and engineering initiatives involving technical specialists, industry partners, and government stakeholders. Relevant experience may include managing product development, manufacturing processes, equipment implementation, prototypes, testing, or other projects involving physical products.

The successful candidate will bring strong project scheduling, stakeholder communication, and follow-through. You will translate evolving objectives into organized plans, coordinate interconnected workstreams, and keep teams accountable for deadlines and deliverables.

Additive manufacturing experience is helpful but not required. Project management experience in defense, aerospace, engineering, advanced manufacturing, or a comparable environment is particularly relevant.
What You’ll Do

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  Develop and maintain detailed project plans with clear milestones, task owners, dependencies, deadlines, and deliverables.
  
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  Coordinate engineering and manufacturing specialists, government stakeholders, external partners, and senior leadership.
  
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  Track project scope, schedule, budget, resources, risks, issues, and deliverables.
  
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  Identify potential delays, coordinate solutions, and escalate decisions requiring leadership input.
  
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  Facilitate project meetings, document decisions and action items, and follow through on commitments.
  
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  Prepare clear status reports outlining progress, upcoming milestones, risks, and recommended actions.
  
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  Adjust project plans as priorities and requirements evolve.
  
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  Take direction from the project lead while independently anticipating needs, identifying gaps, and driving next steps.
  

Required Qualifications

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  Five or more years of relevant project or program management experience.
  
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  Experience managing complex projects involving engineering, manufacturing, product development, or comparable technical workstreams.
  
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  Demonstrated ability to coordinate multiple teams, external partners, and interdependent deliverables.
  
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  Strong scheduling and organizational skills, including developing detailed project plans and tracking milestones and dependencies.
  
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  Experience managing project scope, budget, resources, risks, issues, and deliverables.
  
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  Ability to communicate effectively with technical specialists, senior leaders, and external stakeholders.
  
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  Strong initiative, sound judgment, responsiveness to direction, and consistent follow-through.
  
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  Ability to translate evolving objectives into actionable plans and manage execution with limited supervision.
  
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  Experience using Microsoft Project, Smartsheet, Jira, Monday.com, Salesforce, or comparable project management tools.
  
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  Ability to work effectively remotely and remain available through email, Microsoft Teams, and phone during scheduled working hours.
  
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  Ability to attend onsite meetings in Arlington, VA or Boston, MA as needed and travel domestically approximately 30% of the time.
  
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  U.S. citizenship required.
  

Preferred Qualifications

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  Experience managing programs in defense, aerospace, advanced manufacturing, engineering, or a comparable environment.
  
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  Experience supporting federal government customers, particularly the Department of Defense or U.S. Navy.
  
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  Familiarity with additive manufacturing or advanced manufacturing technologies.
  
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  PMP certification strongly preferred.
  
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  Agile or Scrum project management experience.
  
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  Experience presenting project progress, risks, and recommendations to senior leadership.
  

Work Arrangement and Travel
Candidates should be within commuting distance of either Arlington, VA or Boston, MA. Onsite attendance is driven by project requirements rather than a fixed weekly schedule and may involve occasional visits or several consecutive days onsite.

Domestic business travel may include conferences, events, shipyards, government sponsor meetings in Washington, DC, and campus visits. Approved business travel expenses are covered in accordance with applicable policies and federal travel regulations. Normal commuting expenses are the employee’s responsibility.

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