Product Owner – Manufacturing Harness

Location: El Segundo, California, Onsite
Compensation: 150,000 to 215,000 USD per year
U.S. Citizenship Required (Security Clearance Eligible)

Darwin Space are partnered with an exciting national security space company who are developing advanced small satellites for high priority U.S. government missions. They are looking for a Product Owner for Manufacturing Harness who will own schedule, cost and technical performance across assigned hardware deliverables, ensuring subsystem components are built, tested and delivered with quality and on schedule.

This role is ideal for someone who enjoys a blend of technical oversight, manufacturing coordination, program execution and continuous improvement. You will work with engineering, production, ATLO and program management to drive execution across multiple hardware flowlines while improving manufacturability and supporting long term product strategy.

This is a senior individual contributor role with high visibility across programs and customers.

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Role Overview

The Product Owner for Manufacturing Harness will coordinate subsystem deliverables across engineering, procurement, manufacturing and test. You will manage project scope, schedules, cost estimates, risk and Earned Value inputs, while ensuring all technical work aligns with program needs.

You will support roadmap planning, develop historical cost and schedule data for future baselines, track discrepancies, drive issue resolution and provide program status to leadership and customers. This role requires a balance of organisational skill, technical understanding, communication ability and cross functional leadership.

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Key Responsibilities

Program Coordination and Execution

• Coordinate with Program Management Offices and MPMs to prioritise hardware deliverables
• Drive day to day execution across procurement, production and engineering
• Manage project scope, schedules, estimates, cost performance and EAC inputs
• Provide variance analysis and corrective action planning

Cost, Schedule and Earned Value

• Update LRE planners and schedules
• Provide Earned Value inputs and supporting analyses
• Develop and maintain historical cost and schedule data sets to support planning

Production and Manufacturing Support

• Work closely with Production Scheduling to align shared build areas with program timelines
• Track DRs and work closely with engineering teams to close them promptly
• Ensure smooth progress of work on the manufacturing floor

Product Management and Roadmapping

• Develop product roadmaps aligned with company business plans
• Identify and manage technical changes to improve manufacturability
• Represent assigned control accounts as a technical authority and performance owner
• Track and report Technical Performance Metrics

Risk and Issue Management

• Identify issues early and drive proactive resolution
• Manage risks and highlight potential program impacts
• Coordinate with engineering teams to transition development work into mature products

Communication and Reporting

• Provide clear status updates to program management, customers and stakeholders
• Facilitate cross functional communication across engineering, production and ATLO teams

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Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in a technical or business discipline
• Experience leading engineering or manufacturing teams
• Experience with cost, schedule and risk management
• Proficiency with Jira, Excel, Word, Project and PowerPoint
• Ability to use data and metrics to manage scope and drive execution
• Strong verbal and written communication skills

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Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace, Computer, Electrical, Manufacturing or Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science or Electronic Design
• Experience with project leadership
• Understanding of Waterfall, Agile or hybrid execution methodologies
• Ability to balance the needs of multiple programs in resource constrained environments
• Understanding of satellite systems and components
• Experience with Confluence
• Active TS/SCI clearance

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Compensation and Benefits

• Base salary between 121,000 and 215,000 USD
• Competitive variable compensation opportunities
• Health, dental and vision insurance
• Flexible spending and health savings accounts
• Retirement savings plans
• Paid and unpaid time off