Mission
Own and lead Saildrone’s most critical strategic partner program. This role is accountable for end-to-end program ownership, executive-level partner relationships, and delivery excellence across a portfolio of high-impact, multi-year strategic partnerships. You will operate as the single-threaded owner for all projects associated with assigned strategic partners— driving execution, managing risk, and ensuring alignment between partner commitments and Saildrone’s technical, operational, and financial objectives.
What You’ll Do
- Serve as the executive point of contact for assigned strategic partner, owning senior-level relationships and day-to-day program execution
- Own a portfolio of complex projects, from contract award through delivery, acceptance, sustainment, and expansion
- Lead cross-functional execution across engineering, operations, manufacturing, supply chain, finance, legal, security, and field teams
- Establish and maintain integrated master plans, schedules, and budgets to ensure predictable delivery
- Anticipate, surface, and mitigate technical, schedule, cost, contractual, and operational risks
- Drive structured program, partner, and executive reviews with clear accountability and decision-making
- Partner closely with business development and executive leadership to identify follow-on opportunities, program extensions, and new strategic initiatives
- Represent the partner internally and Saildrone externally with authority, credibility, and clarity
What You Bring
- 12+ years of experience leading complex technical programs, including ownership of customer-facing, mission-critical initiatives
- Proven success managing executive-level partner relationships in defense, aerospace, maritime, or national-security environments
- Deep experience managing cost, schedule, scope, and risk across multi-disciplinary engineering organizations
- Strong executive presence with the ability to influence, negotiate, and drive alignment at all levels
- Ability to operate independently as a single point of accountability in fast-moving, ambiguous environments
- Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including executive-level briefings
- Familiarity with government, classified, export-controlled, or highly regulated contracting environments strongly preferred
Location: Alameda, CA
Salary range: $150,000-$200,000
