Project Management Officer - Mission Systems (Aerospace & Defense)
Role details
Job location
Tech stack
Job description
This is a hands-on, build-it-from-scratch PMO role in a regulated aerospace and defense environment - not the leadership of an established, fully staffed corporate PMO. You will set up structures, write the first templates yourself, and work directly inside live mission-systems projects.
We are looking for someone who understands aerospace and defense program realities - certification logic, long lead times, qualification gates, customer and authority interfaces. This domain knowledge is essential: it is what makes the difference between a PMO that supports the program and one that slows it down. Please note: without genuine aerospace, ISR, or defense program experience, you will not be effective in this role, regardless of seniority elsewhere., * Establish, run, and continuously develop the Project Management Office (PMO) for our mission and ISR systems business
- Provide PMO support across two complementary product lines: a legacy mission system (mission pod with camera/radar and commlinks) retrofitted to existing training aircraft, and a fully integrated mission platform such as the CA-1 Europa
- Define, implement, and maintain project management standards, methods, processes, templates, and governance frameworks across the project portfolio
- Set up and maintain central planning, monitoring, and controlling of budgets, timelines, milestones, and KPIs across all projects
- Consolidate project data into transparent dashboards and executive-level reporting, including status reports, quarterly reviews, and stage-gate assessments
- Act as the central point of contact for project managers, providing methodological guidance, tools, and templates to ensure consistent project execution
- Coordinate and align a broad and diverse stakeholder landscape - from customers, internal leadership, and engineering disciplines (avionics, structures, SW/HW) to suppliers and external integration partners
- Support portfolio-level resource planning, capacity tracking, and prioritization across both retrofit and integrated-platform projects
- Maintain the central risk and opportunity register; track mitigation measures and escalation paths across the portfolio
- Build and continuously improve pragmatic requirements tracking processes and tooling, ensuring full traceability throughout the project lifecycle
- Drive adherence to PMO standards and support continuous improvement of project management maturity within the organization
Requirements
Do you have experience in Systems engineering?, * Degree in Business Administration, Aerospace Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related discipline
- Several years of hands-on PMO or project controlling experience in aerospace, ISR, or defense - this is a hard requirement, not a "nice to have"
- Solid working knowledge of aerospace/defense program logic: certification, qualification gates, milestone reviews, and authority/customer interfaces
- Solid understanding of project management methods, governance, and reporting standards
- Experience coordinating complex, multi-stakeholder environments across customers, engineering, and external partners
- Hands-on experience with project and requirements management tools (e.g., Jira, MS Project, DOORS, Jama)
- Strong analytical skills and a structured, process-oriented way of working
- A pragmatic, roll-up-your-sleeves mentality - comfortable building from a blank page in an environment with evolving processes
- Confident communication and coordination skills across all organizational levels
- Business fluent in German (>C1) and English, * Project management or PMO qualification (e.g., PMP, PRINCE2, IPMA)
- Familiarity with aerospace standards and certification (e.g., DO-178C, STANAGs)
Benefits & conditions
- A genuinely meaningful program: shaping Europe's first sovereign UCAV
- The freedom and responsibility to build a PMO the way it should be - pragmatic, lean, and effective
- Short decision paths and direct collaboration with engineering and leadership
- A stable, technology-leading mid-sized company with a long-term outlook