---
title: 'Program Manager, Aircraft at Swarm Aero'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/program-manager-aircraft-swarm-aero-remote-8cwwc577k9gd'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-30'
---

# Program Manager, Aircraft at Swarm Aero

- **Company:** Swarm Aero
- **Location:** Remote
- **Compensation:** $170k–$210k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** remote
- **Posted:** 2026-10-29
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-30
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/swarmaero/fe8f88f4-de03-4c97-a6fd-665ca8e5d337

## Job description

Swarm Aero is redefining air power, building the largest swarming UAV and the most versatile swarming aircraft network in the world. The company is moving quickly to launch the first aircraft designed specifically for swarming, as well as the Command & Control software to mobilize swarms of thousands of heterogeneous autonomous assets and empower human operators to achieve superhuman results. The team has created and exited multiple startups, negotiated defense deals worth billions of dollars, and designed and built 30+ novel aircraft, with aerospace experience from Scaled Composites, Airbus, Archer Aviation, Blue Origin, and Boom Supersonic.

Our aircraft work is scaling fast. Our Group 5 aircraft program runs alongside a growing set of research programs, with design, build, supply chain, and test all moving in parallel. We need one strong Program Manager to lead program management across all of it. You will join our Program Management Office, reporting to the Director of PMO. You will take full ownership of our research programs and partner with the Director to run the aircraft program, owning cost, schedule, scope, risk, and the customer relationship. You will be the person who knows where every aircraft effort actually stands on any given day.

## What you'll do

- Own our research programs end to end as the primary point of contact for government program managers and contracting teams
- Drive program execution on our aircraft program with the Director of PMO, from design reviews through fabrication, integration, ground test, and flight test
- Build and maintain the integrated master schedule (IMS) across both efforts, tied to contract milestones and test events
- Own budgets and burn, track against funding, and flag variance early with a recovery plan
- Deliver contract requirements on time: CDRLs, monthly status and financial reports, technical reports, and final deliverables
- Run the program cadence: weekly reviews, technical interchange meetings, milestone reviews (PDR, CDR, TRR), and status to leadership and customers
- Run the risk, issue, and opportunity process and drive mitigations to closure
- Coordinate engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, quality, and flight test, and deconflict shared people, hardware, and test assets between efforts
- Manage scope changes, contract modifications, and follow-on work with our contracts and business development teams
- Build the PMO tools and processes we will need as we add aircraft programs

## What you bring

- 7+ years of program management, with at least 4 years owning cost, schedule, and technical performance on aircraft, UAS, or other aerospace and defense hardware programs
- Direct experience managing DoD research and development contracts (S&T, prototype, or 6.2/6.3 efforts)
- Track record taking aircraft or aerospace hardware through build and test, ideally to first flight
- Working knowledge of government contract execution: CDRLs, funded vs. ceiling value, modifications, and customer reporting
- Hands-on with IMS development (MS Project, Primavera, Smartsheet or similar), budget tracking, and EVM concepts
- Ability to run several efforts at once and make clear priority calls when they compete
- Clear, direct communicator who can brief an engineer, an executive, and a government program manager
- U.S. person status as defined by ITAR, and ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance

## Nice to have

- Experience working with DoD research labs and innovation organizations
- Program experience on Group 3 to Group 5 UAS, collaborative autonomy, or experimental aircraft
- Experience with OTA, SBIR/STTR, or other rapid acquisition contract vehicles
- Familiarity with airworthiness and flight test planning
- Background at a startup or fast-scaling hardware company
- Active Secret clearance or higher
- PMP or DAWIA Program Management certification

Location and details

- Location: Remote (U.S.), with regular travel to Oxnard, CA, customer sites, suppliers, and test sites
- Reports to: Director of PMO
- Export control: This role requires access to information subject to ITAR. Candidates must be U.S. persons as defined by 22 CFR 120.62.

ITAR requirement To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Swarm Aero is an equal opportunity employer. We value diverse backgrounds and experiences and make employment decisions without regard to race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, or disability.

## What We Offer

- Meaningful equity in a high-growth defense technology company
- Competitive base salary commensurate with experience
- Medical, dental, vision, and 401k
- PTO and paid sick leave
- Monthly wellness stipend
- Daily catered lunch (office)
- Paid parental leave
- Direct impact on a critical national security mission
- A world-class team of engineers and operators solving genuinely hard problems

## About Swarm Aero

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Swarm Aero builds large, swarming uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) for defense, logistics, disaster response, and sensing missions, controlled by a proprietary mission-level autonomy platform.
- **Entity Type**: Private startup (Series A, $35M raised in March 2026)
- **Headquarters**: Oxnard, California, USA (with a manufacturing facility in Fayetteville, Arkansas)
- **Founded**: 2022
- **Founders**: Danny Goodman (CEO), Oliver Palmer (COO), Peter Kalogiannis (Co-Founder & Chief Engineer, departed April 2026)

## Core Business
- **Primary industries**: Defense & aerospace, UAV swarm systems, advanced manufacturing
- **Target customers**: Government/military (B2G) – specifically U.S. Department of Defense and allied forces; also logistics, disaster response, and environmental monitoring agencies
- **Mission statement**: “Building the largest UAV swarm on the planet.” (LinkedIn tagline)

## Products & Services
- **Swarm-Scale Command & Control (C2) Platform**: Browser-based, platform-agnostic UI that enables small teams to coordinate thousands of uncrewed vehicles in communications-limited, contested environments.
- **Universal Swarm Node (UAV)**: A Group 5 drone designed from the ground up for swarming – not expendable (like a Switchblade) nor exquisite (like an F-35), but recoverable and mass-producible.
- **Mission-Level Autonomy Software**: Translates user intent into vehicle-level behaviors that update in real-time as the swarm detects changing conditions; includes collaborative autonomy for superhuman agility.
- **Manufacturing as a Feature**: High-rate composite manufacturing processes adapted from other industries to achieve unprecedented airframe throughput (targeting 1,000+ units per year).

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed
- **Total Funding**: $35M (Series A closed March 2026; prior $2M pre-seed in 2022 and $22M seed in 2023)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Two Sigma Ventures, Silent Ventures (co-leads Series A), Construct Capital, Alumni Ventures, Founders Fund
- **Growth Signals**:
  - Headcount: 50 employees as of mid-2026 (+94.6% YoY)
  - Opened a manufacturing facility in Fayetteville, Arkansas in early 2026
  - Plans to more than double headcount by end of 2026 (per Axios)
  - First flight of the Group 5 drone expected within two years

## Competitive Advantages
- **Team expertise**: Leadership collectively has 100+ years of uniformed U.S. military service, built 30+ novel aircraft, and contributed to the highest production rate composite aircraft and rocket engines ever.
- **Manufacturing moat**: Concurrent design of factory and aircraft enables rapid scaling from prototype to 1,000+ units; “two-thirds of the cost of building a new aircraft is generally headcount” – Swarm designs for low-cost, high-rate production.
- **Software-defined swarm**: Browser-based C2 and edge-compute sensor mesh bring cloud-like agility to contested environments, allowing small teams to control massive swarms.
- **Differentiation**: Neither expendable (like loitering munitions) nor exquisite (like stealth bombers) – a recoverable, affordable mass that overmatches adversaries through numbers.

## Strategic Focus
- **Scale manufacturing**: The new Arkansas facility is central to achieving high-rate composite production and reducing unit cost.
- **Headcount growth**: Aggressive hiring across engineering, manufacturing, and operations; 20 active job postings as of mid-2026.
- **First flight milestone**: Complete design, build, and test of the Group 5 drone within the next two years to enter operational service.
- **Multi-domain expansion**: Plans to deploy a combination of air, sea, and ground assets tailored to diverse missions (cargo, fire suppression, adaptive sensing, resilient communications).

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: “Move Fast and Make Things” – a startup ethos focused on rapid design-build-test cycles and real-world impact in defense tech.
- **Work environment**: Likely on-site given manufacturing and hardware focus; offices in Oxnard, CA (HQ) and Fayetteville, AR (factory).
- **Team**: Work alongside veterans of Scaled Composites, Anduril, Northrop Grumman, and leaders who have built five billion-dollar startups and software with 4.6B combined active users.
- **Perks**: Not publicly detailed, but typical for well-funded defense startups (competitive compensation, equity, mission-driven work). The company uses modern tools (Kubernetes, Docker, Python, MATLAB, etc.) and offers roles from engineering to program management.
- **Growth opportunity**: Early-stage company with strong funding and a clear path to scale – employees can have outsized impact on product and manufacturing processes.

## Sources
1. [Swarm Aero Website](https://www.swarm.aero/)
2. [Swarm Aero LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/swarm-aero)
3. [Craft.co Company Profile](https://craft.co/swarm-aero)
4. [Axios – Exclusive: Big-drone builder Swarm Aero raises $35 million](https://www.axios.com/2026/03/11/swarm-aero-seriesa-drone-factory)
5. [Swarm Aero Team Page](https://www.swarm.aero/team-2)

## Other roles at Swarm Aero

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- [Product Designer](https://feeny.ai/job/product-designer-swarm-aero-remote-f34y06ch94c7)
- [Technical Product Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/technical-product-manager-swarm-aero-remote-xr4qgwqgn5k5)
- [Staff Software Engineer, Real-Time Systems](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-software-engineer-real-time-systems-swarm-aero-san-francisco-qaa3zbaht54y) — San Francisco, CA
- [Software Engineer, Real-Time Systems (Early Career)](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-real-time-systems-early-career-swarm-aero-san-francisco-etf6jg6nqawp) — San Francisco, CA
- [IT Operations Specialist](https://feeny.ai/job/it-operations-specialist-swarm-aero-fayetteville-a3hbr1ahkpv6) — Fayetteville
- [Forward Deployed Engineer - Embedded](https://feeny.ai/job/forward-deployed-engineer-embedded-swarm-aero-oxnard-81nveh0d3ybx) — Oxnard, CA
- [Manufacturing Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/manufacturing-engineer-swarm-aero-oxnard-dcpjngdfd3bb) — Oxnard, CA
- [Systems Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/systems-engineer-swarm-aero-oxnard-8be87vvhg1xa) — Oxnard, CA
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