This position leads a major aerospace manufacturing ramp-up and rate-readiness program within a forging operation during a critical period of commercial growth. The Project Manager takes full ownership of planning and executing production readiness, aligning people, equipment, processes, suppliers, and quality systems to achieve safe, compliant, and on-time delivery performance. This is a highly visible role that operates both on the shop floor and with the leadership team, building structure where none exists, driving disciplined execution, and shaping the project management function from the ground up.

• Lead end-to-end ramp-up and rate-readiness plans for major aerospace commercial programs, coordinating execution across operations, engineering, quality, supply chain, maintenance, finance, HR, production, and external vendors.
• Develop and maintain integrated master schedules and resource plans that include long-lead raw materials, outside processing, tooling, equipment capacity, staffing and training, and first-article and qualification milestones.
• Create and manage project structures, schedules, and governance as the first and only Project Manager, ensuring clear priorities, disciplined execution, and effective risk management from day one.
• Own the project risk and opportunity register, identify constraints such as capacity, labor, tooling, yield, inspection throughput, and supplier performance, and drive mitigation and recovery plans with defined owners, due dates, and escalation paths.
• Establish, track, and report ramp-up key performance indicators, including schedule attainment, on-time delivery, throughput and cycle time, capacity utilization, yield, scrap, rework, and work-in-process and lead time metrics, and provide data-driven recommendations to leadership.
• Facilitate daily and weekly operating cadences such as tier meetings, readiness gate reviews, and cross-functional problem-solving sessions, ensuring clear agendas, documented decisions, and timely closure of action items.
• Manage project budgets and capital and tooling plans, track actuals versus plan, forecast to completion, and support purchase justification, vendor coordination, equipment installation, and commissioning activities.
• Partner with Supply Chain to ensure supplier readiness and long-lead procurement for materials and processes such as billet and ingot, die steel, heat treat, non-destructive testing, and machining, including capacity and risk assessments and recovery plans.
• Coordinate manufacturing readiness deliverables, including process flows, work instructions and routers, inspection plans, gage strategy, and control plans, in alignment with customer requirements and the site quality system, including standards such as AS9100 and NADCAP where applicable.
• Drive disciplined change control throughout ramp-up, including engineering changes, tooling changes, routing revisions, and inspection changes, ensuring impacts on cost, schedule, capacity, and customer commitments are assessed, communicated, and managed.
• Collaborate closely with engineering and operations to support ramp-up, capacity expansion, and new program start-up activities, ensuring production sequences, constraints, and dependencies are understood and reflected in project plans.
• Utilize ERP and MRP systems to manage demand, capacity, and material plans, support master scheduling, and maintain accurate project and production data.
• Engage with executive leadership, including plant leadership, to provide transparent status updates on a large-scale, multi-year program and to ensure alignment on priorities, trade-offs, and resource allocation.
• Hold cross-functional teams accountable to commitments, influence without direct authority at all levels of the organization, and foster a culture of structured execution and continuous improvement.
• Support quality and compliance initiatives by integrating aerospace quality requirements and special process controls into project plans and manufacturing readiness activities.
• Contribute to the development of the project management function by introducing best practices, tools, and processes that improve predictability, communication, and performance across the organization.

• Bachelor’s degree required; an engineering discipline such as Manufacturing, Mechanical, Industrial, or Metallurgical engineering is preferred, with degrees in supply chain, finance, or business also considered.
• At least 3 years of hands-on project or program management experience in a manufacturing environment, with demonstrated ability to create structure, build schedules, mana