Career Path Of A Senior Program Manager At Northrop Grumman
Jorge's career path highlights a progression through roles of increasing responsibility, building a strong foundation for the current position as CEO at Ascender Systems. Prior experiences as a Senior Program Manager at Northrop Grumman, leading teams of engineers and managing complex contracts, were preceded by a role at L3 Harris Technologies and a 25-year career in the US Navy, giving them the technological understanding and "foundation as an end user to understand the application of what we're building."
Program Management, Defense Contracting, Military Experience, Leadership, Aerospace
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Jorge Muniz
Co-Founder & CEO
Ascender Systems
United States Naval Academy United States Naval Academy
University of San Diego - Knauss School of Business University of San Diego - Knauss School of Business Master of Business Administration - MBAMaster of Business Administration - MBA
Engineering, IT, Math & Data
Technology
Strategic Management and Executive
Veteran
Video Highlights
1. Experience in the defense contract industry with a Top Secret SCI clearance and experience managing complex, multi-year contracts worth $30-$300 million is a key precursor to a senior program manager role at Northrop Grumman.
2. Prior experience at L3 Harris Technologies provided the technological foundation necessary to succeed at Northrop Grumman.
3. 25 years of service in the US Navy provided valuable insight as an end-user, enabling a comprehensive understanding of product application from the battlefield to business operations.
Transcript
Could you walk me through your career path, starting with your experiences in college? Did you have any internships or jobs before your current role?
Alright, okay. So, as far as jobs I had prior to my current role, let me start with where I'm at right now at Northrop Grumman. I am a senior program manager.
Over there, I lead teams of engineers and designers across the spectrum of our cost management for all the foreign military sales for the Global Hawk unmanned aerial system vehicle. We sell to Korea, Japan, and NATO.
The precursors prior to getting into that would have been someone in the defense contract industry. The expectation is that you would come into this type of role with a top-secret SCI clearance. You would also have dealt with very complex, multi-year contracts with dollar amounts at least commensurate with $30 to $300 million.
That really set the foundation for me, and that was through a company called L3 Harris Technologies. It also gave me the technological foundation to be able to come into this role within Northrop Grumman and hit the ground running.
I will also mention that prior to that, I served for 25 years in the US Navy. That also set the foundation as an end user to understand the application of what we're building right now. It lends itself to being a program manager to really understand the full spectrum, from how the person on the battlefield is going to be using this all the way to the business side, how the company has to market, manage, and produce these products, and also make a profit.
So that kind of hopefully maps out, um, question one.