Hadrian is building autonomous factories to reindustrialize America. By combining AI, advanced software, robotics, and full-stack manufacturing, we help aerospace and defense companies build rockets, satellites, aircraft, ships, and other mission-critical systems up to 10x faster and at significantly lower cost.
Following our $1.37B Series D at a $7.87B valuation, Hadrian is rapidly expanding our manufacturing footprint, launching new capabilities across welding, casting, forging, electronics, additive manufacturing, and more, while scaling our Factory-as-a-Service platform to transform how critical products are built.
Backed by leading investors including JPMorgan Chase, Valor Equity Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, 137 Ventures, Lux Capital, T. Rowe Price, and Morgan Stanley, we’re building the future of American manufacturing—and looking for exceptional people to help make it happen.
If you’re ready to take on the most challenging and rewarding work of your career while helping create American manufacturing jobs for generations to come, you’re exactly who we’re looking for.
The Role
Hadrian is building the most advanced manufacturing platform in the world. As we win new programs and stand up new factories, the workforce question gets decided early, usually before a contract is signed and almost always before anyone has validated whether the labor assumptions hold. Getting that wrong means delayed milestones, unmet contractual obligations, and a workforce that cannot ramp to meet production. Getting it right is a prerequisite for every program we take on.
We are looking for a Workforce Programs Manager to own the scoping of workforce for new Hadrian programs end to end. This is the person who sits with the sales and federal teams while a deal is still being shaped, reads the statement of work, and translates it into a labor model, a headcount plan, a training strategy, and a clear build-versus-partner decision. It is a new function. You are the first hire in it, and it is tied directly to our program and factory expansion roadmap.
You will build the labor models that tell us what a program actually costs in people. You will design the training strategy for capabilities we have never run before, including regulated programs like NAVSEA-compliant welder workmanship and new NDT certification tracks. You will own the framework for what Hadrian builds internally versus what we source through partners, and you will manage the institutional partnerships that follow from that decision. You will be the forward-looking input to the Workforce Development organization, working with the team on what is coming so they can scale ahead of demand instead of reacting to it.
The right person has been in the room where program commitments are made and understands what those commitments mean for the workforce before anyone else does. They are equally comfortable in a business development review with a prime contractor, building a headcount model in a spreadsheet, and walking a community college president through what a partnership would require. They default to building capability internally and treat partnerships as a deliberate tool, not a first response.
What You'll Do
Program Workforce Scoping
Embed with the sales and federal teams during program pursuit to scope workforce requirements before commitments are finalized
Read and interpret statements of work, contract terms, and program milestones, and translate them into executable workforce plans
Identify the labor, training, and certification obligations a program creates, and surface the risks and gaps while there is still time to address them
Labor Modeling and Headcount Planning
Build labor models and headcount plans for new programs and capability expansions, covering Factory Technician, Weld Technician, and NDT Technician roles as well as the indirect and support headcount programs require
Validate that labor assumptions in deal and operational models are internally consistent and flow through to real headcount outputs
Own the workforce-cost view of a program and defend it to finance, operations, and program leadership
Training Strategy for New Capabilities
Design the training and certification strategy for capabilities Hadrian has not run before, including regulated programs such as NAVSEA welder workmanship and new NDT method tracks
Map external certification and audit requirements into the training plan so compliance is built in from the start
Define cohort timing, trainer ratios, and lead times from hire to certified, working backward from program readiness dates
Build-versus-Partner Strategy and Partnerships
Own the framework for determining whether a workforce need is best met by building internally or sourcing through an external partner, with a default toward insourcing
Manage the portfolio of institutional partnerships that follow from that decision, including community colleges, trade schools, universities, veteran programs, and high school pathways
Represent Hadrian in partner negotiations, MOU development, and ongoing relationship management, and hold partners to defined quality and output standards
Treat partnerships as foundational pre-employment pipeline tools, not a substitute for building Hadrian's own capability
Workforce Org Readiness
Work closely with the Director of Workforce Development to ensure the Workforce organization is staffed and structured to scale with the program portfolio
Provide the forward-looking inputs the WFD org needs to hire, build curriculum, and stand up training operations ahead of program demand
Maintain visibility for internal stakeholders into the workforce pipeline across all active and pursued programs
What We're Looking For
7+ years in workforce planning, labor modeling, program management, or business development, with demonstrated experience translating program or contract requirements into operational workforce plans
Background in or strong familiarity with manufacturing, defense, or government contracting environments
Track record of building headcount or labor models for new programs or capability expansions, where the output was an executable plan rather than a strategy document
Experience in customer-facing or federal program work, including interpreting a government SOW and presenting a workforce plan to a customer
A business and commercial mindset: you understand what Hadrian is signing up for when a deal closes, and you can quantify it
Strong cross-functional communication, with the ability to represent workforce realities to program and factory leadership and translate them back to institutional partners
Comfort operating where the playbook is still being written
Bachelor's degree in Business, Engineering, Workforce Development, Public Policy, or a related field; advanced degree a plus; equivalent experience considered
What Will Set You Apart
Defense business development or proposal development experience with a workforce or labor component
Familiarity with NAVSEA, SUBSAFE, or similar regulated certification and audit frameworks
Experience standing up training programs in regulated manufacturing environments
Background in advanced or precision manufacturing
Experience with workforce development grants, government funding programs, or public-private partnerships
Familiarity with community college systems and dual-enrollment or early college program design
A genuine point of view on what manufacturing workforce development should look like for the next generation, grounded in what programs actually require rather than how it has always been done
Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans for employees
401k
Relocation support may be provided for certain situations, based on business need.
Flexible vacation policy
Equity
To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen or national, lawful permanent resident, 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. Learn more about the ITAR here.
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Hadrian will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of all applicable laws. We do not ask about criminal history on our application, and we do not consider criminal history before making a conditional offer of employment.
Hadrian does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, marital status, mental status, physical disability or any other legally protected status. When necessary, the Company also makes reasonable accommodations for disabled candidates and employees, including for candidates or employees who are disabled by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.