Senior program manager Jobs in Vaughan, ON

About Canada Rocket Company

Canada Rocket Company is developing Canada's first medium-lift launch vehicle.

We are a team of veterans from SpaceX, Blue Origin, Rocket Lab, ArianeGroup, Pangea Propulsion, Tesla, MDA, and more, bringing over a century of combined launch and space systems experience back to Canada.

Our mission is to provide reliable, independent access to space for Canada and its allies in a rapidly expanding global market.

Our approach is defined by pragmatic engineering:

• We utilize a single 725 kN engine that scales from light- to medium-lift via engine clustering.
• We lean on simple, proven technologies to reach orbit faster, avoiding the pitfalls of complex or novel designs.
• We test early and often, catching problems on the bench instead of at the pad.

Backed by over $20M in funding secured within our first four months, including the largest all-Canadian seed round in the sector and an $8.3M Department of National Defence grant, we are moving with the speed and institutional backing required to meet Canada’s orbital launch needs.

About the role

Canada Rocket Company is building the infrastructure that gets engines firing. We’re looking for an Infrastructure Engineering Program Manager to own the technical baseline and integrated execution of CRC’s test and launch infrastructure, from detailed design through construction and commissioning.

You are the engineering authority for the program. You manage third-party design firms across multiple disciplines, hold the requirements and the integrated schedule, and make the technical calls that construction, procurement, and facilities execute against. It’s a high-paced, high-autonomy position that sits at the intersection of engineering and program management, in an environment where the decisions you make this year show up in concrete and conduit next year. At most companies, infrastructure is a support function. Here, it’s the critical path.

How This Role Fits

This role is part of CRC’s infrastructure group, a small team built to take our test and launch sites from drawing to operation: engineering owns the technical baseline, supply chain sources it and controls the spend, construction builds it, and facilities runs it. The team is deliberately lean, so the boundaries below describe where accountability sits, not where your involvement stops.

What you'll do

• Own the technical baseline: translate program requirements into engineering scope, specifications, and acceptance criteria, and run the change control that keeps design, procurement, and construction working off the same version of the truth.
• Serve as the primary technical interface with third-party design firms; manage design scopes, deliverables, and cross-discipline integration, and hold them to scope, schedule, and quality.
• Own the integrated program schedule and the budget baseline across design, procurement, and construction; identify the critical path, sequence long-lead decisions, and maintain progress and forecast reporting to leadership.
• Write the technical specifications for major equipment and systems, and lead technical evaluation of vendor bids alongside Supply Chain, who runs the commercial process and controls committed spend against your baseline.
• Run design reviews and constructability reviews with the Construction Manager and Facilities Manager, and adjudicate RFIs and design changes raised from the field.
• Own commissioning: define commissioning plans, acceptance criteria, and functional test procedures across all systems, and sign off on technical acceptance before turnover to Facilities.
• Act as the integration point across the infrastructure group, and keep engineering, procurement, construction, and facilities aligned on one plan.

What You’re Not Responsible For

• High-level regulatory strategy, permitting, and compliance with governing bodies (Transport Canada, NRCan, MECP, etc.).
• Launch licensing and range safety frameworks.
• Day-to-day field execution, trade contractor supervision, and site safety — owned by the Construction Manager.
• Sourcing, purchase order issuance, expediting, logistics, and commitment tracking against the budget — owned by Supply Chain.
• Ongoing operation and maintenance of commissioned facilities — owned by the Facilities Manager.

Qualifications

Required

• Degree in engineering or a related technical discipline (or equivalent experience).
• 5+ years in infrastructure, facilities, or industrial project delivery — ideally in aerospace, energy, or heavy industrial.
• Experience managing third-party engineering firms and holding them to scope, schedule, and quality.
• Hands-on engineering background with experience reviewing drawings, specs, and design deliverables across multiple disciplines.
• Demonstrated ownership of an integrated schedule and budget across concurrent workstreams.
• Familiarity with procurement workflows and equipment commissioning.
• Comfortable in a startup environment where process is still being built.

Nice To Have

• P.Eng or eligibility in Ontario.
• Experience with test stands, propulsion infrastructure, or hazardous fluid systems.
• Familiarity with Ontario building and fire codes, and applicable Canadian standards.
• Experience with DAQ systems, control architecture, or instrumentation.
• Experience standing up engineering process — requirements management, change control, or document control — from scratch.

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