Program Director - New York

Business Unit:

Cubic Transportation Systems

Company Details:

When you join Cubic, you become part of a company that creates and delivers technology solutions in transportation to make people’s lives easier by simplifying their daily journeys, and defense capabilities to help promote mission success and safety for those who serve their nation. Led by our talented teams around the world, Cubic is committed to solving global issues through innovation and service to our customers and partners.

We have a top-tier portfolio of businesses, including Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) and Cubic Defense (CD). Explore more on Cubic.com.

Job Details:

JOB SUMMARY: Leadership of Cubic Transportation (CTS) assigned program(s), reporting directly to the Assistant General Manager. The Program Director is responsible for leading assigned programs, ensuring their execution on time and within budget. This role involves managing profit and loss, building strong stakeholder relationships, and mitigating risks to achieve program success. The director will develop and execute the annual operating plan, monitor program performance, and identify opportunities for cost optimization and efficiency. Additionally, the director will foster strong executive and customer relationships, address concerns proactively, and function as an escalation point to ensure customer satisfaction and program success. This position typically works under limited supervision and direction.  Incumbents of this position will regularly exercise discretionary and substantial decision-making authority.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

 

• Program Execution: Responsible for the execution of the programs, ensuring contractual compliance. Define program goals, objectives, scope, key milestones, and deliverables. Monitor progress, track milestones, and manage resources effectively. Mitigate risks and resolve issues that arise.
• Leadership and Team Management: Lead direct and in-direct teams, subcontractors, and partners. Provide clear direction on goals and objectives, regular feedback, and manage performance to achieve individual and team goals. Foster a culture of ownership, innovation, and continuous improvement. Develop the next generation of talent through coaching and mentoring.
• As a member of the regional leadership team, contribute to the regional business plan and develop and implement the AOP and Strategic Plan.
• Ensure that programs are managed in accordance with the contract and Cubic policies, procedures, and department instructions.
• Stakeholder Management: Build and maintain strong collaborative relationships with key stakeholders, including customers, partners, and subcontractors. Address concerns and proactively manage expectations. Function as an escalation point.
• Develop strong partnerships with the internal regional and global functional teams, ensuring effective collaboration to drive program performance.
• Resource Management: Plan and manage resources and ensure program activities are completed on time, within budget, and meet customer expectations.
• Program Financial and Performance Management: Be accountable for the program’s P&L outcomes, demonstrate strong business acumen and a proactive approach to cost and schedule management, with a focus on maximizing program efficiency and financial performance.
• Actively manage cost-to-complete forecasts, identify and implement opportunities to reduce Estimate to Complete (ETC), and mitigate risks that could lead to increases in Estimate at Completion (EAC).
• Track and analyze key performance indicators such as Cost Performance Index (CPI) and Schedule Performance Index (SPI) to detect early signs of deviation from forecasted budgets or timelines.
• Collaborate closely with functional and resource managers to secure and align internal resources, ensuring the program schedule is fully resource-loaded.
• Contract and Claims Management: Demonstrate a strong command of contract terms and conditions and demonstrate a proactive, ownership-driven mindset when it comes to enforcing the company’s rights. 
• Identify potential entitlements under the contract, recognizing deviations that may warrant cost or schedule recovery, and leading the development of change orders or claims in coordination with legal counsel and external consultants.
• Navigate complex contract frameworks—public or private sector—and be adept at crafting persuasive positions to support equitable adjustments. Lead negotiations and settlement efforts to protect the company’s financial and schedule interests, ensuring that recoverable impacts are pursued strategically and documented thoroughly.
• Requirements Management: Lead comprehensive requirements management across integrated hardware and software development efforts, with a strong emphasis on traceability and contract compliance.
• Oversee the elicitation, documentation, validation, and ongoing tracking of requirements throughout the program lifecycle. Ensure that all requirements are clearly linked to Contract Data Requirements List (CDRL) items, verification methods, and test procedures, creating a structured path to demonstrate compliance.
• Establish and maintain end-to-end traceability—from initial customer requirements through to system verification and delivery—ensuring proper evidence is in place to support successful project close-out and acceptance.
• Proficiency with requirements management tools (e.g., DOORS or similar) and familiarity with structured lifecycle models (e.g., V-model, Agile-hybrid) are essential.
• Continuous Improvement: Review performance metrics to understand the program's performance and identify areas for continuous improvement.
• Collaborate and partner with internal regional and global teams to drive a culture of collaboration and innovation. Solicit and provide feedback to enable continuous improvement across the program, systems, and processes.
• Industry Engagement: Represent the company at industry events, conferences, and networking functions to promote CTS and foster relationships. Keep current on industry and market trends.
• Domestic travel is required and may include occasional international travel.
• Comply with Cubic’s values and adherence to all company policy and procedures.  Comply with the code of conduct, quality, security and occupational health, safety, environmental and human resource policies and procedures.
• In addition to the duties and responsibilities listed, the job holder is required to perform other duties assigned by their manager from time-to-time, as may be reasonably required of them.

 

BACKGROUND AND EXPERIENCE:

• Typically requires a minimum of 15 years in technical/program roles, including 12+ in leadership; portfolio oversight experience a pluswith a Bachelor’s degree; or 12 years and a Master’s degree; or a PhD with 8 years experience; or equivalent experience. PMP certified.
• Demonstrates ability to define organizational vision and lead executive-level planning across diverse functional areas.
• Program Leadership: Proven success leading complex infrastructure or technology programs over $100M, including integrated hardware/software delivery in regulated environments.
• Financial & Performance Management: Accountable for full program P&L, with expertise in managing ETC, EAC, CPI, and SPI to drive financial and schedule performance.
• Contracts & Claims: Strong grasp of contract terms and entitlement strategies, with experience leading change orders and claims through legal and consultant collaboration.
• Requirements Management: Skilled in full-lifecycle requirements traceability and compliance (e.g., CDRLs, verification), using tools like DOORS or Jama.
• Stakeholder & Team Leadership: Adept at building strong customer and internal relationships, leading cross-functional teams, and developing high-performing talent.
• Communication & Influence: Clear, confident communicator able to engage executive, technical, and customer audiences and lead consensus-driven decisions.

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Cubic Pay Range:

$235,000.00 - $270,000.00 + benefits.

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The Cubic pay range for this job level is a general guideline only and not a guarantee of compensation or salary. Additional factors considered in extending an offer include (but are not limited to) responsibilities of the job, education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity, alignment with market data, applicable bargaining agreement (if any), or other law.

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Worker Type:

Employee

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We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace and welcome applications from people of all backgrounds. We do not discriminate based on any protected characteristic under applicable law.